OTUNBA’S GENE AS PANACEA FOR CULTURE SHOCK- MR & MRS KOGBEREGBE

In different fora, Nollywood stakeholders have been charged with the responsibilities of creating issue – based contents that are capable of espousing better society.  In this interview, Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe of the popular slice of life family drama fame on Africa Magic Yoruba shared with shoots.ng a new drama series that is designed to change the lives of African parents in diaspora.

Enjoy the excerpt:  

 

Shoots.ng: Why diversify into a series that captures African and American Lifestyles?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe: Diversifying into series that captures African and American lifestyles is something that we have been conceptualizing in the last four years. The idea of the script we are writing now came four years ago and we have been going forth and back on how to make it a perfect content. We don’t want it to look like we are copying any other content that has existed, we took our time to go into it. We realize that, there is no content that is focused on Africans in America especially Nigerians, except the feature length movies that we have watched. But on our part, we want to have a content that every family can plug into. What most Africans in diaspora can relate with, that is the concept behind the Otunba’s gene.

Otunba’s gene is designed to bring in all Africa’s ideas, culture so that we can learn from it. Most African parents in America don’t know how to deal with our adolescents because there is a different culture entirely in America. The change in culture is going be an issue for every African parent in America to deal with, especially African parents that migrated from the African continent, not the African parents that were born or raised in America. The way we were raised is different from the way we are going to raise these kids and most of African parents are finding it very difficult to deal with their adolescents. This concept is going to address a lot of that. How are couples surviving? I am not talking about how they migrated, I am talking about Africans that are here in America already, how are they surviving? Couples, relationships, divorces and all that. Husband is working, wife is working, who takes care of the kids? A lot is embedded in Otunba’s gene, that is why we are trying to diversify into that. Most people know us as the marriage doctor or family hospital where you watch Mr and Mrs Kogberegbe content in Nigeria and solutions are provided.

This content too is going to help every African family in America, you will relate with it, you will learn from it, you will be entertained. Every parent, you will see yourself in Otunba, every African mother in yeye Otunba which is Dunni Badru and we created this content so that everybody can plug into it.

 

Shoots.ng: Can you recall any real life scenario where Nigerian parents have issues with their American born children?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe: Recently while researching on this content, a parent narrated how he tricked his son on vacation to Nigeria with the primary intention of sending the boy to a boarding school in Remo, Ogun state. According to him, he made that decision when he realized that his son was becoming rebellious and rolling with bad gangs in America. The boy turned a new leaf after four years in a Nigeria’s boarding system. Most Nigerian parents in America find it difficult to deal with their American or Nigerian born adolescents. The cultures are two parallel lines heading towards different destinations.

 

 Shoots.ng: What does this recent series seek to address?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe: The series is going to address a lot like I said earlier, those are the ones I just listed out. There are so much in Otunba’s gene that we don’t want to let out of the bag right now.

 

Shoots.ng: What is the effort that has been put in place as far as Otunba’s Gene is concerned?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe:  The effort we put into this drama is very different. Most African contents in America find it very hard to survive because of the cost of production here. Most people don’t have a production team like we have in Nigeria. Like you have an apprentice under you, a mentee that really wants to work with your company, that you don’t have to pay the person 100%. If you want, you can just remunerate the person with a token, the person sees it as a contribution and learning process. But here in America, everybody must be paid in dollars, they would be paid per hour and they can’t do more than what they sign to do. Unlike in Nigeria when we agree that we need to get this done, please guys help me out, no paddy for here, everybody has to work for their money and be paid.

So because of the budget behind this content, we are looking at almost $150,000 budget and we realized we can’t afford that. I am talking about Creative Village Productions, we can’t afford that right now. So, we partner with iFocus Pictures. iFocus is a production company in United States of America and we are lucky to connect with Oluyinka Davids who is the head of creative department. He is on board with us as a creative director and he would be directing alongside Otunba himself, Olakanlu  Olarenwaju. The production is like a marriage of two professionals. It is a marriage of two production companies that want to entertain, that want to impact, tha want to create a content for Africans in diaspora to connect with. So, what we put into this is the quality of the production because it is a production outfit- iFocus Pictures that is coming on board to partner with Mr and Mrs Kogberegbe. So it’s a partnership project. The Creative Village Production company is in charge of cast, budget and producing, while iFocus Pictures is in charge of all technicality, creativity, directing and all that is what we have for that.

 

 Shoots.ng: What’s the stage of its production as of now?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe:  Right now I will say, we are like 70% as am talking to you right now, we are on production set. We have been shooting for the last five days and we would continue to shoot for the next 10 days. What we are doing right now is just season 1, which is just like even half of season 1. We just want to set something out and we promise you in few weeks, the first set of episodes would be ready for you to watch and that is what we are working on right now

 

 Shoots.ng: Where and when can people access the contents once it starts rolling out?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe: This content is going to be on YouTube for now. We are going t0 explore all other online access too for you to watch. But by the time we are ready, we will let you know where you can watch it but right now, go and subscribe to Mr and Mrs Kogberegbe TV on YouTube. We have some marketing channels for you to plug into on this content, but when the time comes, we will let you know. In this content, you are going to see Mr and Mrs Kogberegbe in different form. Different form in the sense that, what you know us for is to always argue out and find a solution to marital issues in Nigeria.  But what we are addressing now in America is yeye Otunba and Otunba dealing with two adolescent kids that we have to nurture and bring our culture into their adolescent age, so that is what you should be expecting.

Shoots.ng:  Share a bit of the intrigues embedded in the series.

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe: It is going to be a lot of drama. It is gonna be a lot of entertainment and comedy. You will love it because we are giving it all. We give it a lot of what we have, we give it a lot of what we have learnt in the last 15 years of our career. So expect a lot, expect to be entertained. We have decided to put it online so that our fans in Nigeria and all over the world can enjoy it.

Lo and behold, another big news is coming. Otunba is going to a level that you would be surprised, don’t let me go into it right now. As for Otunba gene, we are going to explore all online channels for you to plug into this content and enjoy it.

I want to appreciate all our fans, supporters and our sponsors who really want us to do this content. It has gone through a lot of screening and this is what we have right now. If you want to support, if you want to have your product placed on the content because it’s gonna be shown everywhere, kindly contact us. The beauty of this series is that,  it’s going to be online so you don’t have to sit down in your office, at home and watch, you can do that on your mobile phone, on your iPad, on your tablet, everywhere on the move you can access this content and enjoy it. We are going to be talking to every family in diaspora and you will enjoy this content. We are on board and you will like it.

 

Shoots.ng: What informs your choice of casts?

Mr & Mrs Kogberegbe: The casting of Otunba’s Gene was done by the director Olakanlu Olanrewaju and iFocus Pictures. A diversified casting with cultural differences. We live in a cross races country here in America and that is why we included all races into the casting. We checked past and current jobs of the casts. Creative Village also has a hub of young and old talented actors that need opportunities to explore, we also tapped into that.

POST SCRIPT- BEHIND THE SCENES (BTS) PICTURES

Picture credits- Creative Village Productions