The claim that some movie producers steal and adopt titles from their
colleagues has been on for a while and continues to generate
controversy. In this piece, Anthony Ada Abraham and Patience Ivie
Ihejirika write
One of Nollywood’s veteran actors recently revealed an ugly situation in the movie industry. The actor, in an interview, told LEADERSHIP movie producers no longer reveal their movie titles until such movies had been censored. The reason, according to him, is because movie producers are now in the act of stealing movie titles from their colleagues.
The actor who was responding to a question on whether he had any movies he was featuring in, said unfortunately, he did even know the titles of the movies because he was told by the producers that they were not revealing the titles of their movies any more so as not to lose them to ‘sniff dog’ colleagues.
“As a matter of fact, I am featuring in a movie presently but these days, they don’t put the titles. When l asked why, the producer said they now steal movie titles and to avoid a situation whereby another producer will come steal the title, he has to censor the movie first before disclosing the title.
“Imagine a situation whereby you are working on a movie and then someone comes and steals the title and then rushes to the censors board to censor the title with his own movie, by the time you want to censor your movie, you will be told that the title had already been censored whereas you are the original owner of the title and because someone else has stolen it from you and has rushed to censor it, you will lose the title. That is the reason why some producers no longer disclose their movie titles until they have censored them.
“Even if they have a title, it is just a working title, so I don’t get to know the name of the film until it is out and somebody tells me who and who were also featured in the movie, then I will get to know the film you are talking about,” he stated.
Movie producer and director, Saheed Apanpa, said issues had risen that compelled produces to change the titles of their movies because some people had used them.
He said, “Well, it is good to find out whether a title has been used before or not so that you don’t have clash of titles and people mistaking one film for the other.”
Another producer and director who is also a scriptwriter, Uzee, said it was not possible to snatch movie titles because names of movies and their titles are usually censored before release.
“Have you forgotten that we do copy right for names of movies alone. It’s not possible. Before you release a movie, you must take it to Censors Board. If someone has that name before, they will tell you, they have record of all movies in Nigeria, then you will do copy right owner again.
“So no matter how, if censors board doesn’t tell you that this name belongs to someone else, Copy right will,” he added.
The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) coroborated Uzee’s claim, saying it had not recorded any cases of producers coming to complain their movie titles had been stolen and brought for censorship by their colleagues.
The director-general of the board, Bala Patricia, explained that movies might have the same title but it is not usually around the same period.
According to her, it takes about two years before the agency allows the same title to be used for another movie, and there are exceptional cases whereby the producer of the film copyrights the title.
“When they bring their titles, we check to make sure that no other person has that title and they may have the same title but not around the same period. We give maybe a period of two years to allow the movie move into the market.
“Unless the owner of the film has gone to copy right the title, otherwise, any other person can have the same title but we try as much as possible not to allow that to happen.
“When a title had been approved here, we don’t allow another film to have the same title till after two years. We have a data base where we put all our films, the titles, duration, even the crew, the producers, the actors and actresses. We have them in our data base, so we don’t want to create confusion so we take one title at a time,” she explained.
NFVCB is the regulatory body set up by Act No.85 of 1993 to regulate the films and video industry in Nigeria.
The board is empowered by law to classify all films and videos whether imported or produced locally. It is also the duty of the board to register all films and video outlets across the country and to keep a register of such registered outlets, among other functions.
But an entertainment critic, Fidelity said discrepancies arose because many movie producers and directors were not professionals.
“I know that in Nigeria today, all the movies are about love, rape, sex, guns, cultism etc. Those responsible should have the strength to select perfect titles because even the title of a movie is the first marketable item for a producer. I suggest that producers should make sure they use titles that would sell their movies and not the come and go ones they use which is why they are afraid of even letting out the names,” he said.
One of Nollywood’s veteran actors recently revealed an ugly situation in the movie industry. The actor, in an interview, told LEADERSHIP movie producers no longer reveal their movie titles until such movies had been censored. The reason, according to him, is because movie producers are now in the act of stealing movie titles from their colleagues.
The actor who was responding to a question on whether he had any movies he was featuring in, said unfortunately, he did even know the titles of the movies because he was told by the producers that they were not revealing the titles of their movies any more so as not to lose them to ‘sniff dog’ colleagues.
“As a matter of fact, I am featuring in a movie presently but these days, they don’t put the titles. When l asked why, the producer said they now steal movie titles and to avoid a situation whereby another producer will come steal the title, he has to censor the movie first before disclosing the title.
“Imagine a situation whereby you are working on a movie and then someone comes and steals the title and then rushes to the censors board to censor the title with his own movie, by the time you want to censor your movie, you will be told that the title had already been censored whereas you are the original owner of the title and because someone else has stolen it from you and has rushed to censor it, you will lose the title. That is the reason why some producers no longer disclose their movie titles until they have censored them.
“Even if they have a title, it is just a working title, so I don’t get to know the name of the film until it is out and somebody tells me who and who were also featured in the movie, then I will get to know the film you are talking about,” he stated.
Movie producer and director, Saheed Apanpa, said issues had risen that compelled produces to change the titles of their movies because some people had used them.
He said, “Well, it is good to find out whether a title has been used before or not so that you don’t have clash of titles and people mistaking one film for the other.”
Another producer and director who is also a scriptwriter, Uzee, said it was not possible to snatch movie titles because names of movies and their titles are usually censored before release.
“Have you forgotten that we do copy right for names of movies alone. It’s not possible. Before you release a movie, you must take it to Censors Board. If someone has that name before, they will tell you, they have record of all movies in Nigeria, then you will do copy right owner again.
“So no matter how, if censors board doesn’t tell you that this name belongs to someone else, Copy right will,” he added.
The National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) coroborated Uzee’s claim, saying it had not recorded any cases of producers coming to complain their movie titles had been stolen and brought for censorship by their colleagues.
The director-general of the board, Bala Patricia, explained that movies might have the same title but it is not usually around the same period.
According to her, it takes about two years before the agency allows the same title to be used for another movie, and there are exceptional cases whereby the producer of the film copyrights the title.
“When they bring their titles, we check to make sure that no other person has that title and they may have the same title but not around the same period. We give maybe a period of two years to allow the movie move into the market.
“Unless the owner of the film has gone to copy right the title, otherwise, any other person can have the same title but we try as much as possible not to allow that to happen.
“When a title had been approved here, we don’t allow another film to have the same title till after two years. We have a data base where we put all our films, the titles, duration, even the crew, the producers, the actors and actresses. We have them in our data base, so we don’t want to create confusion so we take one title at a time,” she explained.
NFVCB is the regulatory body set up by Act No.85 of 1993 to regulate the films and video industry in Nigeria.
The board is empowered by law to classify all films and videos whether imported or produced locally. It is also the duty of the board to register all films and video outlets across the country and to keep a register of such registered outlets, among other functions.
But an entertainment critic, Fidelity said discrepancies arose because many movie producers and directors were not professionals.
“I know that in Nigeria today, all the movies are about love, rape, sex, guns, cultism etc. Those responsible should have the strength to select perfect titles because even the title of a movie is the first marketable item for a producer. I suggest that producers should make sure they use titles that would sell their movies and not the come and go ones they use which is why they are afraid of even letting out the names,” he said.
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