Tunde Babalola

Tunde Babalola is a Nigerian screenwriter in Nigerian cinema and British television. He is most notable for writing movies such as ''Last Flight to Abuja'', ''Critical Assignment'', '' October 1'' and ''Citation'', as well as the Nigerian soap-opera ''Tinsel'' and UK series ''The Bill'' and ''In Exile''. He also acted in the 2001 movie '' Deep Freeze'', however it is not a career path he says he intends to pursue.

Personal life

He was born and grew up in England. Later, he moved to Nigeria with his parents and siblings. His father was an accountant and his mother worked in the Central Bank. Under the guidance of his uncle, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Nigerian Army, Babalola forced to apply to the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA). However, his mother did not give him permission. Therefore, he gained admission to study Dramatic Arts at the Obafemi Awolowo University.

Career

At the age of 14, he wrote his first film script ''In The Raw''. After he returned to the United Kingdom, he joined with Channel 4 and wrote the play for sitcom series called ''In Exile''. He later worked with several channels: BBC, Carlton Television and Chrysalis Television.

Babalola started as a writer with the TV serial ''The Bill''. After the serial received fan popularity, he wrote the three TV serials in 1997: ''True to Life Player'', ''Crime of a Lesser Passion'' and ''Armed and Dangerous''. In 1998, he wrote the serial ''One Man, Two Faces''. Later in 2002, he made maiden cinema appearance as an actor with the horror film ''Deep Freeze''. He played the role as a helicopter pilot.

In 2014, he wrote the script of critically acclaimed blockbuster ''1 October'', where he took four weeks to write the first draft of the film and three drafts only took about a week to complete. The script was initially submitted with the title ''Dust'', mainly because the story is set in a very dusty town. Even though Afolayan didn't want to do big budget projects at the time, he knew he had no choice, as he wanted to interpret the writer's vision adequately because it is a "national film with a universal appeal". He expressed that he liked the story of ''1 October'' because it is a period piece, which he had never done before and "it is also significant to the present state of Nigeria". As a result, he decided to explore the film by adding his own ideas to the subsequent drafts of the script.

In 2015, he joined as the writer and producer of the comedy TV production ''Rib Busters: Comedy Show''. In 2015, Babalola won the awards for the Best Comedy Writer for the film ''The meeting'' and Best Drama Writer for the film ''1 October'' at Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.

Filmography

References

External links

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Living people
Nigerian male film actors
Year of birth missing (living people)
Nigerian screenwriters
British male screenwriters
21st-century Nigerian male actors
Obafemi Awolowo University alumni

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