My Life In Nollywood: Isaac Ayodeji

Every week, The Culture Custodian grants you an all-access backstage pass into the lives of Nollywood rock stars. You get to learn about their fascinating backgrounds, the behind-the-scenes stories, and more. This episode features screenwriter and producer, Issac Ayodeji.

On the Zoom call, Isaac Ayodeji shows up dressed in an Arsenal jersey with a face that betrays no emotion. His video background is unreadable. When he begins to speak, his voice emits passion. He has been writing unofficially for God-knows-how long, and also boasts a formal training in medical science, a combination with which he juggles commitments as a filmmaker and part-time physiotherapist. 

Ayodeji met Taiwo Egunjobi at the university, and this friendship kick-started his professional screenwriting career. Together they have worked on different stories, including In Ibadan (2021), All Na Vibes (2021) and A Green Fever (2023) with Egunjobi as director. Ayodeji’s most important Nollywood work to date, from a popularity point of view, is Showmax’s telenovela, Wura, an adaptation of South Africa’s The River and a project on which he served as part of the writing team. But from a purely aesthetically fulfilling and experimental angle, A Green Fever, which visited AFRIFF in 2023 before finding a home on Prime Video early in 2024, stands tall. A product of arthouse and the film noir, A Green Fever is financed by Nemsia Studios, the production company behind one of Nollywood’s best films in recent times, Breath of Life, and is set against the backdrop of military-motivated political upheaval in the early post-independence era of Nigeria. The film stars William Benson, Temi Fosudo, Deyemi Okanlawon and Ruby Akubueze. 

Ayodeji’s filmography spans collaborative work with production outfits like M-Net, Film Trybe and Rok Studio and a host of other films, including shorts like And The Winner Is (2019) and Crushed Roses (2022), and features Ebubedike (2021), Dwindle (2021), Rebellion (2021), Quit Notice (2021) and Love and Jealousy (2023).

Ayodeji is the writer of Suky, an action drama produced by Bamidele Adelusi and directed by Ola Cardoso, which was released on Prime Video on 7th March, 2025.

This conversation with Isaac Ayodeji happened in November, 2024 and has been edited for clarity. 

You have a Bachelor’s degree in Physiotherapy from the University of Ibadan.  Do you juggle both careers or did you have to transition from that path into screenwriting and filmmaking?

As much as it’s important to have two sources of income, the other job must not be so demanding that it takes you away from your passion. In my case, for instance, working as a physiotherapist is not as intense. I have a license, which I renew every year. I still study and read medical textbooks, but most of the time, I see patients on a private basis. I consult for hospitals instead of working with one as a permanent staff member. I juggle this with film,  don’t have a 9-5 arrangement. 

For how long, then, have you been writing scripts?

For most of my life. When I was younger, I wrote stage plays for church.  I did a lot of writing in medical school and got my first official writing gig, a sitcom titled Sisi Clara, about 8 or 9 years ago. The sitcom was for a small studio based in Ibadan and is about a powerful woman, a kind of workplace comedy.  Around that period, I had friends such as Taiwo Egunjobi with whom I experimented with stuff. We did our first short film, which was a psychological thriller. 

Speaking of Taiwo Egunjobi, it’s impossible to overlook how frequently you have collaborated over the years. And now, I’m talking about films like A Green Fever, All Na Vibes, In Ibadan, Crushed Roses, and even the latest project you shared on your Instagram, The Fire and the Moth. He’s credited as director on most of these projects, while you are the writer. You also co-wrote Dwindle with him. What’s the genesis of this filmmaking bromance?

Taiwo attended UI too. We stayed in the same Nnamdi Azikwe Hall, on the topmost floor. His room was about six rooms away from mine. Even before we started working together, I knew he was a psychology student and he was into filmmaking. I remember the first day I went to him and introduced myself as a writer. I showed him a work of mine on which he made corrections, and that’s pretty much how we started. There’s a third guy, Martini Akande, an editor with a better online profile, and we all started together from UI. Back then in school, Taiwo was always shooting skits and I would hang around, observe him and write. My relationship with Taiwo is over a decade and has continued to thrive because of our shared friendship and understanding. 

 In addition to your educational qualifications as a physiotherapist, do you have some formal training or certification as a screenwriter and filmmaker?

I attended a masterclass for film business at Pan-Atlantic University in Lagos about three or four years ago.  It turned out to be one of the best experiences in my life. The interesting thing about the class is that many people who attended are doing well today—the likes of Josh Olaolu, Omotunde Omojola and the current content guy for Moniepoint. In addition, I participate in online classes and follow many screenwriting teachers on X for their webinars. I also follow some screenwriting podcasts. Nothing beats working on and experiencing the realities on film sets to understand how dialogue is written for actors. We often write dialogue that sounds good to us as screenwriters, but when we go on sets and see actors struggling with the lines, we understand how those lines could have been better written. 

Beyond budget, what problems bedevil screenwriting and storytelling in Nollywood?

One structural problem is Nollwood’s economic viability. We still have not solved our distribution problem. Another is the limited time dedicated to projects and tight schedules of actors and crew members—including writers. The Nollywood screenwriter, for instance, might get three weeks to write a script. I’ve seen people write good scripts quickly, but it’s not optimal and sustainable. There’s also a gap in training that needs to be filled. Also, Nollywood doesn’t give enough time for rehearsals. In Hollywood, many actors have years of stage training, have enough time to rehearse their lines. What we often do here is roundtable reading, which lasts for two weeks or so— In contrast, the writer should be more involved during rehearsals to notice actors that are struggling with their lines and work together with the director to make changes before the actors get on set. 

Are you a member of any association for Nollywood screenwriters and filmmakers?

I belong to the Screenwriters Guild of Nigeria. The likes of Yinka Ogun and Tunde Babalola are part of the association. It is a thriving community of screenwriters, and oftentimes we have masterclasses and share opportunities. 

Let’s delve into your background. What was growing up like for you? Are there memories from your formative years that serve as a bellwether for your career in Nollywood ?

I grew up in Bodija, a residential area in Ibadan. I had relative freedom as a child, which enabled me to engage in role play such as Mummy and Daddy, Police and Thief, etc. in the compound after school. This contributed to my creative energies. Back then, I often devised scenarios for us to enact, and it was all fun. I didn’t have access to phones as a child, and it wasn’t until secondary school, I think, that I got my first phone. I didn’t watch much TV growing up, so my siblings and I had to find alternative ways to entertain ourselves. We had to tell stories and explore the environment. Our parents talked to us a lot about the military era, especially the Buhari military administration, and the Nigerian Civil War. They listened to a lot of Highlife and Country music. My mum, who is now a school principal, had a lot of old novels, such as Mills and Boons, and magazines that I was exposed to. She was a Literature teacher and bought me literature texts such as Macbeth, Lord of the Flies and Romeo and Juliet. Until he passed on, my dad brought home newspapers every weekend and I would read them. All these experiences probably explain why I like stories that are typically set in times when people had no access to social media or phones and had to source information from paper. 

You said you had little access to TV at home. So how did you first get exposed to Nollywood?

At some point, we started watching more TV. My first introduction to Nollywood was through Yoruba films. Many of my peers grew up watching the likes of Genevieve, Aki and Pawpaw, Ramsey Nouah but I didn’t have that opportunity. I was rather exposed to Baba Suwe, Akin Olaiya, Saheed Balogun, Muyiwa Ademola and Baba Sala. When Tade Ogidan released Madam Dearest, my attention was drawn to Akin Lewis one of the actors therein. My mum liked his acting, which made me realize soon that Akin Lewis was a TV and film legend. I was exposed to Tunde Kelani’s films of that time—Sawaoroide, Magun, etc. and also watched a lot of Mount Zion films. I started watching Hollywood films after I gained admission into the university.

I saw A Green Fever earlier in 2024 and found the production design and pacing of the story intriguing. The project seemed well managed and, I must say, budget-friendly. From a scriptwriting standpoint, I would like you to comment on the curatorial process. 

A Green Fever was an idea Taiwo and I discussed about a year and a few months before we knew we would make the film. We first thought we were going to shoot it as independent filmmakers. The initial title was A Carving of Ijapa. The initial story idea was not set in the military era. Over time, as we discussed it, we realized that we could make the owner of the haunted mansion a high-ranking military officer. We thought about more what-if scenarios and came up with setting the story in the middle of a coup. The story evolved but the fundamental idea—a conman with his daughter in an incredibly difficult situation—remained constant. We wanted to explore greed. 

How much time did you spend on the first draft?

Writing took three to six months, but the entire story, like I said earlier, was created for over a year. What Taiwo and I did was to write comprehensive scene outlines of twenty to thirty pages. So before we began scripting properly, we already knew exactly what the story would look like. We had Nemsia Studios come in as financiers and partners. They liked the first draft and made changes that took another one or two months. Then, when the actors came in, the story took another month of fine-tuning. Eventually, we wrote about four drafts within a period of six months. 

When I think of Nemsia Studios, what comes to mind is  Breath of Life, which is one of my favorite Nollywood films of 2023. And I was a bit curious about what to expect in A Green Fever when I first noticed it was from the stable of Nemsia Studios. 

The people at Nemsia are wonderful. The team is led by Mr BB Sasore and Mr Derin. The beauty of working with them is their respect for the creative process. They didn’t impose their ideas on us. Nemsia Studios are also involved in The Fire of the Moth. We have worked with them because we are aligned in values. 

All Na Vibes is another film that focuses on young people and has relatable themes such as crime and youthful exuberance. Can you talk about the vision for the story?

The film was born out of the desire to tell stories about young people. The story idea came because there was a Covid lockdown in 2020, a year before the film was shot, and many young people were kept at home. We wanted to address that restlessness and idleness. We wanted to talk about how state establishments waged war against young people. Looking back, I feel the story was convoluted because we were trying to tackle many things at a time.

You are one of the writers for Showmax’s Wura. Which of the episodes did you write?

Wura is inspired by the South African telenovela, The River. What we did as writers was to have access to the South African series and reimagine the language and context. Musa Jeffery David led our writing team. We had a mandate not to veer too much away from the story idea and had to carefully translate while bearing in mind the differences in Nigerian and South African worldviews.

Dimeji Ajibola, the director of popular Netflix crime thriller series Shanty Town, recently passed away. You two have a shared work history in Ebubedike, a directorial project of his, written by you. What more memories of him do you have as a colleague?

Ebubedike was a ROK project. I wrote the script for Iroko but, until now, I didn’t even know he directed it. I knew him as one of the rising directors in the action and thriller genres. It came as a huge shock when we lost him. He was a young man.

An impediment of creativity is what we call “creative block”. When you are stuck, how do you get out of that situation?

I don’t like to call it a block. It’s pretty much normal to have that experience. For me, it comes with stress, so I watch certain kinds of films just to ease stress. I take very long walks. I might do other random things I enjoy, such as watching football and wrestling. 

Have you been in a situation where, as a screenwriter, you had a conflict of creative interests with the director? How did you deal with it?

Writers in Nollywood need to realize that as it stands, we are “writers for hire”. The best avenue to express my creativity is when the script is with me. I  move on when the script has completely left my hands, even though I feel hurt and pain when it’s not well executed on screen. The director is the ultimate captain of the ship and can decide to change anything the writer has scripted. However, TV offers Nollywood screenwriters more creative power than feature films. 

On Instagram, you shared images of pages of your script for The Fire and The Moth, an anticipated project. You are the screenwriter and an associate producer here. Are you at liberty to discuss plot and production details?

Many things we dabbled in in A Green Fever are expanded in The Fire and the Moth. It’s set in a Nigerian suburb based in Ibadan, but I can’t reveal much about the plot. We are currently in post-production and intend to screen at festivals. 

You recently facilitated a screenwriting and playwriting workshop for young creatives. Can you talk about the experience?

It was an initiative of Fadaka Academy. The institute aims to upskill young people in Ibadan in creative areas such as screenwriting, photography, directing and stage acting. I had an introductory class with the participants and should be back for an extensive class. 

Do you have mentors and role models?

I have a friend, Jeffery Musa David, who is a model to me in Nollywood. I also look up to Chukwu Martin, Tolu Ajayi, Femi Odugbemi and Victor Agawa. Most of those I consider mentors are seemingly my peers but I’m not ashamed to admit that I look up to them. Outside Nollywood, I admire Quentin Tarantino, Christopher Nolan, etc.  

Are you currently working on any project you would like to talk about?

 I’m currently working on a psychological thriller/horror and an action film. They are still very much at the early, outlining phases. And I’m constantly brainstorming and discussing ideas with Taiwo. There’s no break to that.