Nigerian music video director and cinematographer ThankGod Omori, popularly known as TG Omori, has explained why some music video productions can cost more than $100,000, particularly when they are filmed outside Nigeria.

Omori made the disclosure during an appearance on the Afropolitan Podcast, where he discussed music video production, overseas shoots and the cost of creating elaborate visuals for Nigerian artistes.

According to the director, expenses such as insurance, labour, equipment, and hourly production charges can push the cost of an overseas shoot above $100,000.

“Most times, if we’re shooting abroad, it’s actually more expensive. At the end of the day, you’re paying in dollars, and sometimes it goes way above a hundred thousand dollars.”

Asked if he was referring to individual music videos costing more than $100,000, Omori responded, “Yeah, most times.”

He, however, explained that a $100,000 production budget does not mean the director earns that amount. Omori said some of the money goes towards production expenses, with overseas shoots often leaving less room for profit.

The director said the situation is different when a similar budget is used in Nigeria because local labour and artisans can reduce production costs.

“But in Nigeria here, I’ve done a couple for around a hundred thousand dollars. But it’s easier here. You make a lot of profit from that in Nigeria,” he said.

Omori’s comments come after he previously revealed that making money from music video directing was not always the reality for him.

During a Q&A session on X, a follower asked Omori how he calculated production costs while making room for his profit margin. In response, he revealed that he had spent about five years dealing with production debt before he began making profits from music-video directing in 2023.

“I only started making profits in 2023. Every time I’m losing money from pick-up shoots or something! Budget is never enough; in fact, I was in bad production debt for 5 years,” Omori wrote.

The thirty-one year old director is best known for Olamide Feathirty-one-year-old Me (2022), Diamond Platnumz: Fine (2022), and Palazzo (2022) among others.