Ambivalence of informality: Covid-19 and unmasked precarity in Nollywood

Abstract

This article explores the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Nigerian film industry (Nollywood) and the local responses of filmmakers to the precariousness engendered by the pandemic. This research adopts the critical media industry studies framework and relies on interviews with 30 Nollywood filmmakers who provided insights on the impact of the pandemic on labour in Nollywood. Theorizing the Covid-19 dynamics as reflective of the ambivalence of informality, this article submits that although informality was central to Nollywood's industrial structure and sustainability, the pandemic triggered unprecedented tensions associated with those informal practices and highlighted existing precarity which had been largely masked by constant availability of jobs. Accordingly, a significant legacy of the pandemic for the industry is the unprecedented gravitation of industry players towards more formalized industrial structures and practices.

The precarities of cultural and creative work through pandemic times

“…Informality and precarity therefore increasingly look to be the same thing, reached from different points of origin. Godwin Iretomiwa Simon's (2024) contribution to this issue shows an interesting relationship between precarity and informality; in Nollywood's 'born-informal' industry, precarity had not previously been experienced by workers due to plentiful work opportunities. Precarious labour structures were characteristic, but the pandemic brought to the fore challenges for the industry that had previously been hidden.…”

“…The research brought together in this collection is not merely a snapshot of a specific period of high pandemic: rather, it uses a range of qualitative methods to understand how the role of creative and cultural work in different communities, and how the possibilities and constraints for workers in these sectors, have shifted across a timeframe of several years to create new settings for the near future. Drawing variously from sociology, labour studies, feminist geography and more, the spatial and temporal elements of the pandemic are a recurring theme: Wolifson et al (2023) use mapping techniques to understand the interaction of creative workers with creative spaces in Sydney, Australia; England's (2023) contribution provides a productive case study of regionality in Dundee, Scotland; Simon's (2024) participants in Nigeria are returned to for their reflections on how their industry has changed over time, and what changes have stuck two or three years into pandemic times.…”