When Nollywood director, Kemi Adetiba put out an open call for monologue submissions for her new film The Stool, the response was massive, but her verdict was blunt. “There’s a lot of overly theatrical monologues being put up right now. I can’t do anything with that.” It was a reality check that Uche Jombo took even further at the AMVCA 12 Young Filmmaker’s Day.
The veteran actress speaking on Wednesday at the AMVCA 12 Young Filmmaker’s Day, under the theme “Audacious Storytelling and Attracting the Right Opportunities,” mentioned that social media has become a tool, and actors who are not using it to show their craft are wasting a rare advantage that previous generations never had.
“I keep saying that this generation of actors are so lucky, but that luck makes no sense if you’re not using it,” she said. “If you have social media and you’re not pushing or marketing yourself right, just do your monologue.”
She went further, describing what happens when aspiring actors slide into her DMs asking about acting opportunities. “Anytime someone disturbs my page about acting and I go to your page and I don’t see one single thing that makes you an actor on that page, I’m leaving.”
For Jombo, a monologue is not just a performance exercise. It is proof of seriousness. It is the difference between someone who says they want to act and someone who is actively building something. “If you’re an actor and you don’t have a monologue on your page, what are you doing?” she asked.
It is a view that aligns with what other top Nollywood filmmakers have been saying: that casting directors are not looking for expensive, over-produced tapes but for authenticity and emotional delivery, things a simple, well-shot monologue can show clearly. “You need to as an actor continuously sell yourself at every given opportunity,” Jombo added. “If the opportunity is for you to do a monologue and pin it on your page, do it.”
The thread running through everything Jombo said was consistency. It is the word she kept coming back to, the thing she said separates actors who grow from those who stay stuck. “You need consistency. You grow only by consistency.”
In an industry where visibility can make or break a career and where directors like Kemi Adetiba are actively going online to find new talent, the lesson from the AMVCA Young Filmmaker’s Day could not be clearer: an actor’s social media page is their portfolio, and an empty one is a missed opportunity that may not be gotten back.
