POP PROJECTS IS A NEXUS OF CONNECTION BETWEEN MAKERS OF SHORT FILMS AND STREAMING PLATFORMS
With the limitless opportunities that online streaming has provided for budding and professional filmmakers in Nollywood, Nigeria’s short films would start to enjoy the quality eyeballs that feature-length films enjoy. In a chit-chat with shoots.ng, Mr Psalm Oderinde, the Chief Executive Officer of POP Projects, the brain behind the agency that offers golden opportunities, bare his mind.
Enjoy the excerpt!
Shoots.ng: Why are you choosing short films as an area of concentration?
POP Projects: We are focusing on short film distribution because we have done a thorough survey over the years and realized that many young filmmakers have beautiful stories to tell visually but do not have access to funding and collaborations. As if this is not enough damage, many of them resolve to make their stories as short films, and after one or two short films, they wither off because they have invested money and passion into something unproductive. Being in the creative industry for many years also, we understand the hassles and challenges that digital streaming platforms face in producing a large number of films to satisfy the thirst of their fans while maintaining technical and creative production quality. This is why we at Pop Projects took it upon ourselves to become a nexus of connection between makers of short films and streaming platforms that cannot self-produce enough films to cater for their large audiences.
We are here to prove that language is not a barrier in art, as art itself is a language every human understands. We are keen on filmmakers telling true African stories. We want to see the richness of African culture in our productions
Shoots.ng: What is POP Projects all about?
POP Projects: POP Projects ensures that short film projects/web series of worth reach their desired audience. We are also about capacity building and empowerment for young and emerging filmmakers. Our platform will enable more producers to no longer see the short film as an experimental field but also as a capacity-building venture, in the sense that, if a short film raked in enough ROI for a producer, such producer might not have to go the feature-length route, since there is a platform like ours to ease distribution and get their films to the right audience. Currently, we are also looking at organizing a festival/award ceremony to train and celebrate short filmmakers. Although this is still in embryo, our team is working hard to ensure that once we kick start, nothing stops us. In addition, we are in talks with brands and NGOs who might be interested in supporting the world of short films.
Shoots.ng: Is a short film popular in Nigeria?
POP Projects: With many film schools in the country, and students graduating every session, short films are popular in Nigeria. This aside, short films made by Nigerians tend to badge more nominations at film festivals in Africa; this shows that short films are popular in Nigeria, and the creators are truly creative and passionate.
Young filmmakers will profit from their projects when they grant POP Projects access to distribute their films. We do not take the copyright from them.
Shoots.ng: How do you intend to drive the publicity and popularity of short films in Nigeria?
POP Projects: The first step is distributing short films to the right platforms. We are also spreading our tentacles beyond Nollywood to convince sponsors who apparently have given up on funding short films that short films can be lucrative. The use of social media cannot be overemphasized. We have begun publicity on social media platforms, which has been effective since commencement. On the other hand, we are planning webinars and Q&A sessions with industry professionals to further make the production of short films popular, answer the difficult questions and tackle those seemingly impossible challenges short filmmakers are facing in Africa. These, among many other plans.
Shoots.ng: What is in this project for the young filmmakers?
POP Projects: Young filmmakers will profit from their projects when they grant POP Projects access to distribute their films. We do not take the copyright from them. All we do once our QC team verifies that a film meets our organizational standard is to begin publicity on social media, place the film on any of our partners and at the end of the contract, the filmmaker, including the cast, is sure to have made some money to enable them to produce more short films, and of course a name for themselves in the industry.
Shoots.ng: Do you have or plan to have a working relationship with festival owners, especially In-short Film festival and others?
POP Projects: Yes. We have plans to build a working relationship with short film festivals, In-Short, and other reputable ones. Before the year runs out, we hope to have secured this established connection.
Shoots.ng: International streaming platforms are beginning to feature shorts, how do you intend to cope with such competition?
They are not competing with us. As stated earlier, we are a nexus of connection between makers of short films and streaming platforms, which include international streaming platforms. We have a secured connection with some international streaming platforms and are in talks with others. We are all about ensuring these platforms get more than enough top-notch short films to cater to their audience.
Shoots.ng: Do you plan technical or intellectual collaboration with young filmmakers to encourage more shorts?
POP Projects: Definitely. This is part of our in-view short film festival’s responsibility – to train, grant production funding, and distribute short films made by these young filmmakers.
Shoots.ng: How sustainable is this project?
POP Projects: There is a need for streaming platforms to have films to show to their audience. There is also the need for young filmmakers to continue to produce more in their niche rather than aim to compete with established film studios in Africa. We are only there as the diver and nexus of connection between these two distant factors, so this is a sustainable project. The market is there, waiting. The makers are there, waiting as well as the thirsty audience. Although it is business, and in business, there are risks, we at POP Projects are taking the risk for one and all filmmakers and streaming platforms.
Shoots.ng: How can you use this platform to project Nigeria’s cultural identity and memory?
POP Projects: One of the significant ways we intend to use our platform to project Nigeria’s cultural identity and memory is that we accept films in local Nigerian languages, provided the films meet our technical and creative requirements. We accept films with a traditional setting. We are here to prove that language is not a barrier in art, as art itself is a language every human understands. We are keen on filmmakers telling true African stories. We want to see the richness of African culture in our productions, and we do not have to compete with the western world in terms of setting and English accent. POP Project is all about these and more
