Netflix partners with Mo Abudu to produce two Nigerian Classics

Netflix, the very popular streaming service, with over 20,000 subscribers in Nigeria has partnered with Mo Abudu of EbonyLife Tv to develop original content from Nigeria.

You can tell that Nollywood movies have attained a level of success when looking at their figures. From the acquisition of the first Nollywood movie, it seems that Netflix has registered that there is a possibility for profit in the Nigerian market even though it still has less than 50,000 subscribers in Nigeria when compared to close to 60 million in the United States.

Netflix Naija made the announcement in a thread on Twitter about the partnership and also said that they“… believe that more people deserve to see their lives reflected on screen and  for that to happen, we need to make sure there’s a wide variety of content that caters to our members’ diverse tastes.”

The two classics are Wole Shoyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman, which showcases the effects of the Yoruba tradition about death on the people affected by the loss and Lola Shoneyin’s The Secret Lives of Baba Segi’s wives, which showcases polygamy and its effects in a traditional household.

Nigerian subscribers can tell that the streaming giant has been gobbling up Nollywood movies, adding at least one movie every month including Isoken and Fifty and the top grossing Nollywood movies of all time; The Wedding Party 1 & 2 and Chief Daddy.

With the success of these films in Nigeria before being acquired by Netflix, is it really surprising to see that Mo Abudu was partnered with to produce these top Nigerian Classics?

Huh…, No.

Literary books to be produced by Mo Abudu

About working with Mo, Lola Shoneyin, whose adaptation will be the first to be produced, said “I grew to trust her very quickly, so when she told me about the possibility of working with Netflix, I was overjoyed,” she also added that. “Soon, people everywhere will have access to the story of Baba Segi. And that is more than I could have asked for as a writer.”

Wole Shoyinka was impressed that Mo, a female, in the male-dominated creative Industry, got the partnership and was delighted to contribute, even minutely, to the creation of a more enabling environment.

Mo has also asked for suggestions from her followers on actors for the characters of the books and her followers have risen to the occasion with numerous names for each character in the books.

After all, the top 3 highest grossing Nollywood of all time was produced by EbonyLife Tv so it seems like they have a magical wand for success in the Nigerian Market and now, with the help of Netflix, they will be able to show these movies to the world.