As Young Nigerian Creatives Unveil ‘Unilife’

Charles Ajunwa writes on the unveiling and launch of ‘Unilife’, a Nollywood movie drama series in Lagos

Last Sunday’s premiere and launch of Unilife, a Nollywood  drama series by young creative Nigerians, had all the trappings of the Oscars.

The event which took place in Lagos, attracted movie enthusiasts from all walks of life cutting across all ages.  The theme of the movie drama series centred on “where secrets, love and danger collide”.

In his welcome address, Executive Producer, Olatunde ‘ED’ Ayoola, said the launch of the drama series was a fulfilling amount of work.

“Hopefully it’s the beginning of many coming forward. I wanted to share with you some words about how we got to where we are from my perspective. A couple of years ago, Frank Macaulay, my childhood friend, messaged me and said, ‘hey, I’m going to be in Dubai, where I live, attending a film conference. Are you around to catch up?’ And we did. And it was a wonderful catch up with my dear old friend, Frank. And during the course of the conversation, he described to me why he was in Dubai for the conference, what he was trying to do, the idea and dream that he had about making a series called Unilife.

“I don’t know anything about the film industry. But as he described it more and more, it wasn’t only the idea of the Unilife series. He shared with me bits of the script and it looked fantastic and sounded fantastic. I was quite captivated by it. But it was more so what he represented. He described to me all the 9jaStudios, all the boot camps, the workshops, and the training.

“It was all about helping people at the very beginning of their journey in their acting careers and supporting them as best as we can to help them achieve their dreams. That’s what got me about this, because I have been looking for avenues to support young Nigerians in their careers. This turned out to be that.

“Fast forward, we’re here today at the launch event of the Unilife series, an immensely proud moment. I hope you enjoy this series. But please, as you’re enjoying this series, please remember what it represents for us.

It represents what we as young Nigerians can achieve if we work together and we support each other and we put the effort into what it is we’re doing. You’ll see the actors and the whole crew of the film that created the Unilife series. What we can achieve. So let’s make this a success.

“Let’s make the evening a success. Please enjoy it. Let’s make the launch and the series itself a success because we want to do more with the same principle of supporting and helping to bring up young Nigerians towards their dreams and towards their fulfillment. I’ve invested in Frank Macaulay’s dreams. I’m so proud of having done that. So proud to have him as a friend. So proud of the whole crew that created the Unilife series. Please keep that in mind. Take the enjoyment from this series, but take even more enjoyment from what it represents.”

An elated Frank Adekunle Macaulay, the brainchild of Unilife, said “We want to give encouragement like the executive producer said to young adult Nigerians that maybe tomorrow will be the superstars. Our motto is – we train the actors of tomorrow today, the stars of tomorrow today and it’s not just about acting.”

According to him, the journey to create anything starts with one step. “That step is the beginning. There are many up and down trails along the road. Today, I’m really happy that all of you have attended. But you know, a tree does not make a forest.” He thanked all the actors and crew, technical team, camera people and investors for being part of this dream. According to him, talent thrives through training together without which one can’t achieve anything.

He revealed that Unilife is about hypocrisy. “Every character has two sides. If you watch unilife, you’ll notice that every main character is struggling.”

On how he came up with the idea of Unilife, he said, “It started with wanting to build a studio, it started with wanting to work with young people because I had worked with young people in the UK and then it grew from there.”

It was not all rosy as he faced challenges during the writing of the movie. “I’m a Nigerian and when we face challenges, we tend not to buckle. It gets to the point where you start carrying more and more load and you manage somehow to make it work and that’s something that we are able to do. But I’ll tell you this, you want challenges, traffic, NEPA, you know cantankerous drivers, you know it goes on and on. But it’s more to do with how do you overcome your obstacles? Is your cup half full or half empty?

Speaking on what inspired the decision to have Script Acting Boot Camp (SABC) as back up for his production, Macaulay said, “As you can see, when I am talking, I am talking with subtext, I am bringing in different elements. Now, having gone through life myself, I have fallen down many times. That is the truth. It has not been rosy, but every time I have fallen down, because of the training that my father and mother gave me. I remember my father one day telling me, why are you crying? He said, if you don’t stop crying, get up and move on. I will give you something to cry about. That thing had a subconscious effect on me, and so whenever I have fallen down, when he is saying, look at Bode over there. He only did half of what I did.  Look how far he has gone. Self-pity. And self-pity is a dangerous thing.”

Afolabi Silver, who directed the movie, said SABC made it easier for him. “Working with young actors in Unilife, SABC made it easier for me and for everybody because we trained them, we understood them. Even casting made it even easier because I saw a little bit of everybody in the characters that they played.”

On where he finds the passion to keep going, Silver said, “Passion is the key element to any ambition and having the actors together, the crew together, and having a compassionate and loving and caring person, like Mr. Frank, as the showrunner and the producer, if you were around during the production, you would see how much he cared.”

The movie stars Wale Ojo, Lucille Love Oputa, Oladaye Folaranmi, Peculiar Adunni Anthony, Rubelle Diamond, Iyang Victor, Mercy Essien Emmanuela, Prince Ejiroghene Badare, Celia Okechukwu and Promise Agbor. Other crew members include Kenechi Oraghalum (Associate Producer, Christopher Fasipebi (Visual Effect Supervisor), Adeniyi Adeniyi (Writer) and others.