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7 Mistakes Great Screenwriters Do Not Make

I love Nollywood. I’ve loved Nollywood since the days of Igbo movies subtitled in English, all the way to the days of Glamour Girls and True Confession.

The repeated pairing of Liz Benson & Sola Fosudo and Emeka Ike & Genevieve Nnaji could not quench this love, nor could soundtracks that told the entire story drown it.

I loved Nollywood when Stella Damasus was the most beautiful flower in the field, and nobody could cry like her, lip trembling and nose quivering. I can’t forget When the Sun Sets (I still have a crush on Bob-Manuel Udokwu!) because it introduced Kate Henshaw to us. I recall with fondness Ramsey Noah’s début role as “ajebutter” in Silent Night, the days when Segun Arinze was “Black Arrow” in our home. I watched with delight as Jim Iyke evolved from playing the useless drug addict who was always a thorn in his wealthy father’s side, to playing an utterly believable lover boy over and over again; my favourite is still his role as Lucky in Unforgettable with Rita Dominic.

I love Nollywood even more now that we’ve seen The Meeting, False, Kokomma, Falling, Mr & Mrs, Torn, Apaye, The Visit, The Wedding Party and many other movies we’ve thoroughly enjoyed, and are proud of. I love that there’s so much to look forward to.

However, every so often a movie comes along that leaves much to be desired, and you find yourself rolling your eyes, cringing, sighing and wishing every screenwriter would get with the programme already!

After observing screenplays written by the greats, and listening to them speak, it is clear that the major mistakes in such movie scripts are usually variants of one of these.

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