Did you know that the script for the highest-grossing Nollywood film, A Tribe Called Judah, was written in five weeks? The writers of the blockbuster film, Collins Okoh and Akinlabi Ishola, reveal this in an exclusive interview with What Kept Me Up.
A Tribe Called Judah, co-directed by Adeoluwa Owu and Funke Akindele, follows the story of a single mother, Jedidah Judah (played by Funke Akindele), and her five sons who are from different ethnic groups. Due to their mother’s life-threatening illness, the five dysfunctional brothers plan to save her by carrying out a heist. The heist eventually goes south when a more tactical gang arrives at the heist scene.
Following the release of the film in cinemas on December 15, 2023, the film raced to an opening weekend box office record of 113 million naira. It did not stop there; in just over 2 weeks after its release, it became the highest-grossing Nollywood film ever with N854 million at the box office. Again, the tribe could not be held. Shortly after the turn of the new year, the film broke a Nigerian domestic box office record as the first Nollywood film to hit the N1 billion mark.
Many factors contribute to the success of A Tribe Called Judah (or ATCJ, as fans call the film), one of which is the foundation—the story. Going back to the roots, WKMUp sits down with the writers of the record-breaking project, Collins and Akinlabi, to discuss the writing process. “The story told itself, but we had to stick to the goals of each character”, Akinlabi hints. Collins adds that though his storytelling abilities play a role in the achievements of the film, the platform given to him by “Aunty Funke” (as he and Akinlabi fondly call her) played a major role. In this interview, the experience and lessons from co-writing with Funke Akindele are discussed, as well as answers to some burning questions about the film.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Spoilers ahead!
Congratulations on the success of the film so far! The end product of your script is currently the highest-grossing Nollywood film ever. How do you feel, and did you envisage your story would turn into a record-breaking film?
COLLINS: We feel elated. It is every writer’s dream come true to write a blockbuster, so we are quite joyous about it. It was a good story, so we were confident people would love it. We did think it would gross very high, but were not prepared for the figures we are seeing. The figures are excellent and uncommon, and we really did not think it would gross this highly within a very short time.
AKINLABI: I’m very excited about it, like Mr Collins has said. We are currently living the writer’s dream. I mean, it’s Funke Akindele, and she does great projects. Her attitude during the writing process was very infectious and you could see the long-term goal she wanted to achieve. We knew it would do very well in the cinemas, but we did not envisage it would do so well in a short period of time.
How did the opportunity to write with Funke Akindele materialise?
COLLINS: It’s not my first time writing with her. I wrote Omo Ghetto: The Saga with her, which was the highest-grossing film of all time until the record was broken by Battle on Buka Street last year. I used to write short stories on Facebook some years ago, which got a lot of traffic, so someone spoke to me about writing scripts and I was open to it. The person then told someone who worked with Funke Akindele at the time, then I got an email inviting me to work with her in 2019. That was how I got acquainted and began writing with her on several projects. I have worked on projects in the past, but I ghost-wrote them. And doing that makes you forfeit your credits as a writer, so that was non-professional. My first professional experience started when I began working with her.
AKINLABI: Three years ago, someone who worked with her at the time reached out to me and told me she was looking for new writers, so I sent in my sample scripts. I got a call for an interview, and here we are today. After I was shortlisted, I worked with her on projects like My Siblings and I and Jenifa’s Diary. Before I worked with her, I worked on short films and church dramas for The Starhub, the youth expression of Daystar Christian Center. After those projects, I co-wrote A Tribe Called Judah.
What was the writing process like with Funke Akindele?
COLLINS: She is a hard worker who wants the best, and has a picture in her mind that she wants to bring to life on the screen. She is a motivator who knows what she wants and she aptly describes it to you. She is an intelligent person, so the experience working with her was great. There were times we felt tired but she kept telling us that we had a goal to accomplish and that we had to stick to certain things to get things right. She is a person of great strength, so she doesn’t tire easily. There are times that the process was slightly hectic, but now that we see the result, we are all happy about it. It took weeks of hard work and sleepless nights.
AKINLABI: She is a hard worker who is dedicated to her craft. We had several writing sessions. She explains her ideas aptly and you would have to key into it and see it as it is. Every writing experience with Funke Akindele is always great because there is always something to learn.
How long did it take to write the script?
COLLINS: We started in early May of 2023. It took us 5 weeks.
The story draws from real events of the life of Funke Akindele’s mother. How did you represent these serious events authentically, especially as there is a lot of comedy in the film?
COLLINS: Yes, some things are drawn from the life of her mother. For instance, she informed us that her mother used to bless and anoint her children just like Jedidah did in a scene in the film. I did not know her mother well, but the motherly love and tenderness translated into the script was inspired by her mother. The life of the mother didn’t drive the entire story; we had to come up with a lot of things. Most of the story is fictional, so we didn’t have to tailor anything to her mother’s life.
I love how each Judah brother is introduced at the beginning of the film, giving a hint of what they are into without too much dialogue. What informed the decision to make the 5 sons from 5 different tribes? Was it to add to the comic effect of the film? Was it to be more inclusive of the different tribes we have in Nigeria?
COLLINS: It was for different reasons. Firstly, it was to create originality and uniqueness. We don’t have a lot of stories about more than three siblings from different tribes born to a mother who isn’t married to any of their dads. Secondly, it was to be inclusive. We also had to cast actors from different tribes. We didn’t necessarily do it for a comic effect, but we are glad you see it from that angle– It’s a plus for us!
Was any actor in mind when writing the different characters? And how did this affect your writing?
COLLINS: Yes, before we started writing, we already knew who would play what role. The writing wouldn’t have been different even if we were not informed of the actors. In all the stories I’ve written as a writer, I subconsciously think of actors that would fit the roles, but that doesn’t mean that I write any role for a particular actor. It is important that the knowledge of the actor who is to play a role doesn’t affect my writing style; I still have to write openly. So we wrote the script in a way that anyone could play it. Besides, it is possible that the actor might not be available after the role has been written to that actor’s strength, which is why you should not write with any actor in mind.
AKINLABI: We have fantastic actors in Nigeria and because of the movies we see them in, you can tell their range and know their strengths. So, it is very likely that when you are writing, you envisage some of these actors playing these roles. However, it is left to the producers to do the casting and auditioning. We had ideas for who would be great for some roles on A Tribe Called Judah, however, we didn’t tailor any of the dialogues specifically to any actor. There were other actors that Aunty Funke still had to do auditions for.
1 hour into the film, I was like “Finally, a film that does not have choreographed action sequences like recent Nollywood films.” But I was in for a shock some minutes later. Do you think action/crime has come to stay in our films?
COLLINS: I wouldn’t say crime has come to stay. Crime is a genre just like romance and thriller. People would write about crime if they have to, but I think people are also telling stories that do not involve crime.
AKINLABI: Our everyday living is filled with these things. You can be walking on the street and you can see a crowd chasing after a criminal. The criminal could even be a gang member whose gang clashes with another. Like Aunty Funke would say, we have to tell African stories. So when we got to that part in the script, we had to tell it that way. It’s not that we intended to write a crime genre or action flick. The story happened to birth that part of the film.
If you were given another chance to write the story differently without crime or action, how would you have done it?
COLLINS: Right now, I can’t think of any other way the story could have been written without the crime. If you try to look for a solution without crime in the story, the story will be watered down. The crime is what gives the story action and a climax.
AKINLABI: As the story went on, each character had their traits which were mostly inclined to crime. If crime wasn’t carried out on a grand scale in the story, one of the Judah boys would still have gone ahead to steal something. Looking at their lifestyle, they can’t afford the money to pay their mother’s bills, and Emeka’s boss is not willing to give him any loan. I don’t think we can take away the crime. I can’t think of any other way than this.
There are several events happening in the film: sickness, a robbery, love, sibling dynamics and a death. How did you approach the writing to maintain the core story of familial love?
AKINLABI: We are nothing but pencils in the hands of the story. The story told itself, but we had to stick to the goals of each character.
The film touches on the theme of poverty, and not just from the POV of the main characters alone. We see Colette and even the security guards being motivated by poverty at some point in the film. Why was it important to show poverty from different lenses? Was it intentional?
COLLINS: It was intentional. Poverty is a part of humanity, and some of us have experienced it at some point. Some of us are even still experiencing it.
AKINLABI: Everyday, we see people do extreme things to get out of poverty, so it was important to include that in the story.
Colette doesn’t look or feel poor to viewers. The only reason we know she is poor is because she mentions it at the end. It felt like she was driven by greed, not poverty. Was there a reason for this writing choice?
COLLINS: She could have been lying to her boss, and she could have stolen from him out of greed. Also, poverty can be seen from different perspectives. We see that the security guards are clearly poor, but we also see Colette, who probably earns like 300,000 Naira every month and has plans to travel abroad. It is about perspective. You can see a child on the street who is only concerned about money to eat three square meals daily, while there is a graduate earning 50,000 monthly but wants money to travel abroad. So, poverty is in grades. Colette might have been as poor as the Judah boys or the security men, but she needed money she couldn’t afford. She was poor in her own way.
AKINLABI: It’s about perspective. You saw it as greed, and if you recollect, Mr Chigozie also mentioned that it was greed that led her to steal. She also said she didn’t want to be part of the gang, but she just had to do it. She definitely had other needs she couldn’t finance and irrespective of what she was earning, the money just wasn’t enough.
Why did you feel it was important to give Colette a backstory after she had been caught by her boss?
COLLINS: It was a decision. We could have chosen not to, but we did. There’s nothing much to it.
AKINLABI: When she was tortured, you could tell that she was the weakling of the gang. Everything she said was just to absolve herself of what Chigozie would do or say. Even when he was asking for the rest of his money and her gang had been caught, she glanced at the gang who was still adamant. That was done to reveal the weakness of her character.
Let’s move to some burning questions raised in the film or left open. When I saw the film at the cinema, a couple of viewers kept asking what happened to the grandmother. We don’t see her leave at the end. What would be your theory on what happened to her?
AKINLABI: Like one of the characters mentioned, she went to buy food. It was a matter of urgency so they had to leave immediately. If not, anyone like Chigozie or the police could have found them. Like they said, grandma would take a bus and meet them in Aba.
It is interesting how the three Judah sons all can speak their individual languages. They were not raised by their fathers, so how did they learn the languages when their mother speaks only Yoruba and English?
COLLINS: Jedidah’s first son, Emeka, was brought up by her mother (who is Igbo) while the second son, Adamu, was brought up by her sister in Kano. Adamu picked up Hausa because he lived in Kano for a while. Pere couldn’t speak proper Ijaw, neither could Ejiro speak Urhobo.
Collins, you have written two of the highest-grossing Nollywood films– Omo Ghetto: The Saga and A Tribe Called Judah. Is there a secret to writing blockbusters that you would like to share with budding screenwriters in the industry?
COLLINS: Know your audience and tell your story. Make sure you avoid unnecessary scenes. I also do understand that making a blockbuster is not of my making alone. The platform I got from Madam Funke Akindele also plays a big role. In addition to your storytelling skills, if the person you are representing has a large platform, you are likely to write a blockbuster.
AKINLABI: Aunty Funke has been in the industry for way longer than us, so the accumulation of the different works she has done makes her understand her audience. We only represented her vision, and we are glad it came out the way it did—shattering the ceilings.
It is said that a film is made three times: in the writing, the production, and during the post-production. Has it ever occurred that when a film comes out, it doesn’t end up looking like what you wrote?
COLLINS: Luckily, we were also part of the post-production process, so we weren’t surprised.
A Tribe Called Judah is currently in cinemas in Nigeria and the UK.
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Wow. I am a screenwriter and all I can say is amazing! You guys did an excellent job. I learnt a lot reading this. Thank you sirs. Thank you What kept me Up!