September 03, (THEWILL) – Skit maker, Folagade Banks speaks with SHADE WESLEY-METIBOGUN about his work as a content creator and the challenges of skit-making, among other issues. Excerpts:
How did the journey into content creation start?
It started during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. That was the year everyone was looking for something to keep them busy because the country was under lockdown. I was looking for something to entertain me on TikTok because there were no new movies. We were all at home because of the lockdown. A lot of people discovered their talents during that time. It was the time I started using my talent. I started on Instagram and it became a serious deal in 2021. By the middle of 2021, I knew I could boldly call myself a content creator.
What inspires the kind of content that you create?
Our daily activities inspire my content generally. Mama Deola, one of the characters in my content, was basically inspired by African motherhood. I have been with different African mothers. When I was growing up, I always accompanied my mother on her visits to places. I have seen most of her friends and I know most of them. I have seen how they react to certain things. When I grew older and started having friends, my friends will come over to my place and we will start chatting about how mothers would react to certain things. I realised that most mothers have similar ways of reacting to things. So, basically it is about motherhood and that content comes from a very deep place for motherhood.
When you started out, you weren’t wearing female clothes. When and why did you decide to incorporate them in your skit?
I didn’t start with the character, Mama Deola. Even when I started, I didn’t start dressing like Mama Deola immediately. It was just normal Folagade Banks doing Folagade Banks stuff. I was playing Mama Deola, but it was a monologue. I would just sit on a stool in front of a ring light and act the part of Mama Deola. At one point, I understood that I needed to give Mama Deola a human face because the brand was getting bigger. Mama Deola’s fans must see her doing some stuff. I needed the innovation, which was why I started shooting more scenes about Mama Deola. One of my role models advised me to give Mama Deola a human face, so that was how I started dressing the part and playing the character in its purest form. This has really helped the Mama Deola brand.
You have used quite an armful of costumes in your skits. How did you come about them?
I have a costumier that I reach out to. The person gets me costumes, which is what people don’t know. It will be hard for me to find a woman’s shoe that would suit my feet. They know where to get them. I just tell them my specification so that it can best depict what I have in mind. Mama Deola is not a fashionable person; she is a clown. We must ensure that she looks like a clown. I send them pictures, call them and explain in detail what I want.
Aside from the change in costume, you also rebranded your physical appearance. What informed that?
Anytime I want to shoot Mama Deola, there is a way I put myself into that character. There is a way I open my mouth and make my stomach shoot out just to give that character a true image. When Mama Deola comes to people’s minds, I want them to have an image that they can attach to it. That will give them a better understanding of the content and the character.
Did you expect your content to be well received when you started out?
I won’t lie to you, when I started this content creation journey, I didn’t know that it would become this big. When I started creating content, I wasn’t dressing the part. I was just sitting in front of my camera and doing my thing. I was shooting a passport-sized video at the time. It would only show from my head to my chest. It was just me talking. I would say more words and little action. It was like a short monologue. When I wanted to post the first one, I had some doubts. I would ask myself ‘what if people don’t like this, what if it doesn’t do well?’ I didn’t want to post it. Later I said if I post it and people don’t like it, I will just take it down. When I posted it, the acceptance was huge and I knew I was on the right path.
How long did it take you to start gaining attention with your content?
It didn’t take long before I started gaining attention with my content. With the Mama Deola content, the first video got like 60,000 thousand views for a start. It didn’t take me long at all, though when I started content creation, it wasn’t Mama Deola that I started with. It took me one or two months to convince the viewing public that someone was doing content here. I am saying this because people may desire to go into content creation. It may not actually be fast, but if you are consistent, it will come.
Did you at anytime think of quitting?
There wasn’t a time I thought of quitting because I took my time before I started. I asked myself, do you really want to do this? One thing about me is once I start something, I won’t stop. Before I embarked on the journey, I asked to know if it was what I wanted to do. If you want to do it, you must give it all it takes. There will be some days when you will feel like it’s not working and there will be days that you will be tired and won’t want to continue again. So, make up your mind. I had to make up my mind before I started the journey. I have envisioned the possible tough times and I have prepared my mind for it and never entertained the thought of quitting.
Have you ever been a victim of online bullying before?
No, I have never been a victim. I am that kind of person that stays in his lane. I mind my business a lot. I don’t hop on trending issues that don’t concern me. My own business is to come online, make people happy and leave. I have no business fighting other people or getting involved in controversies. My business is to make people happy. For me, doing that alone is fulfilling. I don’t do stuff that will make people to bully me online. I know there are people who go out of their way to bully others. Some just get bullied during the process of making content. Any content I want to put out, I will make sure I see it first, cross check and be sure it is good to go, just to avoid being bullied. Afterwards, if some people still bully me, I wouldn’t pay attention to them. To God be the glory, I have never gone through that and I will not go through it.
You have a very good command of Yoruba language, especially the Ekiti dialect. How did you come about that concept?
I am a proper Yoruba boy. I grew up learning both languages. I was taught Yoruba in school and at home, we spoke both Yoruba and English. I watch movies in both languages. I grew up in an environment that was enabling for us to understand things around us. I started speaking Yoruba as early as four years and I started speaking English at the same age. So, speaking both languages is part and parcel of me. I understand Yoruba to the fullest. I grew up watching a lot of movies in Yoruba. The Yoruba words I don’t understand, I learn from the movies. I don’t always forget things. When I hear anything new, I store it in my memory and use it when the need arises. Growing up, it was easy to learn Yoruba language. I learnt the Ekiti dialect, which is so amazing, though my parents are not from Ekiti State. Growing up, I had a lot of people from Ekiti state around my mother. I just love the way their words sound. So I listen and learn whenever they are speaking the dialect. Even if they are not saying things that are funny, you will laugh because of the way they pronounce those words. When I wanted to start playing Mama Deola, I thought of how to make the role relatable to some people. So I decided to use the Ekiti accent and people loved it.
How easy is it to mimic women?
I feel mimicking women is a bonus talent that some of us have. We can switch roles easily; we can play both male and female roles easily. Eddie Murphy did that in his movies, but not all actors can do it. I find myself lucky to be able to do it. I didn’t believe that I could play Mama Deola well, but a lot of people have commended the way I play the character. It gives me a lot of joy that I am nailing the character. I can’t say there is a particular reason for doing it. I still don’t understand how to do it.
What are some of the challenges you encountered in the process of making skits?
I will answer the question on a general basis. Not necessarily the challenges that I have encountered though. There are many content creators that shoot outdoors and they are often embarrassed and harassed by touts who demand money. I have never encountered that because most of my videos are shot indoors. But some of my colleagues experience that daily. Some people go the extra mile to create content and at the end of the day, some people will just invade their location to disturb the process. It is not easy to be a content creator.
A lot of content creators eventually venture into mainstream acting. Are you considering that ?
Yes, what we are doing is acting. More opportunities are needed to venture into mainstream acting. For someone like me, I am already acting. I have a series on You Tube, ‘Okoto’ the series. It will soon be on African Magic. I am also working on a movie, which will soon be out. It is a proper thing for content creators to decide at a point in their career to go into mainstream acting.
You are very close to Funke Akindele. Do you see yourself appearing in any of her movies soon?
She is my godmother; we are very close and I love her so much. She is one of the people that inspire me daily. I knew her before I started making content. She was one of the people that motivated me to own my brand and be myself. I have featured in one of her series, ‘Mama Put’, I don’t know why it is not out yet. There are many movies that she will release. Expect to see me in some of them soon. I know my fans want to see me on the big screen. Wait for it, it will happen very soon.
What is your opinion about the content creation industry?
The content creation industry is fast growing. I love the way content creators support each other. We understand the fact that a tree does not make a forest. it is a collective effort for us all to uplift the industry. We are conscious of that and we are contributing our quota to take the industry to the next level. The support and love is real, the industry has created millionaires and even billionaires. It has empowered a lot of youths. Aside from being a content creator, there are personal assistants, those who record videos and the likes who have been empowered by the industry.
How expensive is it to be a content creator?
It is not all that expensive; it all depends on how you shoot your content. There are people who get cameras, some use cast and some source locations to shoot. For those people, content creation will be expensive to shoot but the expenses have different levels. You can’t compare those who use cameras, pay extra people as cast and the likes to someone that would wake up and shoot in his room and it will do well. For someone like me who must get personal assistance, get costumes, get an apartment because I don’t shoot in my own house. I pay for the place and it is worth it because the more you put in, the more you get back from it.
Do you think the industry needs stakeholders to regulate it?
It has reached that point because of some of the controversies, such as sex-for-skit roles and the likes. I wish there could be a law that can regulate such things. There should be a body to report such things to constituted authority.
How was growing up?
I had a beautiful childhood. I grew up in a family of four. I am the last born. I would say that I attended the best schools. My father is an engineer, my mother retired as a headmistress in a government-owned school. We had everything, the training and a good parental upbringing. Some of the things fans see in my skit today are things that I have experienced and what others have experienced too. I had my primary education at Dayspring Primary School, Ile-Ife, my secondary school was Ambassador College, Ile-Ife and then I proceeded to Obafemi Awolowo University from where I got a degree in Geography.
