Sometimes People Misunderstand Me Because I’ve Strong Work Ethics –Brenda Fasugba

Brenda Fasugba is the Regional Lead for Creative Economy at the British Council and also Head of Arts in Nigeria. In this interview with TONY OKUYEME, she talks about the Film Lab Africa, the short and micro films project, how she started as an actor, challenges and other issues

What’s the idea behind Film Lab Africa?

Film Lab was born from a place of accessing the need of the sector. Nollywood has been such a fantastic phenomenon that has given all of us so much value, and sometimes it feels like we’re not investing in Nollywood the way we should. We’re not looking at the future of it. And so Film Lab came to support building a new pipeline of filmmakers.

So that as the generation of people we know now, as they move on in their careers and in their lives, there’s a new set of filmmakers; there’s a fresh set of storytellers. So Film Lab is here to do that, to support that cohort of filmmakers, to level up in their skills.

So how long has it been?

This is the first cohorts, but we have a plan, an initial plan for three years. So two more cohorts to go.

What are the challenges?

One of the biggest challenges was recruitment, trying to recruit the applicants. It was a shock that it was difficult to get people to apply for the cohort, just to get people to send in the applications.

In the beginning was very hard. But I think, also what we realised also was that we needed to speak the right kind of language. We needed to address young people in the way that they would understand. And then it picked up. So we had good applications, but we didn’t have a lot of room. We limited it at 60.

So that’s one of the biggest challenges. I think the second biggest challenge, would be, and this is a multi layer problem, we’re looking at domestic consumption, not just in Nigeria, but across Africa. And trying to find a way for films to be seen. The films are not yet commercial, they need encouragement. So you need to find a balance where people can watch these films and support the films by giving the cohorts investment.

So that balance of what domestic consumption can do, Nollywood is doing well. It has a lot of views. It’s on YouTube. It’s on different streamers. So, that’s the question, but how do you get on Netflix, for example? When a young filmmaker who doesn’t have any antecedents as such, is trying to get the attention of Netflix.

And Nigeria is a country of over 200 million people, and we’re looking at how many people are churning out films, it’s stiff. So I think for us, navigating the pathway for the distribution for your filmmakers, that’s one of the challenges as well. Thankfully, we were able to leverage the British Council brand, leverage our age.

This year is 80 years of the British Council in Nigeria, and I think over the years, we’ve had an extensive relationship with the creative sector. So we’re able to leverage on those relationships, to kind of simplify things. So the vision around microfilms and smartphones is to look at how storytellers can tell short format stories? Tell stories in a way that is inexpensive, but still be able to find commercial value for it.

When you go on social media, now, there are many services that are digital services, and these are commercial activities. So we’re hoping that we’re able to share knowledge that can empower young people to take their phone and take their content and turn it into profit. That’s the idea.

What are the next steps for Film Lab Africa in terms of supporting smartphones film making?

We want to extend it. We’re going to do another cohort next year. At the moment, what we want will be partnerships, partnerships with mobile phone companies that would support, giving them updated phones.

A lot of phones now are coming equipped with AI apps that can do a lot quite a bit.

We would like to see some of these brands support this initiative. But we’re definitely taking it notch higher. There’s a lot to be done with some of the apps that exist on the phone on social media. So we’re going to go deeper.

What partnerships or collaborations has Film Lab Africa pursued to further the reach and impact of these films?

There’s a couple of foundations, to see how they’re able to support us, but we’re still in talks. I can say that we’re bringing a showcase to Lagos Fringe. The British Council is collaborating with Lagos Fringe, and we’re going to do a public showing of all the films that came out of Film Lab in November.

Tell us how your career in the creative arts sector began?

I started as an actor on stage, and I’m still looking at all of the challenges…

How did it happen?

Is it that you wanted to be an actor from the onset? No, I didn’t. I didn’t. I went to watch a play at Terra Kulture…

Which play?

It was a Wole Oguntokun play titled ‘The Tarzan Monologue’, which was a response to ‘Virgina Monologues’. That’s why I went to watch it. Meanwhile, in school, in the university, in my church group, I was in the drama department.

So, it was something I’d always wanted to do, but I didn’t know the way. And I studied Computer Science. So, there was no exposure to the arts. Everything I leanrt about theatre, drama I went on my own.

You know, sometimes I went to University of Lagos, in my teenage years to watch RMD do plays or watch auntie Joke Silva. So I’ve always had the interest, but in the university was when I started doing something about it. So I started acting in the drama unit in church.

So what was it about you Tarzan Monologue that got so interested?

It was a long time I had watched something so contemporary. Most of the theatre had watched were really conventional, written by the masters of the past, you know. So that was one of the most contemporary plays I’ve ever seen. And I thought, wow. So there’s new material, and I think that was the exciting thing. So, I thought, if this exists, that means there must be more.

So after the play, I approached Wole Oguntokun, and I asked him if he has acting classes. What does he have? And I thought, I’ll just come. So he said, ‘Oh, come to our rehearsals, that they’re rehearsal for a new play. So I said, Okay, I can do that. And then I showed up. And I think it gave me a small role. It was a non-speaking role.

I was just going to serve food or serve drinks, something like that. You know, just to see if I could face the audience, if I was nervous or whatever. And I think I did it. I think I was a bar girl or something; and then I acted as part of the crowd. It was fun. And then, of course, I moved on to other things. And then I moved on speaking roles, but I didn’t do it for a long time. I felt that there were not paying attention to other details.

Yes, people were acting both the welfare, how was it, you know, the salaries, you know, all of those things. And I thought I could do something about that. So I decided I was going to start producing. Then I met my partner, went into business together, you know, and the rest is, as it is said, is history.

As a producer, how was your first production? The experience?

Oh, my God. Oh, what, a story. So, the first production was a play called ‘The Wives’, written by Prof. Ahmed Yerima. We couldn’t afford the MUSON Centre, so we went to a place called North Centre in Yaba, Lagos.

We had met the owner, who was such an enthusiast of the arts. And she said, ‘okay, come on, use the space, let’s see what comes of it’. And so we we invited Carol King, Kate Henshaw, Catherine, Edohoh and Lala Akindoju. We had sold a lot of tickets. We did the publicity. I remember sitting in my bedroom on the floor, sending out Facebook invites.

You understand, I was doing it manually. It’s not like now that everything is automated. And I did it for many days. I it was BBM. There was no Whatsapp then. It was a BBM messenger. I sent out pins to hundreds and hundreds of people. It was tedious, but we were able to move ticket sales because a lot of people wanted to encourage us.

And then the mother of all storms, the mother of all rain storms, came down that day. It started in the middle of the night, maybe, maybe 3am or 4am and it didn’t stop till midnight the next day. So, it was raining. Lagos was flooded for the first time, the whole of Lagos. I remember, for the first time, Lagos put out a message telling people to stay indoors. We swam our way through to the venue.

But when we go to the venue, because the rain didn’t stop, people couldn’t come in. People who were able to make it were outside watching us trying to find their way in. It wasn’t a situation where you could even put makeshift, anything for us to drive in. There was nothing. The roof of the North Centre was corrugated, and so as the rain was fall ing, it was interrupting the actors.

So the actors needed to shout, to be heard, in a little room full of people that were there. I was seven and a half months pregnant, I almost went into premature labour from the stress of the day. It was like somebody died. It was horrible. We had spent all of our savings, all of our money, and people showed up, but they couldn’t come in. People couldn’t leave their homes.

People were dealing with flooding situations, so the theatre was not their priority at the time. And you couldn’t even start calling up people ask if they are coming, because it was raining. This was in July 2011. I was actually eight months pregnant because I gave birth the next month. It was hard. Oh, my God, what’s the baptism on fire? It was the hardest thing ever. And we didn’t cancel the show.

We kept on. Some people were able to make it into the space because some people had SUVs, they could driving in through water. Some people couldn’t. A lot of people called to say, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m already in Yaba but the road is flooded. I can’t come in, you know. So we got to go back home.’ We were just looking at our empty bank accounts. We hadn’t finished paying our actors, and they were so gracious. You know, I’m forever grateful to those women.

They were so like, don’t worry, we’re going to write this off. I’m not going to lie at this point in time, this is a Jesus matter, the fortitude to bear, the fortitude came from God, because as Christians, we didn’t have any other choice. I also went back to full time working. I had to take a job because the debts were insurmountable, you know, so that we could find ways to start to pay off the debts.

The venue was kind, you know, everybody could see. And, I want to really give a big shout out to Jahman Anikulapo and Bimbo Manuel. Yes, so Jahman gave us a call, and he was like, ‘you guys, I know, I know that it feels like the end of the road. Things are going to get better. Don’t give up. Keep at it. It’s going to work.’ And I thought that was so thoughtful and very kind of him to do that, because he called on his own. Another person was Bimbo Manuel.

He called and gave words of advice and wisdom and care. But for months, we were like, This is the most devastating thing that ever happened. And 13 years later, it just looks like, Oh, my God, this happened? But, it was a very hard taste, you know, as a first time producer, very hard. And I was hard on myself as well, because I just kept thinking, what could I have done better? What else could I have done?

How would you describe yourself?

I will describe myself as someone who’s very passionate and very strong work ethics. But somewhere along the line, I found the compassion of Jesus, and that is a principle that I have. I prayed about it that I wanted to have the compassion of Jesus to always see where to help people.

And I see the work I do as a calling. I don’t just see it as work, you know, I feel like I’ve been asked to support people in this way. I know what’s going on in the world. I know what’s going on in Nigeria in terms of the economy, and when I look that I’m able to support a young person’s dream, I think that that’s the ultimate.

So, I am a hardworking, passionate person; sometimes I’m very misunderstood because I have very strong work ethics, and I’m a bit of a no-nonsense person. But at the end of the day, I think whatever it is that I have been through this life, everything has all worked out for my good.