Latif Abubakar is a Ghanaian playwright and Chief Executive Director of Globe Productions
Ghanaian playwright and Chief Executive Director of Globe Productions, Latif Abubakar, has revealed the unexpected path that led him into scriptwriting, noting that his career began with a simple online search.
Speaking in an interview on Hitz FM on November 21, 2025, Latif explained that he had no background in drama or acting during his school days due to his demanding schedule.
However, a major disappointment pushed him to write his first script, Thank God for Idiots.
“I was never involved in acting or the drama club in school. The little time I got, I needed to study because I had so many activities on campus. I started writing because I was disappointed. That’s how I came up with my first script, Thank God for Idiots,” he said.
According to him, when he and his partners decided to form a theatre company, they enlisted a writer and a director while they served as producers to groom new talents.
Latif said their first production was a major success, prompting them to financially reward the writer, even though he had insisted he was only writing out of passion.
“When we decided to form a theatre company, we brought in a writer, a director, and we focused on producing and executive producing so we could groom talents across the board.
“Unfortunately, the writer we brought on said he was writing purely for passion. He just wanted his name on the bill and didn’t need money. When we staged our first production and it was a hit, we decided to give him money,” he recounted.
Their fortunes changed during their second production, which resulted in heavy financial losses.
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Latif disclosed that they reinvested all the profits from the first show, expecting another sold-out performance.
“Unfortunately, when we were preparing for the second production, we lost massively. Everything we earned from the first production was invested into the second, assuming we would sell out again.
“We told the writer that we knew why we lost, the title and the choice of partnerships were the issues, so we asked him to write a different play so we could correct the wrongs and bounce back,” he said.
But the writer returned with an unexpected demand.
“He came back saying he had studied the market and that playwrights charge $10,000, so we had to pay that amount before he could continue. We thought he was joking, but he was serious. We began negotiating, but he refused to back down,” Latif narrated.
The stalemate meant they could not proceed with production.
Determined to continue, Latif took matters into his own hands.
“I just went online, googled how to write a movie, and that was the beginning,” he said.
FG/MA
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