My Movie Production, Inspired By Tyler Perry – Chinneylove Eze

Nigeria’s youngest most successful film maker, Chinneylove Eze has revealed that her style of movie production is inspired by Atlanta-based film writer and producer, Tyler Perry.

Chinneylove in a chat with newsmen in Lagos, said that she likes Perry’s film business model of operation.

Tyler Perry is one of the most commercially successful African American film makers in history, who produced movies such as Acrimony, A Madea Family Funeral, Diary Of A Mad Black Woman, Daddy’s Little Girl, Temptation, among others.

Chinneylove explained that Perry is her role model in film production and this is why people call her more of ‘ ChinneyPerry than Chinneylove’, because this was how she choose to associate herself.

She noted that Perry had in his early years as a movie producer, carved a nitch for himself in Atlanta by doing black Americans movies and became a billionaire, while other producers were in Los Angeles (LA)doing Hollywoods.

“Perry didn’t bother to struggle with other movie producers. He knew that staying in LA, would make him a third class producer, because there were so many first class movie producers there for him to contend with.

“He came to Atlanta, which was a small town and started telling black Americans stories and his business became big and successful. So Tyler Perry is my role model, I really look up to him and have planned to look for him when next i visit Atlanta for a handshake and do a collaboration together; i love Tyler Perry a whole lot,” she exclaimed.

Chinneylove disclosed that while she do not really have a Nigerian movie producer as a mentor, Nigerian movie producers are doing great and their contents had really improved.

The seasoned movie producer noted that Nigeria films have gotten better and more people across the globe are knowing and watching the Nigerian content through streaming by Amazon, Netflix and others.

She said: “Though we might not be there yet, because we don’t even access to the kind of finances that our foreign counterparts have to make the kind of films that they make. But with the little that we have, we are matching up after Hollywood and Bollywood is mentioned in a list, Nollywood is next. So compared to where we are before, we are doing a whole lot more.

According to Chinney, she has carved a nitch for herself and in the Nigerian movie industry, she is one of the only or the only movie producer in the country that has tasted all the market of film production.

The seasoned film maker disclosed that she started her movie from Alaba, Onitsha and Aba markets and had done and sold local, VCD’s and DVD’s films.

Chinney noted that a lot of emerging producers of lately, had probably just started producing films when Netflix, Iroko TV, YouTube and their likes came on board and were selling to them.

She stated that although she was producing her films in Lagos, she was distributing them across other states in VCD’s and evolved into DVD’s when VCD’s started to decline and new all the marketers.

The popular film maker said, she is presently an Iroko TV producer and had a lot of content on IbakaTV, as one of the pioneer producers for the platform.

“When I was 26, I was named the youngest most successful film maker in Nigeria because I have gone ahead to produce movies that were at the rating of senior producers in the film industry.

“ I had my first debut to the cinemas in 2017 with the movie: ‘ Hire A Man’ and it was one of the highest grossing films in the box office, which brought me to the spot light. I had done other films earlier, but Hire a Man was such a success and was everywhere. At that time, in the list of top movie producers, I was the youngest, so that earned me award of the Nigeria’s youngest most successful film maker.”

Chinneylove said she has forged ahead in her career to own one of the biggest YouTube channels streaming Nollywood films and contents.

The producer boasted that she has also grown in film making business, in terms of experience to manage people, emotional intelligence and navigating ways through the industry.

She however advised young Nigerians to be more focused and dedicated to their career and not loose opportunities by becoming redundant because of a desperate ambition to travel out of the country.

According to her, while it was not a bad decision to seek greener pasture out of the country, there are lots of opportunities in Nigeria that they could harness before their ambition materializes, as she has been able to make lots of millions in Nigeria and investing in abroad.

Chinneylove debuted as a film producer after the release of her star studded and award winning movie, ‘The Cartel’ in 2012.

She followed it up with the release of her blockbuster movies ; Hire A Man and Hire A Woman, currently streaming on Netflix.

Recently, Amazon Prime signed an exclusive deal with the young producer, following the release of two of her latest movies, ‘Teni’s Big Day and Devil In Agbada ‘.