ADOPTING ADAPTATIONS: A STEP TO REBUILDING GHANA’S FILM INDUSTRY

Our Ghanaian film industry must consider adaptations as a part of its development strategy. Close to a decade, there have been unbearable cries about a collapse in the film industry’s operations and an evident decline in patronage from citizens. While economic or financial factors may serve as the basic causatives of this challenge, it is also important to identify other units of the bigger problem given zero significance in the equation.

Beyond financial shortcomings, there are structural and operational deficiencies. We may be producing boring stories that spark no interest from the audiences. It’s a competitive market. What would motivate Owusu Danso in Osu to skip a British or American movie to watch one produced by our local industry? Excellence in content production. That is the answer; that is where our question marks fly high.

We currently have a film market where everyone is a writer, a director and a producer. Actors and actresses spend two to three years under an experienced producer, make some notes from entertainment and ambassadorial deals and quickly exit the production house to also become producers of their own elsewhere. You may call it a shift in good season but what results do we see from these? Breaks, cleavages, zero collaborations, rushed stories, poor plots, inefficiencies and a thousand excesses, resulting in movies that see only the walls and screens of a cinema and die after a week’s hype.

Writing is a gift. It is a skill, one mastered over time. It even takes a writer with a wide span of knowledge across pure African and English Literature, Cultural Studies and Media Communication to produce a story that meets the artistic demands of all audiences. The likes of Senior Kwaw Ansah, Shirley Frimpong-Manso, Ivan Quashigah, Peter Sedufia, Leila Djansi, Akosua Edjeani Asiedu, Pascal Aka and Kofi Asamoah pass as excellent examples of such storytellers.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗪𝗮𝘆 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱

The full stop, however, does not end there. The growing decline in patronage of Ghanaian film products demands immediate adoptions of adaptations. There are excellent prose works from names like Ama Ataa Aidoo, Lawrence Darmani, Peggy Oppong, Ayi Kwei Armah, Christine Botchway, Kwei Quartey, Caleb Azumah Nelson, Ruby Yayra Goka, Yaa Gyasi and many others we could consider as contents for films on our screens.
These are writers who have spent years developing creative literature for the arts industry.

Adaptations are the deal now. Lots of heavily viewed European, Nigerian and South African films on the almighty Netflix streaming platform are productions from already existing novels. Copyright compliance settlements could be initiated for involved partners to all benefit. It may be a quite a process but it helps, eventually.

Imagine the efficiency we had see in English Literature classes where there are quality audiovisual productions of works like ‘Faceless’ by Amma Darko, ‘Grief Child’ by Lawrence Darmani, ‘The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born’ by Ayi Kwei Armah and many others. Imagine the joy. Across Ghanaian homes, these would become assets that would reshape not just the face of the film industry but growth in literacy across this nation. This would be a huge treasury. Dear Leaders of Ghana’s arts industry, it is possible!

#ResettingGhana
Cc:
Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture
National Film Authority
National Folklore Board Ghana
Ghana Publishing Company Ltd. & The Film Producers Association of Ghana

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