MEETING BETWEEN GRAVEL ROAD DISTRIBUTION GROUP AND STAKEHOLDERS IN THE NIGERIAN MOVIE INDUSTRY HOSTED BY THE NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORS BOARD
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April 20, 2018
Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ) Press week 2018
April 24, 2018MEETING BETWEEN GRAVEL ROAD DISTRIBUTION GROUP AND STAKEHOLDERS IN THE NIGERIAN MOVIE INDUSTRY HOSTED BY THE NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORS BOARD
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MEETING BETWEENGRAVELROADDISTRIBUTIONGROUPAND STAKEHOLDERS IN THE NIGERIAN MOVIE INDUSTRYHOSTED BY THE NATIONAL FILM AND VIDEO CENSORSBOARD, AT THESOUTH-WEST ZONAL OFFICE LAGOS ONMONDAY APRIL 16, 2018.The National Film and Video Censors Board hosted a meeting betweenNigerian film stakeholders and an international film distributioncompany, Gravel Road Distribution Group from South Africa at theSouth-West Zonal office, Lagos on Monday 16 April 16, 2018.The Executive Director, Alhaji Adedayo Thomas, in his openingremarks said that the Board’s attendance at international film festivalsavails it the opportunity of meeting with investors interested in theNigerian movie industry. One of such is the CEO of Gravel RoadDistribution Group, Mr. Benjamin Thomas Cowley.While commending the Nigerian movie industry for being a very strongand growing industry, he mentioned that statistics on ground show thatforeign partners are looking for more content from Nigeria thananywhere else in Africa, because of its rich content.Adedayo Thomas advised stakeholders to take advantage ofwhatever opportunity offered by the investors, noting that the duty of theBoard is to create an enabling environment for them to make moneylegitimately. He told them it might be rough at the start but that theyhave a good market waiting for them.He assured Mr. Cowley that the government is behind the licensedstakeholders and that he is willing to serve as guarantor for any of them.He also added that the Board is looking at Nigeria attending the SouthAfrican Film Festival coming up in July 2018 in Cape Town. -
The Chief Executive Officer of Gravel Road Distribution Group, Mr.Benjamin Thomas Cowley while introducing his company, said that ithas its headquarters in Cape Town with a presence in Ghana, Dubai,Saudi Arabia, Botswana and Johannesburg. The company, according tohim deals in animation productions, e-learning and other tech industryrelated businesses. Their focus is on television and movie content. Hisorganization, according to him, also represents Fox Networks and Sonyin the greater continent and runs deals on their behalf in other territoriesin which they do not feel comfortable in.Mr. Cowley informed the stakeholders that Gravel Road DistributionGroup is interested in working with content from Africa and hiscompany’s agenda in Nigeria is to do business with any willing Nigerianfilmmaker in areas of distribution within and outside Africa. Accordingto him, one of the things that set his company apart is the “windowing”model. He explained that Gravel Road Distribution Group has awindowing view which takes 5 years to fully commercially exploit thevalue out of movie content. Cowel advised the stakeholders to follow aproper distribution process and discouraged the idea of licensing movierights to free-to-air broadcasters first. This is because by so doing thefilmmakers lose any opportunity of getting other deals.Explaining further, Mr. Cowley said for every project, the companyexplores every possible revenue opportunity and properly times filmreleases. The company tries to explore different Pay-tv options withinthe continent as well as in the U.S.A. and Europe. He advised that thefilmmakers take a theatrical process because it goes a long way to createawareness for the film which is usually a criterion for broadcasters.Mr. Cowley also noted that filmmakers in this region seem to want a lotfor their films out of the first deal. He said that his company is pragmaticabout the window process and would rather help the filmmaker make more
money within the period of about 5 years
The meeting had in attendance representatives of Yoruba Video Filmand Producers Association of Nigeria (YOVIFPMAN), Film VideoProducers and Marketers Association of Nigeria (FVPMAN),Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Independent Stakeholders andmany more.
