"Are the cast and crew members invited to renegotiate pay every time Netflix and their producer partners decide to switch from film to 'limited series'?" Over the last few days since Netflix announced its 'first Nigerian original', I have struggled to get this question out of my head. It is what has forced me out of the mama nest I was beginning to enjoy, maybe too much.
I'll like to think that I once was an avid believer in Netflix as the Messiah that Nollywood desperately needed to save it from itself. Nearly four years since their first Nigerian original film ‘Lionheart’, we can all agree that it takes more than just glossy ad campaigns to save an industry.
Lately, it seems that the streaming service may have come to the conclusion that some of Nollywood’s shoddy and unscrupulous business style is unbeatable and have decided to join in. How else does one explain this ‘series, not series’ conundrum?
Background Story
Flashback to 2020, the year Netflix partnered with famed filmmaker Kemi Adetiba for the anticipated sequel of her hit feature crime thriller 'King of Boys'. Acquisition deals like the kind with Adetiba are not unusual practice as many of its hit shows got onboard via this medium.
Fast forward to 2021, months after principal photography in October of the previous year, Netflix and Adetiba co-announced a seven-part limited series. A series? Was a series the original plan or something that had to be the final option given the amount of content Adetiba had shot?
In September 2021, Netflix announced its collaboration with EbonyLife studios for an original film titled 'Blood Sisters'. EbonyLife CEO and the project's Executive Producer, Mo Abudu revealed that they had wrapped production on the Netflix original film.
"I am super proud and pleased to announce that production has wrapped on Netflix's latest Original film titled Blood Sisters and produced by EbonyLife studios," the media mogul wrote in an Instagram post dated September 3, 2021.
I was just as stunned as many to once again read, a few days ago, that Netflix had struck again, turning the project which was first announced as a film into a four-part series with the 'first original series' brand they tried so hard to shove down our throats.
The question of whose original is truly the first will probably lead to more questions like what truly happened to the Akin Omotoso series which was killed under the guise of the pandemic? How about the original series created by Naz Onuzo and Dami Elebe and announced by Inkblot Productions in 2020? These, indeed, are million dollar questions for another day.
The question for today is how this game of peek-a-boo affects the livelihood of cast and crew members working in an industry infamous for exploitation. Is this new norm of negotiating and preparing cast and crew for a film then turning it into a series, not actionable? Isn’t it unfair business practice or duress of some kind? What do the guilds think about this practice? So many questions to ask.
It is unconscionable to have Nollywood practitioners swim from one form of exploitation to another. At some point, they will have to speak up against these crippling practices personally or through their professional guilds.
I recently reached out to Kemi Adetiba to comment on rumours that the cast and crew of her 'King of Boys: The return of the King' were made to sign an addendum to their contracts after it switched from feature film to series months into post-production.
Read Adetiba's statement:
"About 6 months into post-production, the Netflix team were concerned that the movie was too long for the viewers to take in one dose. We had tried trimming the film, but to get it down to two and a half hours for both parts meant leaving a shell of a film, and a lot of integral parts of the film on the edit floor.
"To mitigate this challenge, the Netflix team suggested we turn it into a series. As creators, of course our initial worry was that since it had been written as a film, it wouldn't translate into a series (at least, not an enjoyable one worthy of our big hopes for KOB 2) but after NETFLIX hired a SERIES Consultant to come on board to see how this could happen, her excitement after watching the films, and her unreserved belief that she could guide the film story into its series transition, I welcomed the idea in the interest of the story and product performance.
"Furthermore, in the contract, the new installment of KOB was still described as a film and called "KOB 2". This could no longer be the official title, as to accommodate the switch to series, it was now to be called, KOB: THE RETURN OF THE KING. In light of this, an addendum was added to our contracts by NETFLIX effecting this name change and format switch, and we (KAV) proceeded to inform the cast and crew of the new development and the need to readjust the same change on theirs. Thankfully, they were understanding enough of the situation, and we were able to secure their signatures, before I signed it myself. It was only after this that we went back to recut and resound the entire project. Not one person acted without integrity, and without full knowledge of all concerned.
"KOB 2 was never preconceived as a series, and that even when it became necessary to make it so, no reshoots were done to accommodate this transition. Also, the addendum treated only the recital clause of the initial agreement. Every other clause remained as it was, as per the original agreement."