The managing director of a fast growing distribution company, Blue Pictures Entertainment, Joy Odiete, said she faced many rejections before setting up the film arm of the company.
Odiete, who spoke to the Sunday Scoop when the cinema opened last weekend at City Mall, Onikan, Lagos, added that many of the proposals she drafted were rejected.
She said: “I’ve been in the industry since 2005 and have worked with two movie chains – Silverbird Cinema and Nu Metro Cinema. Over the years, I aggressively distributed content to theaters across the country before going into production and owning my platform.
“It took me 14 years to conceive and bring about the dream. Entrepreneurs need to realize that they just can’t start someday and get to the top. They have to go through the process. It was not easy to get Access Bank to join this vision. We wrote so many proposals and got many rejections.
But at the end of the day, you have to be stubborn if you want to achieve anything in this country. I’m not taking no for the answer; I am continually working on any gaps that might be highlighted when I go to such presentations and return to the drawing board.
“I think in the industry there is an unfair balance against women. So as a strategy to address these issues, our team is 70% female. ”
Odiete also noted that the company would be responsible for the distribution of high-performance Hollywood films such as The Lion King and Black Panther.
Meanwhile, guests at the event got a glimpse of the production side of the company with its debut film titled Gone, which stars Sam Dede, Stella Damasus and Gabriel Afolayan.
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