Business
We’ll boost Nigeria’s film industry’s creativity, commercial viability through AI – Plotweaver founder
Oluwole Fagbohun, a renowned AI expert, author, and academic with over a decade of experience building AI systems, is the founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PlotWeaver, a tech startup committed to the unlocking of Africa’s creative economy. In this interview with Business Hallmark’s Ayoola Olaoluwa, Fagbohun opened up on PlotWeaver readiness to bridge deep tech and creative storytelling in order to make intellectual properties bankable, discoverable and investable Excerpt:
What inspired the development of Plotweaver, and how does it address the needs of the creative economy in Africa?
PlotWeaver was born out of a simple but powerful question: “What if we could make African stories bankable?” For too long, creatives across the continent have struggled not because of a lack of talent, but due to the absence of structure, limited visibility, and a critical gap in investment-readiness. Africa is home to rich, diverse storytelling traditions, yet it captures less than 3% of the global creative economy’s value. The inspiration for PlotWeaver came from witnessing first-hand how filmmakers in Nigeria, Kenya, and beyond were burdened by fragmented workflows, often spending up to 40% of their time on administrative tasks rather than the creative process itself. We envisioned a platform that could change that dynamic — a smart, intuitive system that empowers creators to scale their work by transforming unstructured ideas into properly packaged, investment-ready intellectual property.
Fagbohun
PlotWeaver leverages AI to bridge the gap between creativity and commercial viability. It’s not just software; it’s an operating system for Africa’s creative future. The platform is built with an understanding of African cultural contexts and storytelling traditions, providing tools that support scriptwriting, production planning, localisation, and IP structuring. Our platform enables storytellers to gain clarity, save time, and most importantly, attract funding. Our mission is to transform African content from being passively consumed to being properly valued, structured, and financed.
Can you walk us through the features and functionalities of Plotweaver, and how it can benefit filmmakers, screenwriters, and producers?
PlotWeaver is a comprehensive, end-to-end AI-powered platform designed to support filmmakers, screenwriters, and producers through every stage of the creative process—from ideation to investment-readiness. At its core, the platform is divided into three integrated suites: Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production.
In the Pre-Production Suite, our culturally aware AI Script Assistant helps generate, critique, refine, and translate stories in multiple languages while analysing character arcs, story structure, and dialogue with sensitivity to local idioms, cultural references, and market nuances. It even offers scene alternatives that are contextually appropriate for different audiences, giving writers the creative support they need to produce compelling, locally resonant stories for a global audience.
The Production Toolkit simplifies the traditionally complex and fragmented production process by automating scheduling, budgeting, call sheet generation, and resource allocation and this is tailored to regional market conditions and on ground production realities. Plotweaver’s Post-Production Suite enables teams to manage creative assets, ensure compliance across markets, and analyse content performance, helping producers and studios understand the commercial potential of their projects.
What truly sets PlotWeaver apart is its seamless integration: every element of the platform is interconnected. A change to the script automatically updates the budget, schedule, and distribution strategy, ensuring alignment at every stage. For screenwriters, it’s a smart creative companion; for producers, an intelligent project manager; and for studios, it’s a new, scalable pipeline to generate high-quality, investment-ready intellectual property.
How does Plotweaver’s AI technology understand and incorporate local languages, slangs, and cultural nuances?
We’ve built custom language models tuned specifically for African storytelling. Our team works with local linguists and cultural researchers to train our models on idiomatic expressions, humor, tone, and regional nuance. The goal is not just translation—it’s transcreation. That’s how we make a Hausa proverb or Igbo idiom make emotional sense in Swahili or Portuguese.
This is where our proprietary Orisa Itan 1.0 model truly shines. Unlike generic AI models, we’ve built and fine-tuned our system specifically for African languages, dialects, and cultural contexts. We’ve trained it on diverse African language datasets, including Nigerian English, Swahili, and various regional dialects. Through collaboration with local storytellers, linguists, and cultural experts, our AI understands not just the literal meaning but the cultural weight behind expressions, proverbs, and references. For instance, our system can recognize when a script is using proverbs from Yoruba tradition and can suggest alternatives that preserve cultural meaning when adapting content for different regions. It comprehends the nuances of humor that works in Lagos versus Nairobi versus global markets.
How does Plotweaver’s AI-powered critique and suggestion system work, and what kind of improvements can it suggest for a script?
Our AI critiques scripts like a seasoned story editor, offering feedback on plot holes, pacing, dialogue authenticity, character arcs and cultural alignment. Using sentiment analysis and genre-based benchmarks, it can flag clichés, recommend stronger plot devices and even generate alternative scene options. Our critique system functions across multiple layers of analysis. At the basic level, it evaluates standard script elements: structure, pacing, character development and dialogue.
But we go deeper by analysing cultural resonance, market alignment and production feasibility. For example, if a script contains a wedding scene, our AI can suggest specific cultural elements that would make it more authentic for the target audience. If a character’s dialogue doesn’t match their established background, the system will flag this inconsistency. When a scene would be prohibitively expensive to shoot, the AI offers alternatives that preserve the narrative impact whilst reducing production costs.
PlotWeaver serves as a creative co-pilot, never replacing the writer’s judgement but enhancing it through data-driven insights. We balance artistic integrity with commercial viability, our platform helps writers craft stories that resonate emotionally while meeting production and market requirements.This results in a stronger script that maintain your unique voice while maximising the potential for success.
Can you elaborate on the post-production features of Plotweaver, and how it can help with audio and visual editing?
Our post-production tools include AI-assisted scene continuity checks, voice matching for dubbing, automated subtitles and transcription, and AI-enhanced shot recommendations for editors. We address the often-neglected final stages of the filmmaking process, offering smart asset management that automatically organises footage and creates searchable metadata tags based on content. For audio and visual editing, we provide AI-assisted recommendations for cuts, transitions and sound design based on the emotional tone established in the script.
We also include compliance verification tools that automatically flag content that might cause distribution issues in specific markets, offering alternatives that preserve creative intent while increasing global accessibility. One feature I’m particularly proud of is our localisation engine, which helps creators adapt their content for different markets through smart subtitle generation and cultural reference adaptation.
How will it handle character development, story adaptation, and other creative aspects of filmmaking?
PlotWeaver helps build rich, three-dimensional characters by tracking traits, motivations and story arcs across scenes. It also provides AI-powered cultural adaptation which makes it possible to adapt a story originally set in Lagos to work in Nairobi or Kinshasa. It becomes both a co-creator and a cultural consultant. For character development, we offer relationship mapping tools that visualise character interactions throughout a script, consistency checking that ensures characters behave according to their established traits, and demographic insights that help creators understand if their characters will resonate with target audiences. When it comes to creative aspects like adaptation, our system can analyse source material and help identify key narrative elements to preserve while suggesting structural changes that might work better in film format. The AI can generate alternative scene approaches based on the creator’s established style and vision.
Do you see Plotweaver impacting the Nigerian and African film industries, and what kind of opportunities can it create for local creatives?
PlotWeaver will be transformational. First, it makes creatives more productive. Second, it brings structure and accountability to projects—something funders love. Third, it empowers smaller studios with the kind of tools only available to major international houses. That levels the playing field. PlotWeaver will help African creatives create not just content, but content at scale.
PlotWeaver will fundamentally transform how African stories reach global audiences. By reducing production inefficiencies by 40%, we’re enabling filmmakers to produce more content at higher quality levels with the same resources. We’re democratising access to professional-grade tools, so a filmmaker in Kigali or Lagos can now access the same level of production infrastructure that was previously only available to major studios.
Our platform creates structured, analysable assets from creative content, meaning films and scripts can be properly valued, giving financial institutions the confidence to invest in African content. We’re essentially building a bridge between creative talent and institutional capital. Finally, we’re enabling cross-market collaboration. A Nigerian production can easily be adapted for audiences in Brazil or francophone Africa, dramatically expanding the potential market for African content.
What are the potential economic benefits of Plotweaver, and how it can contribute to the growth of the creative economy in Africa?
PlotWeaver unlocks capital. By generating data-rich production dossiers, ROI forecasts and market intelligence, we’re making it possible for banks, governments and investors to confidently back creative projects. That translates into more jobs, more exports and greater GDP contribution from the creative sector—one of Africa’s fastest-growing industries. The economic impact will be substantial. Currently, Africa’s creative economy represents approximately £4.2 billion, but it has the potential to grow to over £20 billion by 2030. PlotWeaver aims to be a key catalyst in this growth.
Streamlining production allows the average production to save 25-30% on costs, resources that can be reinvested in quality or additional projects. Our platform also enables more strategic planning around distribution and marketing, increasing the average return on investment for film projects. More importantly, we’re creating a framework for proper valuation of intellectual property. This transforms creative content from a one-time product into an ongoing asset that can be licensed, adapted and monetised across multiple channels and markets. For individual creators, this means sustainable careers. For production companies, it means bankable assets. For national economies, it means a thriving sector that creates jobs and exports cultural products with real economic value.
How does Plotweaver plan to engage with industry stakeholders, such as film producers, distributors, and exhibitors, to ensure its adoption and success?
We’ve taken a partnership-first approach from day one. We’ve secured LOIs and endorsements from key institutions including the Pan African Chamber of Commerce (South Africa), Association of Movie Producers Nigeria, directors of guild of Nigeria, American arts academy (USA), Brazilian Independent Audiovisual Association (BRAVI), Association of Independent Audiovisual Media Producers (APIMA, Argentina) and similar bodies across Africa and South America. Our strategy involves three pillars: education, integration, and collaboration. We’re running training programs in partnership with film schools and industry associations to ensure the next generation of filmmakers grows up with these tools.
For integration, we’re working with existing production companies to implement PlotWeaver in their workflows, gathering feedback and refining our platform. We currently have four production pilots underway across different markets. On the collaboration front, we’re establishing strategic partnerships with distributors, streaming platforms, and financial institutions to create an ecosystem where PlotWeaver becomes the standard operating system for content production, financing, and distribution across the continent.
Can you share some milestones and achievements in the development of Plotweaver, and what challenges have you faced along the way?
We’ve achieved a lot, from building our MVP and training our first multilingual models, to securing SEIS/EIS clearance in the UK (providing tax benefits to investors in the UK), and establishing partnerships with major industry bodies across three continents, and building a waitlist of over 500 filmmakers eager to use our platform. We have also begun fundraising in the UK and engagement with potential investors in Nigeria, Canada, South Africa and the United States are currently ongoing.
The challenges have been substantial. Building AI models that truly understand African cultural contexts required extensive data collection in environments where digital archives are limited. We had to be innovative in our data acquisition strategy, working directly with creative professionals and linguist experts. Another significant challenge was designing a system that works with the infrastructure realities of the African markets. We’ve built PlotWeaver to function efficiently even with intermittent internet connectivity, allowing creators to work offline and sync when connected. Our biggest challenge has been balancing AI development with the complexities of real-world production cycles, but we’ve tackled that by co-designing with filmmakers across Africa and South America.
What are the plans for the launch of Plotweaver, and how will it be marketed and promoted to the creative community?
We will launch PlotWeaver in Q3 2025 with a phased, market-specific strategy designed to maximise impact and long-term adoption. Our rollout begins with an official MVP launch in Nigeria by the end of Q2, followed by targeted expansion into other African markets in Q3 and Brazil in Q4. Rather than pursuing a traditional big-bang launch, we are prioritising deep, strategic partnerships with film commissions, production companies, and educational institutions in each region. To support this, we’re establishing PlotWeaver Excellence Centres in Lagos and Cape Town, dedicated hubs for training, onboarding, and real-time demonstrations of the platform in action.
Our multi-channel launch strategy includes industry masterclasses, ambassador partnerships with leading filmmakers, academic collaborations with top film schools, and regional hackathons to onboard local creators and surface new talent. We will also host a Global Storytelling Challenge in 2026, showcasing what’s possible when African creativity meets cutting-edge AI. To build credibility and drive adoption, we’re focusing on industry endorsements and real-world outcomes from our pilot projects. Alongside this, we’re developing educational content that not only highlights PlotWeaver’s technical capabilities but also makes a clear case for its economic value, positioning the platform as both a creative catalyst and a commercially transformative tool for the global creative economy.
What are the future development plans for Plotweaver, and what new features can we expect in the next quarter or year?
Starting in Q2 2025, we will introduce advanced production scheduling tools, budget optimisation features, and integration with local payment systems to streamline financial and operational workflows for filmmakers. This marks a significant step toward making PlotWeaver a fully integrated platform that supports both creative and logistical aspects of film production. In Q3 2025, we’ll expand on this foundation by launching co-production matchmaking tools to connect storytellers with collaborators across regions, AI voice synthesis for regional dubbing, and smart IP valuation dashboards to help investors assess the commercial potential of projects.
By Q4 2025, we will enter the Brazilian market with full Portuguese language support and market-specific compliance tools, ensuring PlotWeaver is tailored to the local production environment. Looking ahead to Q1 2026, we plan to release our full enterprise feature set, including advanced AI models, multi-region support, and custom workflow builders that can adapt to the diverse needs of studios, independent filmmakers, and content platforms. Throughout this journey, we will continuously refine our core AI capabilities using real-world usage data. Long-term, our vision includes predictive audience analytics, automated global compliance verification, and enhanced localisation tools that preserve cultural nuance while enabling content to reach audiences worldwide. At the heart of it all is our mission to build an IP marketplace where verified African and global stories can be pitched, optioned, and financed—unlocking new value for creators and investors alike.
How flexible is the user interface, and what are the different plans available for end-users?
PlotWeaver is designed to be modular and user-centric, catering to a broad spectrum of users from amateur scriptwriters to enterprise studios.
The UI dynamically adapts based on these user profiles: Scriptwriter Mode, Production Manager Mode and Studio Mode. Scriptwriter Mode is a minimalist writing interface focused on narrative flow, character development, and dialogue feedback. While Production Manager Mode is a comprehensive dashboard that integrates scheduling, budgeting, and logistics.
Meanwhile, Studio Mode is an all-in-one interface offering macro-level oversight across multiple projects, with analytics and IP valuation tools.
What security measures are in place to prevent hacks and viruses?
Security is a foundational priority. Security measures put in place include end-to-end encryption for all project files and communications; role-based access control with granular permissions; regular third-party penetration testing, secure offline access with periodic sync to encrypted servers, and an ongoing move to integrate blockchain verification for IP protection.
What’s your general assessment of the Nollywood industry and areas of improvement?
Nollywood is the world’s second-largest film industry by volume, yet its economic potential remains under-realised. The key challenges include workflow fragmentation. Most productions still rely on manual tools, leading to inefficiencies; Informal IP management: Limited structuring of content as valuable, investable assets; Funding barriers: Filmmakers struggle to access institutional funding due to lack of data and structured documentation, as well as distribution limitations which makes local stories not to be adapted effectively for global audiences.
PlotWeaver is addressing these issues by introducing structure, automating administrative tasks, and making local content globally adaptable and financially legible.