Mo Abudu Discusses Her Netflix Deal: “As a Continent, We’ve Remained So Quiet”

 

Mo Abudu sat down with the folks at THR, where she talked about her recent deals with Netflix, the movies she produced, and Oloture which is set to premiere this October.

Asked if all of her films are available for streaming on Netflix, she said:

Yeah, literally every single film we have made has gone to Netflix, starting from our first in 2015 called Fifty, which was basically about these four women about to turn 50 and going through a sort of midlife crisis. It was our first foray into making films after we set up EbonyLifeTV in 2013. And in 2014 we were like, let’s get into the world of moviemaking. I was also turning 50 that year.

About when she starting discussing her exclusive deal with Netflix, she said:

The conversation started months and months ago, we’ve been talking about it for ages. But it’s the first of its type on the continent, it’s never been done. We are the first African production company that Netflix has signed a multiple title deal with. I pray there are many more, because it will be great to see so many more filmmakers and storytellers empowered on the continent, but we are the first. It’s been wonderful working with them. They are such a great team of creatives and have a very collaborative approach to work.

About her plan to reach the global audience, she said:

Oh yeah, it’s for a global audience. They’ve made other projects, like Blood and Water, a South African production that became a number one hit in America the weekend that it came out. So this is an African story that the world has bought into. I’ve often said that Africa, as a continent, we’ve remained so quiet. We’ve been so quiet, and our stories have just never been told. Now we’re talking about Black Lives Matter, and Black stories matter. And a lot of the broadcasters are saying that it’s time now for there to be more Black stories on screen and more Black creatives involved in the process. But I’m happy to say that, you know, we started our journey with Netflix before then.

And about what she thinks of Netflix exclusive deal and the likes of John Boyega, she said:

Netflix are trailblazers. And no doubt the others will come and sign deals too.

I’ve been going to MIPCOM for probably 10 years now. I go every year and I’m really excited about meeting all the big studios and pitching, and they always say there’s never a bad meeting in Hollywood. Everybody always sort of listens to you politely, you have a glass of wine, you exchange cards, you’re like yeah, we’ll catch up next week. And you come home, you’re sending emails and you’re not getting any replies.

And so often when you spoke to these studios, for them, going to Africa you felt like the way they said it was like they were taking a trip to the moon. Lagos is a six-hour flight from London, and it’s on the same time zone. It’s not that far. So until the company decides that they’re going to put specific executives into positions where they are responsible for Africa, nothing really changes. They often lump Africa with somewhere else, maybe Asia. And they often don’t have much time to focus on Africa, but it’s in [the executive’s] title. So he may send you a couple of emails, but nothing’s really ever going to happen.

But Netflix were the first ones to get executives out there who are responsible for Africa. There’s Ben Amadasun and Dorothy Ghettuba, based in Amsterdam, who are both responsible for originals and licensing in Africa. Their day-to-day job is Africa. So the other studios, of course, are now beginning to realize that they need to have an African representative. But Netflix has kind of beaten them to it. But I do say the Sony and AMC and one or two others are also doing the right thing. So it’s good to see that there is interest in our stories.

You can read the rest of the interview here