Why I dont want to join Nollywood — Wale Adenuga

Chairman of Wale Adenuga Production, WAP; a former cartoonist/publisher, and currently a TV series producer, Super story, Nnena and friends, This Life among others.vanguard reports
Before the growth of the film industry, Adenuga had released the celluloid movie Papa Ajasco, which was based on the main character in Ikebe Super, in 1983. Papa Ajasco made history as the first English comedy in an industry which had been dominated by Yoruba productions.


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Then a film version of Binta, re-entitled ‘Binta My Daughter’ was released in 1995. A year later, the television series Papa Ajasco (formerly The Ajasco Family) was aired on Nigerian television for the viewing pleasure of Nigerians. With the burning desire to provide qualitative education, Adenuga and his wife Ehiwenma founded Binta International School in Lagos. He also opened the Pencil Film and Television Institute (PEFTI) now a leading institute in the art of film production, directing, and Cinematography.
Wale-Adenuga
Adenuga who has won several awards including Best Producer, Best Script Writer, Best Director, Best Television Drama and Best Socially Relevant Television Production, in this interview with Showtime Celebrity says a few younger actors and actresses have hijacked the Nollywood, revealing why he and other senior Yoruba film-makers will not be part of Nollywood. Excerpts:
How would you describe the entertainment industry with particular reference to film and soap opera?
The industry has been doing very well. Both the film sector and the soap opera have their respective challenges though. The greatest challenge of any producer right now is the high cost of television airtime. You go the extra mile to look for money to produce your programme which costs several millions of naira and when you get to any of the TV stations, they will ask you to pay millions of naira. By the time you produce about thirteen episodes, you are already broke.
So, having exhausted all you have on production, you will then be faced with the challenge of airtime. They will ask you to pay over N1million for 30minutes. For one hour programme, you have to pay about N2.5million to put it on air. That is why some producers become frustrated and so, stop showing their programmes on TV stations. They rather want to sell their programmes to satellite stations outside the country.