Nollywood veteran Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has revealed how actress Ruth Kadiri inspired her to join YouTube filmmaking.

Speaking on the Nollywood on Radio podcast, Omotola said the push came in 2023 while she was on vacation.

“I came on vacation in 2023, and Ruth called me. She said, ‘Mama, do you know what’s going on? There’s a whole revolution with YouTube.’ She showed me numbers and everything,” Omotola recalled.

According to her, Kadiri described YouTube as a “phenomenal” platform that gives creators full control over their content.

“She told me, ‘You can do what you want on YouTube, but I think you should get in on this. You would do very well.’ She didn’t let me rest,” she added.

Omotola eventually gave in to Kadiri’s persistence.
“That girl gave me no peace of mind. So I called my producer and said, ‘Let’s just try something.’ We shot the first project in four days and used the fifth day for cleanup. I surprised myself. I was thankful to her for giving me the courage to try.”

She said the success of her first YouTube project led to Mother’s Love, a feature film that screened at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

“Mother’s Love came because I was under pressure. I just told my producer, ‘What if we did a feature film?’ and that was it. We started planning immediately and shot it in less than two weeks,” she said.

The actress admitted she was initially nervous about releasing the film.
“It took long to release because I was scared people might laugh at me or say it wasn’t good enough,” Omotola confessed.

Her move marks a new phase in Nollywood, where more filmmakers are embracing YouTube for creative freedom and global reach.