On Wednesday, July 22, New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the honor of welcoming renowned Nollywood director and producer FEMI ODUGBEMI as part of The 20/20 Series, created by NYFA’s Creative Director of Filmmaking and Cinematography, Liz Hinlein. The conversation was moderated by Hinlein and was held virtually, allowing individuals to join NYFA and the special guests from all over the world.

The 20/20 Series, created by Hinlein, is a virtual pop-up event that takes us into the homes, hubs, and workspaces of an array of dynamic creative visionaries to allow for relaxed, engaging conversations on craft, creation and artistic vision.

Femi Odugbemi is Academy Director of the Multichoice Talent Factory (West Africa) and an accomplished Filmmaker and Content Producer. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the United States, Femi has served as President of The Independent Television Producers Association of Nigeria (ITPAN), co-founded the International Documentary Film Festival Lagos, and is a 4-time Head Judge of the prestigious AMVCAs – the Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards. He has also served as a 3-time Head Judge of the Uganda Film Festival (2012-2014), Juror of the British Council “Shakespeare lives” project (2016), Juror of the Emmy Awards in New York (2012 & 2016) and many others.

His screen credits include Nigeria’s longest running daily soap Tinsel (over 2500 episodes and counting), the telenovela Battleground (460 episodes), and the daily crime series Brethren (260 episodes), all screened across the continent on the DSTV channels. Femi has also produced and directed feature films including Maroko, Gidi Blues, 4th Estate and Code Wilo. He has also written and produced many critically acclaimed documentaries and issue-based films. In November 2013, he received the Excellence Award of the Society of the Performing Arts of Nigeria (SPAN) and received the prestigious lifetime achievement award from the Nigeria Film Corporation in 2018.

Hinlein opened up the conversation by asking Odugbemi about his experience as a filmmaker and what it means to be a good storyteller. “All good storytelling is about humanity,” he began. “Stories help us understand our world, our cultures, and ourselves; it’s how we communicate.” He even recalled that films he and others in Nigeria grew up watching were not commonly subtitled, but there was a connection with the story through the emotions and the humanity shown in the film.

Odugbemi also commented on his belief that movies should not always highlight a sense of place or culture, but rather the human emotions and experiences that we all share or need to see to understand. “I am not keen on storytellers championing a culture,” he shares, “I want storytellers to champion human stories.”

Hinlein also asked Odugbemi about the stories from Nollywood and if the topics typically focus on the past or the more modern present. “There are a huge chunk of films that are about contemporary experiences but also period pieces that foreshadow the future,” he responded.

“These stories that are told about the past, I would like to see connecting us to the future with our ambitions and prosperous culture. We need heroes, we need to create those heroes.”

The MultiChoice Talent Factory Academy Director continued that Nollywood needs to show how society should be, not just the economic issues, which are commonly portrayed. “The truth is we haven’t presented the developmental issues we have in the country in cinema in a way that models the way we would like it to be, not just how it is.”

He continued: “I tell my students that the idea that a black man will occupy the Oval Office in America is from the cinema. Our cinema has to begin to reach into the future, not just to talk about Nigeria going to the moon or Mars or something like that, but something that connects us to our ambitions as a people, perhaps a more prosperous, more organised, less corruption-ridden political culture. We just need heroes, we need to create those heroes through storytelling.”

New York Film Academy would like to thank accomplished Nollywood filmmaker and producer Femi Odugbemi for joining the NYFA global community to discuss the Nollywood film industry and address the next generation of storytellers for The 20/20 Series, created by and moderated by Liz Hinlein.

To watch the full conversation, view the video below or watch on our Youtube channel.

These guests are not faculty and do not teach at NYFA, but they have appeared to share their stories and experience with our students. As guest speakers are scheduled based on their availability, NYFA cannot guarantee whether a guest speaker will visit during a student’s attendance or who that guest speaker may be. This guest speaker forum is not part of any NYFA curriculum and attendance at guest speaker events is purely voluntary. Students should be aware that guest speaker events do not represent a job opportunity nor are they intended to provide industry connections.

New York Film Academy (NYFA) was once again represented in this year’s nominations for the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, announced Tuesday, July 28 at 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time.

NYFA Filmmaking alum Issa Rae was nominated for her second ‘Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series’ Emmy for her performance in the HBO series Insecure, also created and executive produced by Rae. In total, Insecure received seven nominations including its first-ever Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Comedy Series’ and a nomination for Yvonne Orji for ‘Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.’

Fan favorite series Stranger Things continued to capture viewers, receiving eight nominations including ‘Outstanding Drama Series.’ NYFA Filmmaking alum Eric Demeusy previously earned an Emmy in 2017 for creating the now iconic title sequence for the show. The series also previously starred NYFA Board Member and Master Class Instructor Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner and featured NYFA Acting for Film alum Matty Cardarople.

Competing with Stranger Things for ‘Outstanding Drama Series’ is the Disney+ Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian. Created by NYFA guest speaker Jon Favreau, the series received a whopping 17 nominations total for the newcomer streaming platform. The popular space western also features Rocky star, Carl Weathers, who previously spoke at NYFA’s Los Angeles campus for Industry Lab panel discussion. Disney+ also picked up a nomination for ‘Outstanding Short Form Animated Program’ with Forky Asks a Question, featuring the voice of actor and NYFA guest speaker Tony Hale.

Easily one of the most talked-about documentaries of the year was Netflix documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem And Madness, which received four nominations in the Emmy documentary categories including ‘Outstanding Documentary Or Nonfiction Series.’ Creating the cohesive and gripping storyline for the documentary was NYFA Documentary Filmmaking alum Pedro Álvarez Gales, who served as co-editor for the popular Netflix series.

Also nominated this year was History Channel’s Vikings for ‘Outstanding Visual Effects in a Supporting Role,’ which stars Acting for Film alum Ragga Ragnars. Better Call Saul screenwriter and NYFA guest speaker, Gordon Smith, was also nominated for his writing for the series episode “Bagman.”

This year, Netflix beat out HBO’s previous record for the most Emmy nominations to date with 160 nominations, with HBO trailing behind at 107 nominations total this year, though HBO continued its success with dystopian series Watchmen leading with the most Emmy nominations for any show this year in 26 categories. The newly established mobile-only streaming platform Quibi led the short form Emmy nominations this year with 10 nominations across the five short form categories, making it the most of any platform.

New York Film Academy would like to congratulate all the nominees for the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmys and looks forward to the ABC broadcast of the virtual ceremony on September 20, 2020, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.

On Wednesday, July 8, New York Film Academy (NYFA) had the pleasure of hosting founder and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment RON SIMONS as part of The 20/20 Series, created by NYFA’s Creative Director of Filmmaking and Cinematography, Liz Hinlein. The conversation was moderated by Hinlein and was held virtually, allowing individuals to join NYFA and the special guests from all over the world.

The 20/20 Series, created by Hinlein, is a virtual pop-up event that takes us into the homes, hubs, and workspaces of an array of dynamic creative visionaries to allow for relaxed, engaging conversations on craft, creation and artistic vision.

Ron Simons is a five-time Tony Award-nominated and four-time Tony Award-winning producer, four-time Sundance Film Festival selected producer and actor of stage, film and television. He is the Founder and CEO of SimonSays Entertainment. Simons was recently nominated for his 5th Tony Award for the runaway hit Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations, which ran at the Imperial Theater on Broadway before the pandemic shutdown. He was also a featured actor in the films 27 Dresses and Night Catches Us.

Mr. Simons is one of the leading African-American Tony Award-winning producers of all time, cementing him as a leading Broadway producer, who continues to bring diverse stories to the stage. Mr. Simons is also a recipient of the Heritage Award from Columbia College’s Black Alumni Council, 150 Distinguished Alumni Award from University of Washington, and is a Johnson & Johnson Leadership Award Fellow, IFP Cannes’ Producers Network Fellow and a Sundance Producers’ Summit Fellow. He holds a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from Columbia Business School and an MFA from the University.

Hinlein began the discussion by asking Simons what, from his perspective, made a good script and something worth producing. “The story arc must be clear and it must be compelling. It needs to include at least one protagonist or antagonist. I even love characters that follow the antagonist, because that is something more compelling to me.”

Simons, who also is the CEO SimonSays Entertainment, also told the global audience that there are three other important factors that he sticks to when selecting a project to produce or be involved in: “It should be about underrepresented communities, have high artistic integrity, and possess commercial viability.”

Hinlein asked Simons how a producer can tell if something is “commercially viable,” as this may not be something people can easily pick up, especially with the industry constantly changing. “There is no formula,” Simons responded. “But I ask myself ‘will someone in the middle of Nebraska see this and be engaged by it?’”

He suggested filmmakers stay constantly engrossed in what is trending or being well-received by moviegoers. As a producer, commercial viability is essential as it is part of the producer’s job; making sure a film can be made to the highest standard with the budget it has while also making a profit because, at the end of the day, in order to make more movies there needs to be money.

“My stuff has been critically acclaimed, but it doesn’t always make money. So, sometimes to tell a story you want to tell, you have to make the money first.” Part of that, he added, means making something you know will allow for the funds to flow for your next project.

As for what it’s like being a producer, Simons explained that it is a constant learning process. “Curiosity is what drove me to become a producer,” he shared. “Most stories have never been told, which is very different from saying ‘have all the universal themes been explored’.”

New York Film Academy would like to thank Ron Simons for taking the time to speak with the NYFA global community on his producing career and the process filmmakers go through to create their next project for The 20/20 Series, created by and moderated by Liz Hinlein.

To watch the full conversation, view the video below or watch on our Youtube channel.

These guests are not faculty and do not teach at NYFA, but they have appeared to share their stories and experience with our students. As guest speakers are scheduled based on their availability, NYFA cannot guarantee whether a guest speaker will visit during a student’s attendance or who that guest speaker may be. This guest speaker forum is not part of any NYFA curriculum and attendance at guest speaker events is purely voluntary. Students should be aware that guest speaker events do not represent a job opportunity nor are they intended to provide industry connections.