Last year, I committed to doing three things: “Co-produce two short films from the Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon short story collection and learn a new dance –  the samba.”

This came out of a 2018 Creative Goals Challenge by Lagos-based publisher, Narrative Landscapes.

I wasn’t 100% sure how the co-producing part would be done but I can tell you this – writing something down is almost like a trigger to do something about it. I’m not trying to take you to church but believe me, when the Bible says “Write down the vision, make it plain on tablets that he who reads may run.” (Habakkuk 2:2)

Well, I can say I did 2 out of 3. I’m still holding out on that samba.

I tested the waters of screenwriting. I love to tell stories, (or think about them) but I had only written prose. Common sense told me I couldn’t, shouldn’t, but that little girl in me who had sometimes been told she couldn’t do something refused to give up.  So I teamed up with a young film director – Dami Orimogunje. How we met was serendipitous.

Dami and I after the morning show at R2TV in 2015

Dami and I met in 2014 via twitter. (Yes, Twitter is good for some things). Then he worked behind the scenes in production at R2TV in Lagos. He found out I was coming to Lagos and invited me as a guest to the morning show. I totally enjoyed the show. I wanted to talk about everything – from Thread of Gold Beads to the adaptation of the book to a play and also about my non-profit – Our Paths to Greatness that had just been founded. Here’s a clip to the show

Letting off steam after the show

In the same year, my husband and I had founded Three Magi Productions, a TV/film production company. Thread of Gold Beads was the debut production in October 2014.

Bury Me Come Sunday Afternoon short story collection was published by Quramo Publishing in 2016 and I let it sit for a while. I pondered as to how it could happen. How could I possibly write for the screen? I’d managed to rewrite Thread of Gold Beads Play after it’s debut in the DMV. It was now shorter and tighter, but that was a play. This was for the screen.

Dami and I had kept in touch, and I had been following his progress. At the time I contacted him he’d just finished a short titled ‘Mo.’ It was a brave, bold short film. You should watch it. Here’s the  trailer

I was looking to collaborate with someone who had experience in the industry, and I was hungry to learn. So we sat down one afternoon at a mall in Ikeja and talked. He flipped through the stories. Losing My Religion was our pick.

We basically rewrote the story. Writing for the screen, as I came to learn, is quite different from writing prose. Edits upon edits, emails and calls and Losing My Religion, the short film, was born.

Losing My Religion has since been screened at two African Film Festivals, an upcoming one in Luxor, Egypt and the next in Dallas, Texas in July. Watch the trailer here

I can’t wait for you to see what’s in store, not just for Losing My Religion but for Three Magi Productions.Here are pictures from the next short coming from Three Magi Productions – Apartment 24 – which I adapted for the screen. Thanks to my director John Uche who pushed me until  the script shone like gold. More updates coming soon .

Have you attained some seemingly insurmountable challenges in the year already?  Would love to hear from you.  ‘Til then – Be Brave. Be Bold.

On the set of Apartment 24

Some of the cast and crew of Apartment 24 on the set of Apartment 24. L-R – Kike Ayodeji, John McClung (Lighting), Dr. Wale Ajao, Chip (Sound), John Uche (Director), Yours truly, Reggie Bostick, Joe Ofili, Keke Anderson

With CJ aka Tamuno on the set of Apartment 24

With Keke Anderson and Kike Ayodeji on the set of Apartment 24 in October 2018

With Dumebi, aka sister Mary on the set of Apartment 24