The chairman of the Asso
ciation of Movie Producers (AMP), Rivers State chapter, Engr. Reginald Orlu, has disclosed that the nefarious activities of pirates in Nollywood is now reduced with the return of cinemas in the State and Nigeria as a nation through premier of the movies.
The movie producer who stated this during an interview with The Tide Entertainment recently, disclosed that the way things are organised in the industry today is that after shooting a film you take it to the cinemas for premier here in the country after which you still go abroad and do the same thing, before you  send the film to the market. He stressed that the good thing about this is that pirates will not see the film to pirate.
According to him, even before the movies go into the market the producers must have realised the money they spent, because in most cases through premier which is the showing of the film for the first time, they receive their money in dollars and before the film is seen in the Nigerian market, it had already entered the foreign market, so pirates find it difficult to pirate the films since it is already in the market abroad where the pirates sell their pirated copies.
Engr. Orlu explained that “Lost Number” a movie produced by Ifeanyi Dike, a member of the Association of Movie Producers, Rivers State which was premiered sometimes ago, is being premiered in London after which it will enter the London market and other foreign countries before entering the Nigerian Market, so the pirates are checkmated.
The chairman who reacted to the new trend of featuring Ghanaian actors and actresses in most Nollywood movies maintained that the Nigerian producers introduced movie in Ghana.
He noted that when he went to Ghana in 2006, there was no movie there as such and the few movie there were directed by Nigerians. He said the truth is that most of the Ghanaian actors and actresses have the zeal to act.
According to him, their coming to Nigeria is to make their Nigerian counterparts wake up and take their career seriously, because if they do not seat up, the Ghanaians may take over the profession. We taught them so their presence in Nollywood is not affecting the industry negatively, but positively.
On the recent grant of N3 billion naira to Nollywood by President Goodluck Jonathan, he said the federal government’s grant is a serious business for serious Nollywood stakeholders and not a jamboree He suggested that the money should be shared amongst the various Associations in Nollywood for distribution to their members particularly movie producers, so as to come up with good scripts as well as to improve on the standard of their movies. According to him, the conditions attached to the grant is stringent and may be difficult to meet.
It would be recalled that on Saturday March 2, 2013, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan honoured the Nigerian film makers with a dinner at the State House Marina, Lagos titled: “Nigeria Celebrates Nollywood” which was organized to celebrate 20 years of the movie industry.
At the occasion, the President who was represented by the Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala promised a N3 billion intervention fund for the industry under a programme tagged: “Project Nollywood.” The fund is to promote the film industry in the country. Though the country’s film industry is older than 20 years, but the March 2 celebration marked the inception of the video and digital film making in Nigeria.
The fund is earmarked for grants for capacity building, infrastructural development and the commissioning of best scripts. It will be administered by the Ministry of Finance headed by Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in alliance with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism headed by Chief Edem Duke.
A renowned film maker, Amaka Igwe, a veteran actor, Jide Kosoko, actress turned producer, Mrs Stephanie Okereke-Idahosa alongside other professionals from the finance, judiciary and education sectors are part of the committee picked by Jonathan for the project.