One of the best Nollywood directors right now, Niyi Akinmolayan, was at the ‘reality home’ of the delegates of Script2Screen Africa TV Reality Show during the week to share some of the secrets of his success.
The versatile Filmmaker who has directed blockbusters like; The Arbitration, Make A Move, Falling, Out Of Luck and The Wedding Party pt2 spent almost two hours with the young Filmmakers who have signed a contract to be change agents in actualizing a corruption free Nigeria.
Akinmolayan told the delegates that, filmmaking is now all about finding their own voice and not trying to be in shoes of other makers. “You should have a unique input in whatever you want to do.”
“Talent is key when it comes to acting. It might take some time to be noticed but, surely someone will always find you out. You can ride on nothing but share talent. You cannot ignore talent.”
“As an actor talent should be your ‘A’ game. Fine every avenue to grow your talents.”
He also told them that as an actor, auditions are always good. “Most actors like Adesua Etomi, Omotola Jolade and a host of other actors like them got noticed through auditions. It’s an avenue to look for that special thing in an actor so, go. Calm down, put the talent on show and with God on your side, you will make.”
Akinmolayan also advised them to constantly reach out to producers and that whenever they had an opportunity to meet one, they should not tell them what they can do rather, show them what they have done.
“Don’t ignore them make sure your approach is nice. Don’t ignore extras in a movie; it can help you a lot. Always know that there’s no small role. There’s nothing like an extra, everybody is an actor. Know that in this business, talent is not enough because, people will chose a well behaved man than a talented one; therefore, attitude matters a lot.”
“Smile sometimes even when you don’t want to smile because your route to success may have a lot to do with your behavior. People want to work with people who are easy going and cool headed.”
“Master the art of using social media because, you need to adapt to what people are using now. Go to the studio take good pictures. Put your best looking attire on your social media pages. You have to take it very serious.”
He also charged them to always promote every movie they featured in because these are some of the reasons producers and directors do want actors back on their work to do more.
“As Filmmakers, what is key for you is to learn and keep learning. There’s no book that will tell you how to become a filmmaker, people follow issues to find their voices and that’s why all films are not the same. So, you have to learn all you can learn so that you can be your own voice too.”