Nollywood Director, Charles Novia Launches His Book Today

Nollywood has always been a scandalous affair, and who better to tell a story than an insider?

Director-producer Charles Novia is set to launch Nollywood Till November: Memoirs of a Nollywood Insider, a book which details the movie maker’s experience through his active years in the movie industry.

Novia, known for his bluntness on issues concerning Nollywood, spares no details, as he puts it bluntly, and gives it raw in what has been tagged ‘The Book of Secrets’

The veteran filmmaker believes Nollywood Till November…Memoirs of a Nollywood Insider stands out because “…it is the first of its kind, written by a core Nollywood Insider in the form of memoirs which encapsulate personal testimonies of landmark events and productions which all aided the growth of Nollywood.”
The book provides readers with an insight into the early days of Nollywood, the challenges faced by the industry, and several other issues, including SEX in Nollywood, the new generation of producers, as well as the relationship between the press and Nollywood

Published by Author House, the 155-page memoir already released in America and Europe, and available on Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, will be unveiled to the Nigerian audience on Wednesday, the 28th of November, 2012, at a glitzy event at the popular cultural centre, Terra Kulture.


Details of the Red Carpet Event

DATE:    Wednesday, November 28, 2012
VENUE: Terra kulture, tiamiyu Savage, VI, Lagos
TIME:     5:00pm

ABOUT CHARLES NOVIA
Charles Novia has been involved with Nollywood in various capacities, mainly as a screenwriter, Producer and Director. With over 40 movies to his credit, he is widely acknowledged as a foremost creative entrepreneur in Nollywood’s arena. He is the CEO of November Productions. He is married to Happy and they have a lovely daughter, Nosakhare. He lives in Lagos, Nigeria

ABOUT THE BOOK
Nollywood is the general moniker for Nigeria’s exciting and thriving film industry! Behind its world-wide acclaim as an independent filming success story is an oft-ignored back story; the pains, push and perseverance of the major film-makers in the business. ‘Nollywood till November’ tells the insightful and exciting true story of Charles Novia, from his trudging days as a struggling film maker in the then cabal-styled Nollywood, to his eventual triumph And success as a major force in Africa’s biggest film industry! Novia’s memoirs reveal a personal perspective of the monumental struggles each of the now-famous personalities in Nollywood must have faced on their road to fame. It is a brilliant and inspiring tale of succeeding against the odds in an industry that has been termed ‘the third largest film industry in the world’

EXCERPT
‘You are directing? He asked in a subdued surprised tone. I nodded in the affirmative.

‘Then you will pay me double because I am going to do most of the work interpreting the shots!’ he said in a matter-of-fact voice. I was incensed. Coming straight from over four years of working and learning the ropes at the nation’s national network station, the Nigerian Television Authority and having over eighteen years experience on stage and acting on television including a revered Bachelors degree in Dramatic Arts from the University of Nigeria Nsukka where I graduated from in 1993, made no impression on Mr Nwoko. He just had a mindset and it was left for me to either do away with his services or prove him wrong. I chose the latter. 

And so, that sunny day in April 2000, on the busy Adeniran Ogunsanya street in Surulere, I called my first Nollywood shot after giving the blockings to the actors. The script was originally titled ‘One cut too deep’, a family thriller I had first written in 1996. I guess the script waited for the right time to be produced. It was a story I loved. I daresay the script was intellectually different, compared to what obtained largely at that time. I wanted my very first movie to make a statement in three areas; scripting, acting and directing and I spared no pains within my limited resources in ensuring that I achieved my vision.