When the phone call came through that fateful August evening, the tale was familiar: a passionate novice was attempting to make a film and an experienced filmmaker had been contracted to help birth that dream. Over a year later and millions of naira spent, the film wasn’t any closer to being started.

If you’re close to the inner workings of Nollywood, this is a familiar tale.

Ayo Arigbabu, architect and writer, was the person on the phone. He had been contacted to rewrite the screenplay and had heard the executive producer’s tales of woe. He asked her to call me. “But I’ve never done animation before!” I exclaimed to Ayo. “Good. The more reason you should do it. It will be a good addition to your illustrious producing career.”

Which kain yeye illustrious producing career, I wondered. But I agreed. I’m known to sometimes let my friends talk me into being foolish and exploit my passion for the work I do.

By the time Blessing Amidu, the film’s executive producer, called me, I already knew I was going to do it. The challenge was daunting, no doubt: I knew we had to rework the whole story before even rewriting the screenplay. I knew gathering a crew would be tough since no one had done a feature film like this around here. And where the heck was I going to find Nigerian animators with requisite skills and long term commitment for a project of this magnitude?

On Friday the 11th of December 2020, seventeen months after that first call, Lady Buckit & the Motley Mopsters opened in cinemas across Nigeria and history was made. We found Adebisi Adetayo who turned out to be an amazing animator, hiding in his studios somewhere in Maryland, Lagos. With his team of twenty-nine animators, they made magic.

Beyond all of these, what significance does this hold for Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry at large?

I have always held that the difference between what Nigerian creatives can and cannot do is often time and money. Oftentimes, platforms require excellence and ‘global standards’ from Nollywood while spending significantly less than they would spend almost anywhere else, classic case of champagne desires on ogogoro budget. Because Nollywood has also become famed for quick turnaround, we are asked to deliver in half the time.

Two years ago, Emmanuel Uduma and I were tasked with delivering from development to post-production the sixth season of the adolescent behavioral change TV series, MTV SHUGA. We had time and fair funding, and we gathered some of the best hands in Nigeria, ninety-eight of the one hundred crew members being Nigerians based in Nigeria. We delivered MTV Shuga Season 6 which went one to win multiple awards at the World Television Festival in Germany. If I ever doubted what Nigerian creatives were capable of, that project ended it forever.

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The question I get everyday since we started releasing stills from Lady Buckit & the Motley Mopsters has been: Are you sure this animation was done in Nigeria? I have enjoyed laughing out loud as I gleefully inform my interrogators that yes, it was all done here; no part of the film was made outside of Nigeria.

Making history won’t be enough though. While we savour the moment, we must start to ask: So, what next? On the day Lady Buckit & the Motley Mopsters hit the cinemas, Disney announced a partnership with a Nigerian-led animation studio, Kugali. To answer my own question, the time is now. If the Disneys of the animation world are looking toward black Africa, Nollywood must be poised to take full advantage of its immense creative abilities and project to a future brimming with possibilities beyond our comfort zones of life action drama and comedies. Let the glory come, let it be ours.

Let me sound a note of caution though: If we are going to play a major role in the possibilities that the future holds, trust must become integral to our conduct. Nollywood’s next levels require patient capital and patient capital flows with trust. Be they passionate novice funders or experienced global behemoths like Disney and Netflix, we must put our best foot forward when we engage, through honesty. Every time we take advantage of an investor because they are not familiar with our territory, we drive a nail into the wall of our industry’s capabilities. The nail may be pulled out after but the injury is already done.

So, please go out and enjoy Lady Buckit & the Motley Mopsters in cinemas across the country and when it comes on streaming platforms soon. As you do, please say a little prayer for the team that brought this amazing dream to life, especially Blessing Amidu who dared to dream.