Netflix Offers $90,000 For Nollywood, $500million For Asian, European Films

The rates offered by streaming platform, Netflix, for Nigerian films to Asian and European industries may cause a huge disparities between them,Since insertion into Nigeria, the streaming platform has taken a firm grip on the country's nollywood industry, with many movie producers now more interested in having their projects on the platform than cinemas. Commenting on this, Moses Babatope, managing director of FilmOne Entertainment, the country’s trendiest distribution operation said the situation is caused by lack of enough funds for Nigerian filmmakers.

“How much production budget are these filmmakers working with? I don’t believe any passionate filmmaker will willingly drop standards if there is finance to work with.” “There have been some worries about the production quality of Nollywood films dropping, but rather than blame it on the ingress of streaming platforms, I will focus more on the level of investments made in production,” he said.

Netflix offers compensation that it claims is reflective of market rates.This comes down to average licensing fees of between $10,000 to $90,000, with most deals landing near the middle range according to off-the-record conversations with producers,In essence of all this lies a critical discussion about how African art is valued in mainstream spaces. Netflix plans to spend $500million on films and series produced in South Korea this year alone, the same amount the company announced it spent making and licensing content in the United Kingdom in 2019.

What is the production budget are these filmmakers working with? any passionate filmmaker will not willingly drop standards if there is finance to work with.Speaking on this, Walter Taylaur, who has had two of his films licensed on the platform, argues, “Their explanation would make better sense if the films were being shown in Nigeria alone. But if you think the content is good enough to be shown in worldwide markets, maybe pay worldwide rates.”