Netflix to commission African series in 2019
Netflix has confirmed its interest to invest in the African film industry with the commissioning of some series in 2019.
The works of popular Nigerian filmmaker Akin Omotosho and Genevieve Nnaji have been acquired by the streaming giant.
While Omotosho's Vaya was acquired by Netflix in June 2018, Genevieve's 'Lionheart' also made its way to the streaming platform before the end of 2018.
Aside the acquisitions of 'Vaya' and 'Lion Heart' which had the production costs solely carried out by the filmmakers, Netflix is already scouting for original scripts with local casts to invest in ahead of 2019.
Netflix vice president, Erik Barmack said in a statement that “There’s going to come a time when half of the top 10 of most-watched shows in a given year are going to come from outside of the U.S. I don’t think that’s very actually far away. I think that’s going to come in years, not decades. Shows with multinational casts will become the norm''.