Into the -Woods

While Hollywood, or more specifically the United States film/tv industry, is the largest producer of films and television in the world, there are other “-wood” labelled markets.

Second on the list is Bollywood, the term known for the film industry of India.

Bollywood is commonly referred to as Hindi cinema, even though Hindustani, understood as the colloquial base common to both Hindi and Urdu, might be more accurate. There has been a growing presence of Indian English in dialogue and songs as well. It is not uncommon to see films that feature dialogue with English words and phrases, even whole sentences. There is a growing number of films made entirely in English.

Third, surprisingly, is Nollywood, the collective term for the Nigerian film industry.

According to Hala Gorani and Jeff Koinange formerly of CNN, Nigeria has a 250 million USD movie industry, churning out some 200 “home videos” every month to become the third largest in the world after the United States and India [2]. Many foreign and local critics have criticized Nollywood for its trite plots, poor dialogue, terrible sound, and poor production values. Some worry that the prevalence of witchcraft and violence in the movies may reinforce negative stereotypes about Africans. In just 13 years, Nollywood has grown from nothing into an industry that employs thousands of people.

As an actor, it makes sense to know about these “film epicenters.” Expose yourself to film from these regions, especially if you would like to expand beyond acting into producing and/or directing.