Funa Maduka: Rescripting Global Movie Industry

On the strength of her years at Netflix shaping international film strategy, the film executive, Funa Maduka, keeps her focus on stronger scripts as a way to elevate underrepresented voices in global cinema, Vanessa Obioha writes

When news broke of Funa Maduka’s latest venture—a funded development incubator for screenwriters in the Global South – the response was immediate as if everyone had been anticipating her next move.

Congratulations poured in across social media, with one LinkedIn user describing her as “a force to reckon with” and “a true creative genius.”

The comment section is filled with similar accolades and the post has since drawn hundreds of reactions and dozens of reposts.

When I caught up with Maduka recently, she laughed off the attention, though the anticipation was hardly surprising.

“I go to screenings, panels or film festivals and people are always asking, ‘what are you up to now? What are you doing?’ There was that curiosity and I wanted to make what I wanted to do next count in a way and matter for me.”

That curiosity has followed Maduka for years. She spent nearly six years at Netflix, joining in 2014 during a pivotal phase of its global expansion. As Director of International Original Films, she worked closely with both established and emerging filmmakers, helping shape the platform’s international film strategy across more than 100 countries.

Her acquisitions contributed to Netflix’s first major film nominations at the Golden Globes (Divines) and the Academy Awards (On Body and Soul). She was subsequently invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a voting member. Beyond her executive work, she is also credited with writing, producing and directing Waiting for Hassana, the first Nigerian film to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2023, she returned to Sundance as a juror.

Her new project, Palmtrees, was announced earlier this month with a call for applications. The screenplay development incubator will select between eight and 10 writers from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and Oceania, supporting them in developing feature-length genre screenplays. The project is being developed in collaboration with Neon, the American independent film production and distribution company.

For Maduka, the name Palmtrees is deeply personal. Her first name, Funa, is a short form of Ifunanya, and means love in Igbo.

“I love trees,” she explained. “It was a pastime of mine when I was a kid. I loved climbing trees, and that followed me into adulthood. When I thought about the regions I want to work with, I wondered what tree grows across all of them. The palm tree is present in Latin America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean.”

But the symbolism runs deeper. For Maduka, the palm tree also represents life in regions too often defined by poverty, war and famine.

“And then you have this beautiful symbol of life in the palm tree,” she noted. “And so, it sort of links back to what I think about stories from these regions as well, that there are beautiful talents there. So, the symbolism worked for me, and that’s why our tagline is where palm trees grow.”

It is perhaps inevitable that Maduka’s focus would return to screenwriting, given her years working closely with filmmakers. Her time at Netflix, she said, revealed a critical gap.

“The work of a creative executive is a laundry list of things to do. And I realised that when I would get a pitch or a project from one of these markets, it wasn’t necessarily that the idea wasn’t there, because I would read it. But I always thought if I had more time with this writer, I could really get this to where it needed to be.”

What is often missing, she noted, is time—time for writers to develop their ideas beyond the initial spark.

“I do feel like the time required is not something that we’re talking about. You know, like a couple of weeks to send them off to go figure it out for themselves, and then they come back with a better script.”

That sustained attention to craft sits at the core of Palmtrees. Selected writers will undergo intensive one-on-one development with story analysts and will be compensated throughout the programme, which will culminate in a three-week in-person residency.

Maduka does not underestimate the demands of screenwriting, a process she herself has experienced both as an executive and a creator.

“It is one thing to have a concept or an idea, and then it is another to figure out plot construction, dialogue, and to nail the landing. It comes with so much work and rewrite after rewrite and discipline.”

The challenge is compounded, she added, by the limited number of film schools across many of these regions. In her view, the Global South remains underrepresented in the global film industry, and stronger screenplays could help shift that balance.

“My thesis is that it needs stronger screenplays, really well-written screenplays. We have to make them undeniable. I’m not ignoring that there are other factors, but this is the one thing I can confidently lend my expertise to right now. It is also one of the more unglamorous, arduous and loneliest parts of the equation, but my team and I are willing to roll up our sleeves and do it.”

Palmtrees, she stressed, is about building a stronger culture of writing and also a way of helping writers generally whom she believes have not been getting enough support.

“I believe that story is the blueprint. If you think about it like a building, if the blueprint isn’t strong, there will be vulnerabilities in the structure.”

The focus for now, she reiterated, remains in early-stage development.

“We are very much focused on screenwriting development, and that is very intentional for us. We don’t want to be distracted by other things, at least not at this early stage.”

Bringing the conversation back home, Maduka said she is impressed by the increasing attention to visual storytelling, particularly in the use of locations. Sometimes, they are nostalgic and other times they are revealing.

“I really love seeing Nigerian filmmakers expand the geographic scope of our country,” she said. “Which is why I really hope for more stability and investment in our natural resources because it is a really beautiful country. When the storytelling landscape is broadened in that way, it does increase national pride and curiosity.”

“I love what filmmakers are doing to remind us of the beauty of our country.”