SONTA, CREATIVE FIRM SIGN N1BN THEATRE PRODUCTION DEAL – Friday OLOKOR SONTA, CREATIVE FIRM SIGN N1BN THEATRE PRODUCTION DEAL
The creative industry in Nigeria has received a boost in Abuja with the conclusion of a production deal valued at N1billion between the Society of Nigeria Theatre Artists and Plume and Partners Limited. The deal will involve more than 45 universities and 20 colleges of education in Nigeria offering courses in Theatre Arts in a project, which revolves around the production of movies and documentaries, tagged Project Hostage.
The project, promoters claim, is aimed at bridging the gap between the stage and the screen, as well as between theory and practicals.
The President of SONTA, Professor Alex Chinwuba Asigbo and Chief Executive Officer, Plume and Partner Limited, Samuel Bob-Manuel, both signed the deal on behalf of their respective parties.
The deal will culminate in the production of 35,000 hours of audio-visual programmes, which spans 90 epic and contemporary movies of about 120 minutes, 45 minutes advocacy documentaries on any issue of interest and 45 campus series of 20 minutes by the various Theatre Arts Departments across the country.
Also present at the event were the immediate-past President of SONTA, Professor Sunny Enessi Ododo of the University of Maiduguri; the Dean, Faculty of Arts, Benue State University, Professor Gowon Ama Doki and a Professor Mabel Evwierhoma of the University of Abuja.
Others were the Head of the Department of Theatre Arts, University of Abuja, Professor Olympus Ejue; Assistant Secretary-General of SONTA, Dr. Chisimdi Ihentuge of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri; and the Public Relations Officer of SONTA, Dr. Sunday Edum of the University of Port Harcourt.
Bob-Manuel, who expressed optimism about the viability of the project, stated that his company was motivated by the need for quality content in the country’s movie industry.
He expressed the belief that coming from the professionals, production would not fall short of the required standard in both artistic and technical contents.
According to him, 88 Professors, 122 PhD holders and over 10,000 Theatre Arts undergraduates would participate in the auditioning to be conducted in various set roles.
He said, “Theatre arts departments are expected to develop scripts for entries in the different categories while Nollywood actors shall be included in lead roles in order to give the movies commercial value.
“Project Hostage shall have a strong academy of judges made up of one nominee each from member Universities of SONTA and five nominees from Plume and Partner Limited to rate performances in various categories of awards, which include the best picture and the best actor of each season.”
Bob-Manuel added that the partnership would create opportunities for undergraduates of Theatre Arts to make entries into the movie industries as they would be featuring in the script developed by respective universities.
He said, “We are not discarding those already in the field because they brought the industry this far. So, to give the production commercial value, actors should be part of the production. It is also a very big opportunity for streaming companies, who should go into Nigerian market with the production that we are into partnership with SONTA. It is the biggest production deal in Nigeria, having SONTA side by side.
“We are bringing in a lot of intellectual and creative expertise to make this a success. It will generate job opportunities for artistic and technical crew as well as the undergraduate students not less than 10,000 across various universities who would be vying for various roles in the course of the production. We thank SONTA for giving us the opportunity of working with them.”
Professor Asigbo stated that the project would avail every University offering Theatre Arts the opportunity to be represented in the production.
He said Heads of respective Departments of Theatre Arts would liaise with lecturers to emerge with quality creative content that would meet the yearnings of the viewing audience and have commercial value.
To ensure that only the best are selected for production, Asigbo informed that there would be academy of judges that would be drawn from among lecturers in every Department of Theatre Arts for screening and selection of the best scripts from both regional and national levels.
He expressed hope that involvement of the academia in movie content would boost the industry with quality content that will take care of several unprofessional movie products in the market.
For the sake of the project, he stated that some Theatre Arts graduates who are already professionals in the field and whose appearances would enhance the production would be brought in to feature alongside the younger generations of artists.
© SONTA News