Africa has slowly woken up from her slumber in terms of entertainment. The continent is no longer struggling to churn out mind-blowing movies despite the challenge of funding. We have seen some of the finest movies from creative producers, who are meeting up with the international standard of movie making. How can you make a business out of the African movie industry?
The value chain of the African movie industry is divided into three stages: film development, production and movie distribution. Each of these stages has its own challenges and opportunities for smart entrepreneurs and investors to take advantage of.
We shall discuss each stage in turn.
Film Development
This stage involves creating the movie idea and selecting a suitable story which could come from an original idea, a book , a true story, or a play or another successful film. One of the major challenges of the African movie industry is shallow content and poor scripting.
An entrepreneur who is exposed to the industry and curious can become an accomplished screenwriter and scripter. You can take advantage of some free websites or even software to learn your craft. Funding is also another problem that is encountered when developing movie. African movies are the quickest and cheapest to make. It is not risky to provide funds for a movie in Africa unlike in Hollywood, where you need to put many things into consideration. Stores based on intrigue, comedy, love or drama sells fast in the continent.
Film Production
Entrepreneurs can take advantage of the different process in film production, from assembling the production crews, getting the actors, shooting the film and editing the shooting before its release to the consumers. You can take advantage of these processes and work as a choreographer, sound producer, makeup artist, costume designer, animation specialist, movie editor and cinematographer including actor or actress.
There are a lot of service providers that are required in film production before the material is complete. You can conquer the equipment challenges during the film production by starting a film production house, renting film equipment or creating Job opportunities online for these service providers.
Movie Distribution
The distribution of movies is the final stage of movies. The movie produced has to be released in different formats such as Blue-Ray , direct download on websites and DVDs. There is a poor distribution network in Africa due to piracy. Some entrepreneurs like Jason Njoku took advantage of this problem. He bought the right from producers to distribute their movies online in 2010. Today, over five thousand movies have been catalogued on his platform, IrokoTV.
The African movie industry is growing leap by leap, changing people’s fortune and making others famous. If you are interested in taking a chunk from the wealth of the movie industry in Africa, it is easier these days. This is because a lot of efforts have been done to ensure that the industry is stable and trustworthy. Each week, we see tens of great movies hitting the market and even if you are not interested in the actual movie production, advertising and hosting premieres can be your source of wealth creation.
