ABOUT
Blunt Pencil Storyworks
develops African and Canadian stories
for global screens.
A writer-director-led development house based between Toronto and
Lagos. We build scripts, series bibles, and pitch packages that attract
production partners and capital.
ABOUT OUR FOUNDER
Afe Olumowe
Afe Olumowe is a Nigerian Canadian creative whose work is rooted in the richness, complexity, and diversity of African narratives. He founded Blunt Pencil Storyworks to address a challenge he saw across the continent: exceptional stories with global potential often lacked access to the development infrastructure needed to compete in international markets.
Working between Toronto and Africa’s leading creative hubs, Afe is bringing a dual perspective to every project, combining a deep understanding of African dramatic craft with Canada’s culturally diverse, publicly supported screen industry, including its development, financing, and co production systems. His approach is rigorous, collaborative, and focused on helping writers preserve cultural authenticity while positioning their stories for global audiences.
Under his leadership, Blunt Pencil Storyworks is developing multiple production titles, currently incubating emerging and established writers through the Story Lab, and establishing ongoing development relationships with Canadian and international production companies. The studio’s mission remains clear, to help African stories move from local significance to global impact without losing the voices that make them unique.
View film credits on IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3393999/
WHY BPS EXISTS
Stories are infrastructure. The system just hasn't built it yet.
Blunt Pencil Storyworks was founded because too many good stories die in development hell — especially stories that come from outside the established system.
Every screenwriter has a drawer full of scripts that never saw a camera. Not because the stories were weak, but because the bridge between “great script” and “greenlight” doesn’t exist for people without a deal at a major studio or a contact in the right room.
Coverage services read scripts and charge for notes. Development executives ask for “more international appeal” — which usually means “less African,” “less specific,” “less authentic.”
None of them build the story into something that can actually get made.
I had directed features that earned AMVCA and Ghana Movie Awards nominations, written pilots with full season arcs, and still found myself explaining to gatekeepers why a medical thriller set in Enugu mattered, why specificity was the point.
The system wasn’t designed for stories like mine. So I stopped waiting for permission to build one that was.
— Afe Olumowe, Founder, Director & Writer
WHAT BPS DOES
We don't give notes. We build stories.
Story & Script Development
From pilot to series bible, from concept to production-ready screenplay. BPS doesn't give notes and send writers home. We build the story until it's ready for cameras.
Studio Slate
A curated pipeline of original projects in script development, seeking co-production, financing, or greenlight. The slate includes completed bibles, full episode arcs, and pitch materials.
Story Lab
An incubator for writers and directors. BPS finds talent others overlook and develops them to industry standard.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Principles that guide our work.
Stories are infrastructure.
A great script is not art waiting to be discovered — it’s a blueprint waiting to be built. We develop with production in mind, not prizes.
African cinema is a global genre.
Not a niche. Not a diversity mandate. A commercial, creative, and cultural force that deserves the same development rigor as any studio slate.
Development is a service, not a gate.
We work with external writers and projects because good stories come from everywhere. If we can build it, we will.
Directors should develop.
BPS is founder-led by a filmmaker who has shot features, worked with actors, and sat in edit bays. Our development is grounded in what cameras can capture and what audiences will feel.
THE SLATE
These aren't ideas. They're inventory.
The development slate includes completed bibles, pitch decks, and scripts ready for market:
FEVER
Drama series
8 episodes written, bible complete
PURPLE
Limited series
Full season arc + pilot complete
GOODBYE TOMORROW
Feature film
Screenplay + pitch deck complete
CHELUCHI
Feature film
Treatment + visual bible, early development
THE NAME
Every great film starts with a blunt pencil.
"Blunt Pencil" is the tool you use when you're still sketching, still figuring it out,
still building the blueprint. Every great film starts with a blunt pencil and someone
stubborn enough to keep sharpening it.
We are that someone.
WHERE BPS IS GOING
We are not waiting for the industry to change.
We are building the company that changes it.
Blunt Pencil Storyworks is building a development pipeline: a story lab, a slate of
production-ready series and features, and partnerships with broadcasters,
funders, and producers who understand that the next great drama might come
from anywhere the industry hasn't looked yet.
WORK WITH BPS
Our inventory is ready. Is your vision?
Producers
Looking for production-ready content? Our slate is built for co-production and greenlight.
Streamers
Need original series or features with built-in bibles and episode arcs? Inventory is ready for pitch.
Investors
BPS is an active development house with real inventory, real infrastructure, and a real market gap to fill.