“I never believed initially the production was done wholly in Nigeria because of the superb storyline and quality of production”, said Tina Moyo, a viewer of season one, in Lagos.
Tinsel is MNET Africa’s first ever Nigerian soap opera, originally created as localised content for international cast on MultiChoice’s premium Dstv formats.
Shot on location in Lagos with the most sublime filming/programming artistry, Tinsel is that thought-provoking daily soap opera that the Nigerian film industry can be proud of and will be showing three times every week on MNET from September.
Tinsel costs MNET some $4 million in production and season II will last for some eight months, Victor Olutoye Olaotan, who plays Fred Ade-Williams on Tinsel, told reporters in Lagos.
According to him, the massive investment by MNET was a statement of confidence in the Nigerian movie industry and a commitment to grow a market the channel was much benefiting from.
In Tinsel, Ade-Williams is the self-made billionaire who, after a sojourn in England, came back to establish a production studio in Tinseltown, to grow the industry and make a statement that you can break even with hard work but has his estranged daughter to contend with as a rival (Odyssey Pictures) in the same business he is passionate about.
Fred Ade-Williams, the founder of Nigeria’s biggest film company, REEL Studios, is drawn into battle of wills with daring Brenda “Nana” Mensah, whose beauty and intelligence is only surpassed by her drive to transform her company into a dominant force.
What originally starts out as a power struggle between two influential studio owners soon grows disastrously out of control. No one is immune and everything is put to the test as the clash of these titans changes the lives and destinies of everyone far and near.
Aderike Ajitana, a commissioning editor on M-Net Africa who is on the Tinsel project, says it is created by a team of Nigerian writers and MNET bought into it because of its quality.
It would also be the first time MNET will produce a soap 100 percent in Nigeria, she says, adding that the investment is worth the trouble.
