I Endured Gatekeeping When I Dumped Music For Nollywood – JJC Skillz

Nollywood filmmaker and Funke Akindele’s ex-husband, JJC Skillz, has come out to share how he transitioned from the music industry to Nollywood. He recently revealed that his age and a desire to evolve majorly led to his decision to switch.

Speaking during a new interview, JJC said that after singing and shooting music videos for several years, he eventually realized that he was getting too old for the young industry.

According to him, due to his passion for telling stories and the urge to evolve as an entertainer, he did not hesitate to embrace Nollywood as the next step in his career.

He, however, stated that he faced a lot of challenges just to break into the film industry, including gatekeeping.

“As far back as I can remember, I have been shooting music videos for years. Even my ‘We Are Africans’ video, I shot that myself. But after doing African Gang in 2011, I realised I was getting too old for the young scene, so I knew it was time to evolve. I packed my bags and moved into Nollywood. I was very passionate about telling stories.

I wouldn’t say normal life when you’re starting again. I was a JJC (newbie). I didn’t grow up with most of the filmmakers in Nigeria, so it was like, ‘You want to enter our space?’ Some doors were closed. There are gatekeepers at all levels. It’s a situation of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop. We put in a lot of work. Sometimes, the cinemas take 70 per cent, other times 60 per cent, and after paying 22 per cent tax, we’re left with nothing,” he said.

Stressing that perseverance and dedication helped him to overcome the gatekeeping hurdle, JJC noted that he immediately found out that producers constantly struggle to receive a fair share of revenue after investing so much.

Urging filmmakers to try to always give audiences value regardless, the “We Are Africans” crooner confirmed that he is currently marketing his movie with a refund pledge if viewers feel it was a waste of time.

“We have to make the film and also sell it because distribution companies aren’t out there selling. We are stuck in a horrible place. The hope for a better day was with streaming companies, but they’ve left. So now we’re back to asking, ‘if we put our money into it, will we get it back?’ At the end of the day, it’s a business, and creativity is getting killed. Nigerian filmmakers need to improve to give the people value. I’ve even had to market my film with a promise of refunds if viewers weren’t satisfied,” he added.