There is an ongoing controversy surrounding Niyi Akinmolayan‘s short film, Room 315, as the Nollywood director has been accused of stealing the plot of former Inspiration FM presenter, Wana Udobang‘s Room 313.
Wana claims Room 315, inspired by a script written by a 21-year-old Port-Harcourt native named Abosi Ogba, has a similar plot, and name, to her experimental series about people who have experienced trauma undergoing therapy, which has been available for viewing since 2015.
The crew behind Room 315 however, deny any wrongdoing, maintaining they were never aware of Wana’s Room 313, whose stories are told through vignettes.
Abosi Ogba, the credited writer of Room 315, shared in a series of tweets on Twitter, that he searched for a project with a similar name before naming his script 315, but never found one.
So word is going round I got inspiration for Room 315 from a YouTube series I’d never heard of before.
Guess that’s why Twitter is useful.
— OG and 95 others (@ABOSIOGBA) October 15, 2016
Like I said to my people yday, this whole thing about me getting Room 315 from a series I’ve never heard of prior, is one big plot twist.
— OG and 95 others (@ABOSIOGBA) October 15, 2016
Before I named my script, I scanned the internet for ‘Room 315’. I found nothing concerned with what I had, so I used it.
— OG and 95 others (@ABOSIOGBA) October 15, 2016
He says the name was inspired by his date of birth.
The name ‘Room 315’ is inspired by my birthday, 31-5.
31st May.
I said this in a Facebook live interview with Niyi a month ago.— OG and 95 others (@ABOSIOGBA) October 15, 2016
Thenetng reached out to Wana, and she said she has reached out to Niyi’s camp, but has only been met with a stiff rebuttal. ‘I reached out to them on Saturday that their movie has a name and plot similar to mine, that they should at least change the name.’
‘They called it a creative coincidence,’ she added.
Wana, whose Room 313 has been available for viewing since July 30, 2015, further said, ‘I don’t like controversies, I just demand that they change the name. I woke up this morning to see they’re going ahead with the promotion of Room 315. They said the writer is a small boy in Port-harcourt, that he wasn’t aware.’
‘I don’t know him, I know his brother, we worked together at Inspiration FM,’ she said of Niyi Akinmolayan. ‘It’s not even that I’m making this up, the work is out there for all to see.’
She also added that she was told to get a lawyer if she is not satisfied with their decision to stick to the name.
‘They said I should get my lawyer if I feel my work was stolen and I said, so they want to take it that far,’ she said.
Niyi Akinmolayan’s Room 315 features Tina Mba, Bimbo Manuel, Jessica Opara and Gregory Ojefua and will begin live filming on Saturday, October 22.
