She Signed Her Rights Away for 10 Years at 16. Now She Teaches Africa to Break Into Vertical Drama

_Machine transcript (whisper large-v3). Timestamps match the published 48:19 recording. Names and spellings unverified._ [00:00] Welcome to Vertical Film School. Today's guest professor is Blessing Azugama. Blessing is a vertical script writer, narrative writer, and content strategist based in Nigeria. She started her journey writing web novels before making the switch into vertical drama script writing. She transitioned from that into a more fast-paced creative environment, [00:21] and she's been able to sell a few of her scripts to some of the different big platforms in the industry. She's also an African correspondent and editor for Duanju, which is a web portal that publishes and promotes all the big news in the vertical drama and microdrama space. [00:38] She runs her own podcast, and she's a teacher and trainer in the vertical drama industry. I'm pleased to have her to come teach us about how she got into vertical script writing and what you can learn if you want to break into the industry. [00:52] So with that said, everyone, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats pencils down phones up the professor is in Blessing welcome to the podcast thank you very much for having me [01:07] all right Blessing so let's get started a little bit with your journey because I did do a bit of a summary but I want you to tell us you know your own uh narrative arc if you will how did you get started in this space okay so I've been writing since I was 12 but I joined web novel writing when I was 16 and it was something [01:33] that was trending then and it came as like a huge writing shock for me because I finally found that the first real exposure as a writer is that you're not going to be writing for passion you're not writing for a system and it just trained me especially at my teen years because when I started I was getting a lot of rejections because I thought that my writing [01:58] is good why don't they get it well I had to understand that this is all about marketability and all that like you know grabbing attentions that you're writing for retention because people are reading web like web levels either on their laptops or their phones then so it was very intense so I had to learn how to make my writing marketable and I'm so grateful that I was [02:20] able to have that kind of like privilege at a young age like learning all those things because it helps me over time and you know when you're writing for like a web novel if the chapter does not end in a strong emotional beat your readers are not going to click to the next one so the pressure is still there even the payroll system too is the same [02:43] as similar it's similar like um verticals because your readers are going to you know pay to unlock chapters when it gets to a particular point so the pressure to sustain tension over hundreds sometimes thousands of episodes we call it episodes then when you are still chapters uh was was very like you know it was very steep for us writers so I had to learn how to develop [03:08] that discipline around pacing around like cliffhangers around emotional escalation and all that because if I didn't my troop was great my book was going to be dropped like it was that intense we had to do because once you do it you get much more viewers and at that time I didn't think of it as training for anything bigger I just thought that okay this is a new [03:32] format for me and this is how storytelling works online so it was very fun for me to learn and I was earning from it so it was a huge experience so um yeah yeah I've written for web novel for good novel they have various platforms high novel is a lot yeah alpha novel is also there so they have different platforms and we call it web novel generally [03:55] because it's on the web so we call it's web novel generally because it's on the web so yeah but looking back now I realized that it's actually trained me for that episodic storytelling that is built around um retention because when vertical drama started and was gaining traction my first thoughts when I saw it was like these are literally like video web novels so I was very excited [04:24] the difference approached it because it was like this is literally the same it's like watching what I read in books you get because they have and the pop is so similar and identical because it has that similar um structure which is to like yeah exactly to hook the audience fast and all that like you know and you need to make sure that your audiences your readers who [04:46] are clicking to the next chapter or the next episode so it just had that same vibe so it was very easy for me to like blend in and I saw it play very clearly because when I was even working on my first vertical project because the transition was very natural and then I wasn't just learning the storytelling from scratch just something that I saw as like a [05:06] visual language so yeah that's that's basically everything so did you have to pitch yourself for that first job in vertical drama or they found you yeah I think it's they found me, but it's a tricky thing because if I didn't put myself out there, [05:24] I wouldn't have been found. So when I first got interested in verticals, the first thing I did was use LinkedIn as my leverage. I said, talking about how people can understand billionaire troops, because I used to teach about, you know, writing billionaire, because it was billionaire troops that could write very well. [05:41] So I used to teach about all those web novel teams and all that. And then this company was like oh hi do you write verticals I did not know they were called verticals but I knew what they were and you know I had this little phase in my life where I was interested in script writing for a while and I also learned it as a course in [06:00] school so I was like yeah just blend the whole thing and with the guidance and the you know should I say patience of the company I worked with that was shorting they they just helped me with everything and you know showed me where my clothes we are and that was it and that was how I got my first vertical gig so yeah so how long have you [06:20] been writing now in the vertical space [06:27] this making it like let's say one year and six months because I started writing professionally like January last year so it was just like yeah one year and three months rather yeah one year and three months yeah no that's about right Because I think almost everybody else outside of people who are in China, [06:42] it's in the last year, maybe 18 years maximum, that I've seen a lot of people come into the, even I myself came in around September of last year. So it's like around the same time, it's like, oh, this is interesting. Let's give it a go. [06:58] And then we go from there. So we'll get back into your story writing verticals. Now that we have a good overview of how you got into the space. You also serve as an African correspondent for Duanju. Could you talk a little bit about that? [07:12] How's the vertical drama industry developing across Africa or Nigeria where you are? What are you seeing? Okay, so I think one thing that I've seen that people are missing or wanting people outside the continent sometimes underestimate is how the storytelling culture is in Africa. [07:35] Let me explain. so we've had like decades of serialized storytelling through like television and Nollywood films where we had the part one part two part three yeah back then in those days and they would stop at like you know these huge cliffhangers and all that and everyone would like queue to go buy the parts the next part and all that so we've had this in our like [07:56] you know in Africa for a long time and I've noticed something now coming to the age of like the gen z culture and everything we've known that many Africans are comfortable with like you know this emotional high stakes narratives that's like everywhere like we just like stories through our contents and all that so I think that for your question is what I'm seeing on ground like you [08:22] know in Africa right so yeah I think that an important factor is that Africa is a very mobile first environment and you know a large percentage of entertainment consumption happens on smartphones so when the owner of you know Duanju the founder of Duanju gm reached out to me he already had this wonderful interest in Africa because he was like I know for sure that this is something [08:46] that you know can can make sense and all and then seeing that I've positioned myself as someone that oh is preaching that oh Africans can write verticals too because that's just how it is he just said oh would you like to be a correspondent and it was like you know building a relationship there because I was even asked before before this how the the whole thing started [09:08] was I was supposed to um you know adapt a french vertical for African audiences so yeah that was how the whole relationship started but because of funding and everything it had to be on hold for now but over time this it just made it just put me in that middle where I understood that we can still offer something so that was how I broke into the African [09:31] correspondence rule for dungeon so yeah okay so um I guess the follow-up question to that will be are there people shooting verticals actively now in in Nigeria because I am yet to see one and that might just be me right so I'm yet to see one I know there's a big presence of Nollywood on youtube I just I've not heard of a vertical or microdrama app from [09:56] Nigeria neither have I seen one I know I've seen job postings of people trying to make some but I've not seen like hey this is the first one that has come out yet so um I'm not going to be the judge of anything but for the ones I've seen so far okay so you've seen a few okay yeah I've seen a few but I feel like from [10:18] my own perspective it's something like you know when you're trying to adapt a feature and then make it a vertical so I feel like some people are not really getting the format yet I'm even very excited about like you know digital creator Africa how they are you know trying something to teach people about it because I feel like once Africa learns Africans learn the format they'll be [10:40] able to start something that could get because we're not only aiming for our African audiences. We want global audiences too, like people outside Africa. Like, for example, you said you've not seen it, and I don't know if you're in Nigeria, but, you know, [10:54] it means that it hasn't gotten to you exactly. It hasn't gotten, it's still limited within this place. So if we can create something that could reach people across the globe, then it would be very beautiful. So I'm yet to see, but so far, [11:08] I know that people have been training, and I've been hearing that people are shooting, but I've seen in South Africa, and it's wonderful. I will I will send you the video I forgot the company's name but I will send you the video of this they they are trying really well so so far yeah it's just south Africa and then being you might see me so far I [11:25] think but not in life yeah I think I've seen binyuma tv I I saw when they launched but I have not followed up to like see what's on their platform yet I just saw when they launch and I know it's like sometimes when you launch you launch and then you're trying to get content and then try to get uh subscribers to come and watch so it does [11:44] take a whole process between launch and then full visibility and activity on the platform but I've never but I've not followed up with them yet I need to probably do that so um you've written for platforms that are not drama box on real short platforms that are maybe smaller and still building what did working with those earlier stage companies teach you about the industry I know you [12:06] talked about them giving you feedback and helping you to improve your screenwriting and making sure that you were able to transition successfully into the space from web novels but is there any other lessons you learned in that process yeah so working with like early stage platforms it gave me this interesting perspective about how you get to see experimentation like happening in real time you know people like [12:34] drama box and real short they have it all figured out they're going to literally give you a format and say, this is what we expect from you as a writer. If you derail, we're going to remove your skills, something like that. But other platforms, [12:46] they're like, we don't really have to do this romance stuff. Let's try something different. They are still experimenting. They're not like big platforms. They're trying to see if more genres, more narrative styles can come in. And this is also for any writer that is going to be watching this because I want people to understand that various platforms have what works for them yes we are thinking that [13:08] oh it's all about the hook the cliffhanger and you know and all that but no some work my work in my drama might not work in real shots my work in real show my work in drama but there are certain storylines that they they actually give out there that is like similar that is like you know fit for their platform let's say for example for drama shots [13:29] it's a it's a boarding platform too they're not really big on the whole crazy stakes you know falling down and catching the girl but they just don't see that something that is you know in the I don't know how to explain it but just to see that something that is like that big they want normal story lines but then you can add the cliffhanger elements and all [13:46] that so different platforms have what works for them so it's just working with them just gives you this larger perspective and you learn things while you're working and one of the biggest like lessons I've seen in that is in this industry is very much the the way it evolves because company just companies like to learn how what holds attention and what doesn't sometimes they're telling you oh [14:10] let's try this let's try that because they are still they don't have anybody to impress like if you're doing something you just know that this might be big or it might not and that's just how it is so you just have to make sure that and I feel like that feedback loop it helps a bit it helps a lot as writers as a writer because it just [14:28] helped me to understand what I was doing and all that so yeah okay and so walk us through uh vertical drama scripts what it looks like because most people watching this are maybe even trying to break into the industry and then if I if I recall correctly there's not been a heck of a whole lot of train like courses that have been very public or books in [14:53] this space I think in the last I want to say three months or so we started seeing authors writing books about how to write a vertical right so in your opinion just if you could give us like you know a minute or so breakdown on hey when you're writing page one is it going to be the same as like a typical movie script or it's a bit [15:12] shorter you have to get straight to the conversation the action whatever you don't care about any other thing okay yeah so for writing a vertical script you need to understand that um scripts are written in episodes and each episode is around one to two pages I know sometimes some people might give you the the grace of three but just to train yourself in that oh let me [15:37] learn how to compress and learn the pacing well I'll really advise that you should keep it around one to two pages that's the sweet thoughts so that people don't get bored if they are reading your scripts and all that and then um you need to obviously this is one thing that everyone has been hearing you need to stop it's like a hook so in the first few [15:56] seconds something unexpected or emotionally charged has like has to happen and that's what will grab your viewer's attention so you don't just write like you know you're just opening it um little by little no you have to go straight hit the nail on the head like start with the conflict and then when that scene introduces the conflict then you have to escalate that conflict you know give [16:18] it that whole vibe and maybe just give a cliffhanger that will make someone go to the next episode so you have the you have to do this within one to two pages is how it's how intense it is and you know I usually tell my students when they are writing their scripts that they should see their verticals as distractions because if a viewer is like open TikTok [16:40] and stumbles on your work they came there to watch TikTok right but you need to make your vertical so distracting that they stop scrolling and they are distracted from what they originally came to do so that's just the goal always make sure that your vertical can distract the viewer from like you know you know going back to scroll and whatever let them just stop and pause because [17:04] when you get their attention like that it's it's very intense so they need to learn that no matter was learn how to and I love how writers can be very creative there are different ways you can you know bring us hooks and it doesn't have to be you know verbally you can with dialogues and all you can even use visual hooks you can write about someone maybe [17:23] that was stabbed or whatever and they just see that they're already like what's going on it's just how it is like there are a lot of ways you can bring out hooks and I also want to advise that writers should learn hooks too like literally take your time go and research about hooks because some people are like using the same generic hook all the time and sometimes [17:42] it can be very boring to watch so yeah and also your episode should end in a cliffhanger which people already know so you need to make sure that your audience is once more as yeah so basically you're starting cliffhanger to cliffhanger in 60 to 90 seconds you started the cliffhanger well you started the hook but I see the hook as also a cliffhanger right because if you're [18:04] saying you're right in the in the middle of the action it's like who's this what happened what's her name where are we going what's going on you're lost and then you now have to take that and then you stop again and then you so it's just a chain of one cliffhanger today I mean I've watched a few but for someone trying to listen to you and figure [18:24] out okay I don't even know where to get a script to read and see and yeah if I'm going to pay for real shots or one of these companies it might take me 20 to watch a whole episode before I understand you know what's going on and how to fix it but like the whole study of the hook for example so let's let's sit on that for [18:44] one more minute before we move on how would somebody study how to like write a good hook for a screenplay in a vertical how they'll study how to learn how to get a good hook okay so I I usually attribute my my way of like writing to my content strategy skills which is like very different for what I do as a vertical writer but in in all [19:11] I feel like you know learning how to market something can help you with hooks let's forget about the fact that it's in the lane of vertical script writing but if you can learn how to sell something if you're like how would I get this person's attention that's what you need to understand the concept of it the audience psychology on how hooks work so for me that's that's [19:35] why I told you that I use distractions as a way because people know that distractions are the only thing let's say someone is learning in class if they get distracted their mind is off so distractions are my own philosophy on how hooks can be created like always remember that you're trying to distract this person if someone is a funny joke I usually make what I'm like make [19:54] them watch your your verticals to the essence that if they're cooking something they will forget that something about the fire is a funny joke but it's just how it is like so I feel like that's just how they have to have this marketing mindset that oh this is not for fun this is something that we're using this is for like you're writing in an audience economy sorry [20:12] an attention economy right so you're trying to get people's attention so yeah that's just the mindset the mindset shift they you have towards like learning hooks okay and what about guiding aspiring writers towards how to position themselves for an income because I know for from talking to other writers screenwriters in the space that sometimes when you sell your script that's it you just get paid and you're [20:39] off to the next one sometimes you're selling your script and it might not be the most lucrative thing so you're always on the uh the hamster wheel right it's not like you're writing a feature play like a hollywood feature screenplay well you probably get royalties of the movies and all that so so how does positioning yourself or making this a sustainable living work from your perspective and [20:59] since you've been doing it uh for a few months for a year and three months now saying that um if the writer can understand the format well because that's the first step if they're really like you know aiming for verticals then I I just feel like the best way is to just write samples and you know you know analyze what has worked because when I first started [21:22] I was looking for a vertical script it was very intense I I think it was around july last day that I hopped on like I was hopping on calls every day talking to writers learning from writers I spoke to a lot of people in this but it was crazy it was that intense but I feel like nobody was willing to share their script so I had to [21:43] like just ask questions I had to ask questions about I was like okay fine because I'm that kind of person that would learn and then you know one writer gave me uh uh hints that okay um lesson what you could do is you know go and watch a vertical and try to write what you're watching so when you just react it and all that you'll be able [22:00] to get the mental um structure of how to write and all so when I did it I realized oh I watched this one minute vertical and it was like one point something pages or 1.2 I said oh so you just trained me in a way so exactly [22:17] so that was what I just used to start and then what I started doing is that I stopped thinking of like having that mindset of even if I don't have a portfolio I have samples to show like what's the worst that could happen and you know thankfully verticals isn't more like features where you have to sell the scripts because you're going to first start with the pitches [22:36] so it's from your pitch and that was another intense moment because I realized that when you're writing a pitch to no matter how brief it is even if it's a one pager there has to be a hook there like something that will make someone say oh wow I see potentials in this you know learning how to market your work so that was what I used and then [22:55] I was just reaching out to people even if they asked for a resume and I didn't have one because then it took it took a long while before my vertical was um should I say produced so even if I said yeah I was writing verticals yeah I think I finished I rounded up my project around April but my vertical was produced around August but within that period [23:15] because of how I just started pitching my samples and you know telling people this is what I was able to get around three to four jobs then so it was it just talk about so it's just how it is but at least I was getting something so I think that's what writers can do they can just have samples because it will help them yeah it will help [23:34] them to um be able to pitch themselves without waiting for you know when they have a portfolio like everyone starts from somewhere so yeah no it's interesting you said you had to reverse engineer from watching it because like I said up until what october that was when the first uh book on how to write a vertical and even then there was no script in it it was [23:57] just giving instructions like you gave instructions yeah so I was like oh okay this is pretty interesting but then again the few people that know about it hadn't started teaching up until well hadn't started teaching aggressively up until much recently so your your podcast is from draft to dollars the title says everything about your philosophy which is Basically, [24:19] you write a draft, and then you try and get it sold, right? So what's the biggest mistake writers make that keep them stuck at the draft and never gets them to the dollars? So one of the biggest mistakes I've seen a lot of writers, [24:33] this was why I decided to make this podcast, because I just don't have this podcast. A lot of people are thinking, oh, let's see, you're just being money-minded. Well, that was not the goal. That was not the goal. I was literally just, I created this thing as a safe space to make people understand that this is where this is somewhere you can you know that there's some [24:53] there's some phases in a creator's life in a creative life where they are like thinking about how you know they are doing things and it's not paying their rent and all so that's one of their biggest mistakes because sometimes they are always focusing on the creative side of their work and not the professional side it was like so they had to I think I needed to tell [25:13] them that oh this is a way of telling you guys that writing is an absolute art yes but if you want to earn from writing you have to treat it as a skill that exists within an industry that means you need to understand formats study what's put um you know what platforms are producing learn things learn how things are sold and developed be interested be curious don't [25:34] just be that writer that's like oh I'm just gonna write and all like how are you going to pay your rent so that's just how it is so it's just how it is so some writers can they spend years perfecting their drafts you know but they never position those drafts in a way that connects them to real opportunities and it took me signing a lot of terrible [25:55] contracts it took me time to learn my lesson out of desperation so and I won't even know the kind of loopholes or you know whatever I fell into when I was doing that so yeah that's just what from draft to dollars is the shift from draft to dollars is just it just happens when a writer begins to think strategically and start asking questions like oh what does [26:16] where does this writing of mine or this creative work of mine fit in the market and others like start asking how will my how will I make my work in demand so that was just basically what from draft to dollars is well I'm glad you mentioned terrible contracts because I want us to sit on that for another minute or two because I remember around this time last [26:37] year I was actually approached to be in one of these reality business TV shows and we did the interview they were like okay we we had the filming and everything was okay and then at the end of it they were like hey by the way here's this contract you know sign the release and then we can publish this thing and keep going and I'm like okay cool [26:56] so I take a look at it it was the end of the day after I'd gotten back from filming take a look at it and it's like what the hell what the hell what the hell [27:11] I was [27:18] like what the hell I said hang on maybe I'm not a trade lawyer I'm in finance but I read a lot of contracts when I was working as a consultant let me give this to ChatGPT so I uploaded it to ChatGPT ChatGPT was like do not sign immediately I said oh okay there's a huge problem here so what were some of those things that you fell into [27:44] or you saw that were terrible at least at the beginning so this would this started with like my web novel yeah I think my network is so yeah usually when we are writing for platforms when we're writing for platforms in web novel writing if you go to the market there you see that a lot of Africans majority of nigerian writers are working in that like in that [28:09] place like in that writing space and some of us I told you that I said I started writing when I was 16 in web novel so then when I got the contract when I got the contract I don't even read it I just scroll down to where they write the the money aspect and I'm like oh my gosh I'm so excited and then I signed the contract [28:31] until it was one day that I was discussing with a lawyer friend sorry okay this was like four years later yeah okay I was discussing with a lawyer friend and then he was like can I see your contract he was like I was like okay sure so he took his time you know looked through the contract he was like Blessing you just signed your work for 10 [28:52] years I was like how 10 years it was like this and this was something that was very close to me I was so heartbroken I was like are you okay what are you going to do like how did you just stop writing like you know I had to ditch the platform like boycott the platforms like I'm not going to finish this work so maybe they could terminate [29:11] the contract but then another clause there was like once they terminate it it still becomes theirs and then they're going to give it to another writer to finish it but so that was when I learned my lesson how old were you when you signed it [29:26] 16 yeah you were 16 when you signed it yeah I think I was 17 yeah I was 17 I was 17 I think yeah I was just entering university if you're not 18 21 you're a minor that is avoid you need to go back and look do your age at that age you're not responsible to sign anything legally they should know that damn and it was that [29:51] it was like yeah a lot of writers then I still have like friends people that are right that are 16 they are young because it's like it's very popular among that age and all but yeah no no at that age at least before you turn 18 you're not it's the law all over the world you're not legally capable of signing anything because you don't understand your rights [30:16] and the law that's why even when you have like a child actor in hollywood or whatever the adult parent signs the contract and they explain to the person doing the work you can't sign that so you might want to revisit that again and see but yeah so some of those okay so they will only work for 10 years that's that's crazy um so right now since you're [30:40] now working on verticals how's the conversation when it comes to contract negotiation been has it improved for verticals yeah oh I don't know what to say [30:54] I don't I don't know what to say a lot of writers are going to be like those supports me on this we have been trying I don't know like how I'm not going to mention platforms over your show that was a platform I recently and then I was like oh I'm going to be um you know right and they were like they acted so much they were [31:13] like okay review this contract tell us what you want to change and then get back to us and all I was like okay that's cool some platforms will just do the contract and ask you to sign so I had to like you know take my time like you said charge bt to put it in there I was like okay what are the clauses like explain everything to [31:30] me so I can understand it um then I got to a point where they wrote something like oh you can't say you worked on this or you're not going to attach your name or anything like you're not going to take any credit so I was like if you guys told me that I'm going to be a ghostwriter for my original ip I would have like okay fine [31:49] you'd have to mean that I'm a ghostwriter so I had to go back and you know argue these points like literally write down a long email and they were like you're going back and forth telling me okay can you mention it in your portfolio and not your you know like not in your imbd or something I was like okay never mind I'm not going to do this [32:08] because the money was not even that much it wasn't okay this is my way yeah and you can't just take it and they had this leak was where they were like you can terminate the contract at any time even if you've written 30 episodes you could just wake up one day and say we don't want to work with you and they're not going to make any payment [32:26] for the one that you've already written it did not make sense they just had the whole they had the whole fixed, you know, rate of like, okay, we can pay you after the first 20 episodes and all, but after that, like, they can decide to not complete the payment or whatever, [32:40] or give you whatever fee they want. It wasn't really making sense. Well, I understood from that place that this company is a company that has worked with, that they have an appellation with an app, so like, with a writing app, so I just knew that, [32:54] nice, they know what they are doing. They have been in this thing for a long time. Yeah. [33:02] they were not going to budge easily I just knew that so um I'm [33:09] just like okay let me just do this because one of the somebody has to eat you know find money and you just pay pretty much I was going to tell you that but when it comes to your own ip you really don't want to like sign away your ip and give up the next harry potter to quit like okay bless you we have this idea can you [33:26] work on it yeah and then I'll work on it okay um okay so we've talked about that and as we start to wind down so if a platform decided tomorrow that it wanted to produce um vertical drama content specifically for African audiences what would you tell them they need to understand about the market before they write a single scene [33:51] okay so the first thing I would tell them is that they need to understand that authenticity matters because Africa is very diverse and audiences can quickly tell when a story doesn't feel grounded in like real cultural experiences I can cite a lot of times that you know people make statements about let's say let me say Nigeria my country and that maybe they're asking it outside and then [34:19] everybody's like oh you just made a mistake like why would you say someone that is Igbo, has a Yoruba name, something like that. We have over 500 should I say languages here. So it's like they need to understand how authenticity is. They need to understand that they need to be very authentic when they are trying to bring something for African audiences. [34:39] And they need to understand the social dynamics of an African, our everyday reality. Something that we could relate to because we've seen what works for the Chinese. We've seen what works for the Western audience. So when it comes to Africa, we still have what works for us so yeah and then most of the compelling stories they could try if they want to could span with like um [35:01] um you know ambition loyalty stories love betrayal a lot of those this those um stories are one of the things that you know can get an African interested and another impact important factor I would say is like you know understanding our language and our tone Because even if the content might be produced in English or something, [35:25] cultural context still matters because it shapes how the characters speak and interact. So when they watch something, I recently taught a class on localization and adaptation. So this was very important because when they do something, people are going to be able to understand it emotionally. [35:44] Yeah, so another approach I would say is just also, if the platform is a foreign platform, they should just, you know, collaborate with local writers and, you know, learn from them because that's the only way they could, you know, help themselves. So, yeah. [36:03] Okay. That brings up an interesting point, [36:09] which is essentially localization is not just dubbing it into English, right? It's more about cultural nuances as well. So for writers around the world, whether it's in Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa even, wherever, who has the skill but doesn't know how to connect the writing skill to writing verticals and wants to connect to the global vertical drama industry, [36:37] what's the single most important thing you would tell them to do today? the most important I've always preached about this and I cannot like emphasize it enough is visibility it's very important a lot of people don't know how much being visible can help them I used to work with someone I used to work for someone that would tell me Blessing don't be inside the box like why [37:04] are you thinking outside the box always be outside that box so it's just how it is like your talent can be important but people need to find you if they can't find you if you have talent but nobody can find you then what's the use you're just going to be there yeah so a lot of writers are already skilled but they just stay invisible because they're only [37:24] like creating they're not showing up and in the training vertical format so if you want to understand how it works you can sometimes people always ask me okay you're saying that we repost but what should we pose I'm like you don't have to impress anybody you can talk about your journey on in learning verticals just be authentic talk about yourself like like you can just say about [37:44] anything storytelling is very important because when you share your thoughts like you don't know who's going to see it I've seen a lot of people a lot of producers have reached out to me and they're like hi Blessing so I I see your post you're very good like would you like to write and I'm like wow this person has never liked my post before yeah so it's [38:02] just how it is like so it means they are actually watching they're actually watching they're seeing you there but you don't know some people don't know that so I think if they position themselves like publicly they don't have to show they can pick a text platform if they're scared of showing their videos on TikTok or Instagram like me for example I've leveraged LinkedIn so well I just [38:20] love to use LinkedIn I don't even use any other platform like that so it's just how it is so I think that if they're shared that because for me I said sharing my thoughts on writing I was breaking down structure like I told you how shutting found me I was breaking up the structure of you know novel writing and you know web novel writing the whole concept [38:39] the troops the jurors and all that and they reached out to me so yeah disability is what led me to my first vertical gig something I call it look but I don't think it's not because I worked hard to put myself out there I was someone that was learning and I was just learning openly I was learning loudly so the reality is just simple that once you [38:58] are visible as a writer opportunities will find you so someone that someone is always watching no matter always have this mindset someone is always watching because the internet has even removed a lot of geographical barriers I know there was some time like sometimes how many years ago sometimes you wouldn't have gotten content that someone was seeing in Canada or something but now you can see everything like [39:19] it's that big so yeah so it's being consistent and visible that's the only thing I can I can advise that's the only thing yeah and I would also like say that yes you could say it is luck but the more visible you are there's this thing called luck surface area so um I don't know if you study science but like surface area is just basically the area [39:40] of a particular thing on the surface right so the bigger your surface area the more easy it is for people to find you and touch you and reach out to you so whether it's like a table a car whatever the bigger you make it to seem the bigger you make your presence what you're learning how you treat the space how you're um adapting some stories into verticals [40:04] because you talked about adapting a french story into an African one the more people are able to see and follow your journey they might I've done business with a lot of people on LinkedIn that have never liked my posts. I didn't even know they were reading, [40:18] but it turns out they were reading. It turns out they were like, oh, they've read something of mine in the public somewhere, in a magazine or something. They were like, come back. You [40:33] have to do that first step. Your ability to get around it easier versus you just now writing on your own blog. That's why I always tend to to advise that people don't focus on writing on your own blog or your own platform because it's not the easiest things to be found it's easy to be found on LinkedIn on Instagram TikTok whatever but at the same time you [40:57] don't want to build 100 there so I'm a big advocate for like also having um a newsletter because you can then own the relationship with the person but it's good for them to find you on a public platform just make sure you funnel that relationship back to something you own and then continue the relationship that way so as we close out the interview um you're a writer [41:22] correspondent coach and a podcast host at this point in your career what role matters to you and why this was a very tricky question when I saw it I'm like this is a tricky but I think like at the center of everything I do if I if you check it well is still storytelling because writing has always been like the foundation and it's it's the craft that [41:47] connects all these roles I do together and everything I do that is just spread out is still a writing I write my scripts for my podcast as a correspondent I write articles interview people as a coach I still write in a way so it's just how it is like my lesson notes and all so writing has just been that main craft and I also value other aspects [42:08] of my work because it helps me contribute to building a larger ecosystem so rather than seeing these roles like as a separate thing I think of them as you know different ways of participating in the growth of like this emerging storytelling industry I'm very big on the creative industry and all so yeah the most meaningful part is like me being involved in shaping how writers understand that [42:33] assess this space so I don't know if coaching wins but I just love to see people like you know learn and I just love to like you know help them in a way in whatever way I can it's just something that's part of me I could be terrible at teaching but at least I know that I've impacted someone's life so it's just it's just how it is [42:52] like so yeah I think that that's what that's one of the most like meaningful parts for me apart from writing okay that's a good answer that's a good answer so bless her before I let you go tell us where people can find you where they can reach out to you if they want to learn more about you or if they even possibly want to get you to [43:10] work on any of their projects could you tell us maybe your website your social media handle um anything else you want to share that can connect people back to you yes so far I think you can just find me on LinkedIn because that's where I am most of the time. [43:28] That's why I'm viewed myself. So you can find me on LinkedIn and then, yeah, we can just, once you connect, I'm always going to accept immediately. Like, I'm not, I'm very active there. I feel like I've channeled my strength on LinkedIn. So that is where you can find me. [43:43] So, yeah. Yeah, so I'll be sure to put your LinkedIn profile link on the notes once this episode is ready to go live and then people can click on that and reach out to Blessing if you want to work with her, if you want to learn from her so with that said everyone, [44:01] thanks for coming to listen to another episode of Vertical Film School and before I forget we're also hosting the Microdrama Summit which is coming real soon in June so look out for that, we'll be sharing all the information on social media so if you want to learn more from people like Blessing who are pioneers in the space as well as teaching people how to break into the [44:22] space monetize and go their businesses and their services then the micro drama summit is for you so you can check out check it out on microdramasummit.com I'll put the link somewhere down below or you just go to www.microdramasummit.com [44:39] and of course this has been a podcast produced by verticaldramajobs.com so if you're looking for a job in the vertical drama industry whether as a front office person in one of the apps if you want to write if you want to act um be sure to sign up in our talent registry we'll also put the link somewhere um below I keep pointing like this because there's nothing [44:59] right now but somewhere middle somewhere below just vertical drama jobs.com forward slash talent and you can sign up in the registry and we'll send job alerts every week so thanks everyone for tuning in and we'll see you next time in the next class cheers bye [45:21] Thank you.