Ace Film-maker, Andy Boyo: “I Combine My Love For Movies With Engineering”
+ How He Turned His Hobby Into Big Business
Andy Boyo is a renowned engineer whose passion for movies made him delve into Nollywood as a director, producer and an actor. The acclaimed professional studied in the United States of America where he obtained degrees in Mechanical and Petroleum Engineering. He also obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from in the United States of America where he worked with various multinational organizations including Progressive Petroleum Company Los Angeles, California before he returned to Nigeria to start up in own oil servicing company.
His foray into Nollywood started 10 years ago when he set up his company Diamond Pictures, one of the biggest movie production outfits in Nigeria known for its excellence in cinema movies. The company recently marked its 10th year anniversary with a line-up of events, one of the which was tagged the Action Night where two blockbuster movies from the stable of Diamond Pictures, were premiered. In this interview with City People’s VIVIAN ONUORAH, the veteran filmmaker opens up on his journey into Nollywood.
Can you tell us how your journey into the entertainment started?
As an entertainer, first of all, entertainment is my hubby, not really my profession so I do it on the side, I am an Engineer, a Petroleum Engineer. But for the journey into entertainment, Diamond Pictures is my entertainment company and we are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year with a series of events.
The first event which is this quarter and will be taking place every other quarter is “Action Night.” So we are going to feature 2 action movies. We have not been featuring our movies in Nigeria; we have been featuring them internationally, in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, UK and all that. But now we are going to come closer home. We want to show you the level and standards of films we are making which is made by Nigerians.
We don’t do anything outside the country, we do everything here but we show it around the world. So this is going to be the first set of films and people can judge for themselves with the quality of films they will see. But as an entertainer, asides from directing, writing and producing films of which this year I was nominated as a scriptwriter at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards. I am the Patron of Association of Movie Producers and Actors Guild of Nigeria. So apart from doing the creative work, I am also doing the political and business work.
When and how did you get into the entertainment industry?
I was a child star, I used to act as a little kid on TV, and then we didn’t have Nollywood. It was just stories by Moonlight and we act it every week. It was children’s stuff. Julie Coker used to be my aunty at that time and that was how I started but knowing how our parents are, they did not want me to go into Arts, they wanted me to become a doctor, lawyer or engineer, so I ended up being an Engineer but the passion is still there. So I am still working with the passion.
At what point did you develop the passion professionally?
It is just a hobby that I decided to make a big business.
When did you decide to make it a big business?
Ten years ago. First of all, when I was doing my engineering work, I used to have a General Manager in my company, Emmanuel Oguguah, he happens to be here. He had a passion for movies and said he wanted to go into Nollywood. About 10 years ago, I called him and said, look, let’s develop this a little bit further because we used to show films in NTA, we bring American films and show them in NTA, that was what we were doing but when he went to Nollywood and after a while, I saw that Nollywood producers were making all this low budget movies, I said look, why don’t we step it up and encourage cinema movies. And Ben Bruce who used to be my partner in Silverbird, when Silverbird started I used to be one of the partners, I prevailed on them to open up and start showing Nigerian films but they said they needed quality movies. So I stepped down to encourage people to make cinema movies, I started by making such movies myself.
What was the first quality movie you made?
That is the movies you are going to watch today, Cobra and The Spirit of An Assassin.
Is it the movie you made 10 years ago that w e are watching today?
Actually, I didn’t make it 10 years ago, but I started making movies 10 years ago. The first thing I did then was a Soap titled “Tarima” on TV. It is still showing on NTA till date. In the middle of all that, I started developing films for action, when we say explosion we mean explosion, not all those ones they used to do. This movie was shot 4 years ago. The second one which is more passionate, I did it about a year ago.
My action movies is not all about fighting, there is a theme to it. The first one is titled “Spirit of The Assassins, it delves on assisination. John F. Kennedy was killed, they couldn’t solve the murder, Bola Ige was killed, they couldn’t solve the murder, Dele Giwa was killed, they couldn’t solve the murder. Is it the Spirit of the Assassin that is killing them?
What inspires your storyline?
Things that are happening around me, I blend it up by making some points and also giving entertainment. People like different genres. Sometimes, love genre or drama where you deal with incest or things like that.
What are some of the other movies you have done as well?
The Soap “Tarima” has been running for 8 years. It is a continuous story that deals with inter-tribal marriages, Hausa Marriage and religious entanglement into it and then it has moved on to Niger Delta when the Niger Delta was the issue, now it has moved back to promiscuous lifestyle, that is about someone who is messing around with too many partners.
Your storyline seems to touch a lot of societal issues even the controversial ones like the Niger Delta, you just mentioned don’t you think it is not wise doing such movies?
Well the story has to be told by somebody. If you just do love stories, it doesn’t make sense, somebody has to say what is going on, I have even dealt with issue of homosexuality. In fact, the movie was even banned. But my drive was instead of sweeping these things under the rugs, let’s deal with the issue. It is even done openly now. I went and did some investigations then, I shot the movie about a real story on that light but because of its graphics, somebody has to say what it is, that way we can open our eyes about these things.
As a veteran in film-making, what are some flaws you still see in Nollywoood?
A lot still needs to be done in terms of technical shooting of films but what drives it is funds and I know that in a country where you have over 200 million people where you think the market is big. You will observe the market is not even big and the buying power is very low. And people who buy these movies are the grassroots who don’t even have the money. So for you to be able to make your money back, you have to do it cheaply.
For e.g, a CD sells for N100; I buy one and all my villagers watch that same one, then the producer can’t make his money. So even when people who have the skill and expertise want to do something very good, these factors restrict them.
Tell us your background?
I am a Petroleum and Mechanical Engineer, I used to work in USA, doing space shuttles, I came back to Nigeria and there are no space shuttles to be built here (laughs). I have 5 degrees and 2 B.Sc in Engineering both Mechanical and Petroleum Master in same disciples and MBA and asides from that, movie-making by practice. I never went to any school for that. I am from Delta, Itsekiri by tribe.
Andy Boyo is a renowned engineer whose passion for movies made him delve into Nollywood as a director, producer and an actor. The acclaimed professional studied in the United States of America where he obtained degrees in Mechanical and Petroleum Engineering. He also obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from in the United States of America where he worked with various multinational organizations including Progressive Petroleum Company Los Angeles, California before he returned to Nigeria to start up in own oil servicing company.
His foray into Nollywood started 10 years ago when he set up his company Diamond Pictures, one of the biggest movie production outfits in Nigeria known for its excellence in cinema movies. The company recently marked its 10th year anniversary with a line-up of events, one of the which was tagged the Action Night where two blockbuster movies from the stable of Diamond Pictures, were premiered. In this interview with City People’s VIVIAN ONUORAH, the veteran filmmaker opens up on his journey into Nollywood.
Can you tell us how your journey into the entertainment started?
As an entertainer, first of all, entertainment is my hubby, not really my profession so I do it on the side, I am an Engineer, a Petroleum Engineer. But for the journey into entertainment, Diamond Pictures is my entertainment company and we are celebrating our 10th anniversary this year with a series of events.
The first event which is this quarter and will be taking place every other quarter is “Action Night.” So we are going to feature 2 action movies. We have not been featuring our movies in Nigeria; we have been featuring them internationally, in South Africa, Malawi, Zambia, UK and all that. But now we are going to come closer home. We want to show you the level and standards of films we are making which is made by Nigerians.
We don’t do anything outside the country, we do everything here but we show it around the world. So this is going to be the first set of films and people can judge for themselves with the quality of films they will see. But as an entertainer, asides from directing, writing and producing films of which this year I was nominated as a scriptwriter at the Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards. I am the Patron of Association of Movie Producers and Actors Guild of Nigeria. So apart from doing the creative work, I am also doing the political and business work.
When and how did you get into the entertainment industry?
I was a child star, I used to act as a little kid on TV, and then we didn’t have Nollywood. It was just stories by Moonlight and we act it every week. It was children’s stuff. Julie Coker used to be my aunty at that time and that was how I started but knowing how our parents are, they did not want me to go into Arts, they wanted me to become a doctor, lawyer or engineer, so I ended up being an Engineer but the passion is still there. So I am still working with the passion.
At what point did you develop the passion professionally?
It is just a hobby that I decided to make a big business.
When did you decide to make it a big business?
Ten years ago. First of all, when I was doing my engineering work, I used to have a General Manager in my company, Emmanuel Oguguah, he happens to be here. He had a passion for movies and said he wanted to go into Nollywood. About 10 years ago, I called him and said, look, let’s develop this a little bit further because we used to show films in NTA, we bring American films and show them in NTA, that was what we were doing but when he went to Nollywood and after a while, I saw that Nollywood producers were making all this low budget movies, I said look, why don’t we step it up and encourage cinema movies. And Ben Bruce who used to be my partner in Silverbird, when Silverbird started I used to be one of the partners, I prevailed on them to open up and start showing Nigerian films but they said they needed quality movies. So I stepped down to encourage people to make cinema movies, I started by making such movies myself.
What was the first quality movie you made?
That is the movies you are going to watch today, Cobra and The Spirit of An Assassin.
Is it the movie you made 10 years ago that w e are watching today?
Actually, I didn’t make it 10 years ago, but I started making movies 10 years ago. The first thing I did then was a Soap titled “Tarima” on TV. It is still showing on NTA till date. In the middle of all that, I started developing films for action, when we say explosion we mean explosion, not all those ones they used to do. This movie was shot 4 years ago. The second one which is more passionate, I did it about a year ago.
My action movies is not all about fighting, there is a theme to it. The first one is titled “Spirit of The Assassins, it delves on assisination. John F. Kennedy was killed, they couldn’t solve the murder, Bola Ige was killed, they couldn’t solve the murder, Dele Giwa was killed, they couldn’t solve the murder. Is it the Spirit of the Assassin that is killing them?
What inspires your storyline?
Things that are happening around me, I blend it up by making some points and also giving entertainment. People like different genres. Sometimes, love genre or drama where you deal with incest or things like that.
What are some of the other movies you have done as well?
The Soap “Tarima” has been running for 8 years. It is a continuous story that deals with inter-tribal marriages, Hausa Marriage and religious entanglement into it and then it has moved on to Niger Delta when the Niger Delta was the issue, now it has moved back to promiscuous lifestyle, that is about someone who is messing around with too many partners.
Your storyline seems to touch a lot of societal issues even the controversial ones like the Niger Delta, you just mentioned don’t you think it is not wise doing such movies?
Well the story has to be told by somebody. If you just do love stories, it doesn’t make sense, somebody has to say what is going on, I have even dealt with issue of homosexuality. In fact, the movie was even banned. But my drive was instead of sweeping these things under the rugs, let’s deal with the issue. It is even done openly now. I went and did some investigations then, I shot the movie about a real story on that light but because of its graphics, somebody has to say what it is, that way we can open our eyes about these things.
As a veteran in film-making, what are some flaws you still see in Nollywoood?
A lot still needs to be done in terms of technical shooting of films but what drives it is funds and I know that in a country where you have over 200 million people where you think the market is big. You will observe the market is not even big and the buying power is very low. And people who buy these movies are the grassroots who don’t even have the money. So for you to be able to make your money back, you have to do it cheaply.
For e.g, a CD sells for N100; I buy one and all my villagers watch that same one, then the producer can’t make his money. So even when people who have the skill and expertise want to do something very good, these factors restrict them.
Tell us your background?
I am a Petroleum and Mechanical Engineer, I used to work in USA, doing space shuttles, I came back to Nigeria and there are no space shuttles to be built here (laughs). I have 5 degrees and 2 B.Sc in Engineering both Mechanical and Petroleum Master in same disciples and MBA and asides from that, movie-making by practice. I never went to any school for that. I am from Delta, Itsekiri by tribe.
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