Anyone searching for film training in Lagos runs into the same wall: fees are hard to find, and when you do find them they are hard to compare. A four year degree, a twelve week mentorship program, a weekend masterclass and a self paced online course are all called "film school", and they cost very different amounts for very different reasons.

The four kinds of film training in Lagos

University degrees. Theatre arts, mass communication and film studies departments at Nigerian universities run three to four years. Tuition is low at public universities and much higher at private ones, but the real cost is time, and the teaching is largely academic.

Private film academies. These run structured programs of a few weeks to a few months, taught by working filmmakers. You pay for access to people who make films for a living, small classes, and a finished piece of work at the end.

Short courses and masterclasses. A day or a weekend on one subject: directing actors, lighting, editing, screenwriting. Cheaper per session, and the right choice when you already know what you are missing.

Online courses. Recorded lessons you buy once and keep. The cheapest route to real teaching, and the only one that fits around a full time job.

What actually drives the fee

Three things set the price of any program, and they are worth checking before you look at the number.

  • Who is teaching. A course led by a filmmaker with a body of work costs more than one led by a graduate, and it should. You are paying for judgement, not information.
  • How much you make. A program in which you write, shoot and cut something of your own costs more to run than one in which you watch. It is also the one that changes what you can do.
  • Class size. Mentorship at twenty people is a different product from a lecture at two hundred.

How Blu Light structures it

Blu Light Film and TV Academy was founded in Lagos in 2023 by Michelle Bello, the filmmaker behind Flower Girl and Family Gbese, to train Christian creatives for the film and television industry. Rather than one long program with one large fee, the academy runs several shorter ones so you can enter at the level and the budget that fits.

  • The Kingdom Creative Accelerator is the flagship mentorship program, taught directly by Michelle Bello.
  • Film and TV Skills Training covers the practical crafts.
  • Masterclasses go deep on one subject at a time.
  • Script to Screen takes a story from the page to a finished film.
  • For children aged 10 to 16, the Young Kingdom Creators training and the five day Summer Camp in Victoria Island run in the school holidays.
  • Online courses are self paced and priced individually.

The current fee for each one is on its program page, and it is the same fee everyone pays. Where a cohort has scholarship places, the contact page is where to ask.

Choosing well

Do not start from the fee. Start from what you want to be able to do in six months, then find the program whose graduates can do it. Ask to see work made by past students. Ask who exactly will be in the room. A cheap course that leaves you where you started is the most expensive one you can buy.

If you are still not sure which program is right, send a message through the contact page and describe where you are and where you want to get to. That is a conversation the academy has every week.