These days actors are the ones we recognize most in the movie industry. We've all forgotten about those behind the scene, meanwhile, those behind scene do a lot of work even more than those we see on the screen.
I for one, I don't switch off or get up from the screen until I read all the names of the crew. We've allowed the actor to take the glory of those who make their work a success. Directors, producers, Story writers etc. are also to be credited not only the actors... Here's one of the good movie directors in the movie industry...



Akin-Tijani Balogun is one of Nollywood’s respected
director/producers. He’s presently in the midst of a very
ambitious project, and he told OSEYIZA OOGBODO
about it.

What’s the latest about you?

I just produced a movie, Police Report, in conjunction
with a friend, under a new concept we’re trying out now,
which is to produce a movie every month.
A movie a month? A full length movie or a short
film?

A full length feature movie.
Producing a full length movie every month? Won’t
such a movie be an hasty job?

It won’t be. It depends on how you handle it. Sometimes,
some movies are shot in five, six months, and some are
shot in longer time than that or lesser time than that. It
all depends on your planning. And being a veteran, we
know the pros and cons, we know how to manage the
schedule. What we’re going to do now, we’ve already
planned ahead, so we’ve cut down a lot of loopholes that
normally make jobs to drag. Like what we’re going to do
this August has already been planned for. Likewise what
we’ll shoot in September, it’s already being planned. And
another concept we’re trying to work on is to showcase
new faces that people have not seen. So when we did
our audition, we selected people that are not prominent.

How many years have you been in this industry?

That’ll be about fifteen years now. I studied theatre arts
at the University of Ibadan and majored in directing, so
that’s how it all started. And I started getting involved
professionally right on campus. I directed many
productions professionally and for academic purposes.
And after school, I actually diverted a little bit, you know
the way it is in Nigeria, so I went into teaching and came
back to the industry later.

Do you appear in movies yourself?

Like I said, I’m a director and producer, not an actor. I
don’t want to act, although I’ve actually appeared in one
or two of our jobs, just for fun. But professionally, I’m
not an actor, so my face is not one that people can say
they’ve really been seeing on the screen. Although one
or two people still recognize me from the one or two
small-small roles that I’ve taken on.

What’s your biggest job so far, the one that has
made the most impact?

How do I even begin to answer that, because most of my
jobs have made impact. People always say my jobs are
different from the norm. I’ve written some scripts for
some people, like a friend of mine, Bayo Alawiye, that he
directed, Dark Side. It premiered at cinemas, and ran for
several weeks. And most of the jobs that we do, some
are not even in Nigeria, because most people are not
aware that we’ve viable markets in the western world for
our local movies, both English and Yoruba and some
other languages. So many of my jobs have been seen
outside while people in Nigeria have not even seen
them. I remember a time when a friend of mine in the
UK posted on my Facebook that she saw a movie of mine
and she wanted to know why it wasn’t on Youtube. And I
tried to explain to her that we’re trying to break barriers
by bringing our movies out through new channels,
especially to even avoid the scourge of piracy.

So what’ve you achieved?

What I’ve achieved? That’s a very big question. I view
achievements in terms of human quality. Like I said
before, I was once a teacher in a secondary school. So,
presently now, what I’ll see as my achievement are my
students. The people that have passed through me and
today, they are people. Many of them are graduates,
many of them even have more degrees than I have now,
and we still communicate, and when we do, they always
say, ‘Teacher, I’m proud that I passed through you, sir.’
That always gives me joy. So many of them are in the UK,
America, Canada, doing further studies and all of that.
And I see that as a great achievement for me. I know the
angle you actually want me to go into is …
Every angle. Every angle.
I’m my own greatest critic. So it’s very difficult for me to
say I’ve achieved. People look at me and say, ‘This guy is
doing so well.’ They’ve seen one or two of my jobs and
they like them so much. But for me, I’m still thinking of
the bigger picture. I’m yet to be fulfilled. I still want to do
much, much more.

Talking about financially, people like you in America
are billionaires. Guys like Steven Spielberg, James
Cameron and many others. So financially, tell us
where you stand.

I
f you look at the financial angle, that juxtaposition, that
analogy you made, of comparing America to Nigeria is
farfetched. The kind of marketing structure they have
over there is much more different when you look at the
structure of our own industry. Let me just say we are
living the Nigerian way. What we are doing at least
enables us to live and live well in Nigeria. Of course we
know that if we do it outside, we’ll make much more.

What’s your greatest plan for the industry?

Oh! My own plan is to have a film village, a place that’s
structured, designed to be a film village for complete
productions, because movie is just one out of the several
things we do. So I want to have a film village, a place
where you can shoot a game show, a commercial,
anything that goes on the screen.

Erm, I think the producers and directors are also given their own share of recognition. That's what the award shows are for. And if you watch award shows, you will find out that the accolades given to those who work behind the scene are more than those given to the actors themselves.

But still, we the viewers tend to celebrate the actors more because they are the ones we see all the time. You only get to find those behind the scene when you read the closing credits, and not everyone's has the interest or patience for that. Lol.