Ruth Kadiri Pushed Me Into YouTube Filmmaking
Nollywood star Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has opened up on how she started her YouTube filmmaking journey.
According to the star, her colleague, Ruth Kadiri pushed her to embrace YouTube filmmaking.
She stated this during an interview on the Nollywood on Radio podcast, where she recounted how Kadiri persistently encouraged her to join the digital film revolution.
Omotola, 47, said the conversation happened in 2023 while she was on vacation.
“I came on vacation in 2023, and Ruth called me. She said, ‘Mama, do you know what’s going on? There’s a whole revolution with YouTube.’ She showed me numbers and everything,” Omotola said.
According to her, Kadiri described YouTube as a “phenomenal” platform that gives creators control over their content.
“She told me, ‘You can do what you want on YouTube, but I think you should get in on this. You would do very well.’ She didn’t let me rest,” Omotola added.
Eventually, the pressure paid off.
“That girl gave me no peace of mind. So I called my producer and said, ‘Let’s just try something.’ We shot the first project in four days and used the fifth day for cleanup. I surprised myself. I was thankful to her for giving me the courage to try.”
Omotola said the success of her first YouTube project inspired her to shoot Mother’s Love, a feature film that later screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
“Mother’s Love came because I was under pressure. I just told my producer, ‘What if we did a feature film?’ and that was it. We started planning immediately and shot it in less than two weeks,” she said.
The actress admitted she initially felt self-conscious about her return to the screen but decided to push through.
“It took long to release because I was scared people might laugh at me or say it wasn’t good enough,” she added.
Omotola’s move to YouTube marks a major shift in Nollywood, as more filmmakers explore the platform to reach global audiences.
Last year, Ruth Kadiri explained her own transition to YouTube, saying it allowed her more creative freedom away from the “too many regulations” in traditional Nigerian film production.