Fixer in Benin — Fèmi Kochoni, field producer in Cotonou

By Fèmi (Oluwafemi Kochoni) · Founder & field producer · Cotonou, Benin · Updated 8 September 2026

A fixer in Benin is the person who gets your crew through the door, keeps it inside, and knows when to say no. I am based in Cotonou, I answer within 48 hours, and I do not subcontract the part that matters — the access.

What you are actually hiring

Most fixing services in West Africa are sold from Nairobi, Cape Town or Europe, by a company that lists fourteen services and no names. When you write, you reach a sales desk; when you land, you meet a local correspondent you have never spoken to, on a day rate you will never see.

Here it is the other way round. You are hiring one named person, Beninese, who has run logistics for foreign groups for years — as Tour Director for Odysseys Unlimited and Grand Circle across Ghana, Togo and Benin, and as ground operator for Alba Travel and Tours cruise calls in Benin, five of the country’s seven in the 2026 season. Landing several hundred passengers in a morning, moving them through Ouidah and getting them back on board before the tide is the same job as landing a crew: timing, permits, people, and a plan B.

What I add to that is the part no logistics company can buy: standing within the Vodun lineages of the south, which is how ritual access is negotiated here — not purchased.

What I do

• Production coordination — vehicles and drivers, lodging, schedules, fuel, meals, local crew (sound, second camera, licensed drone operator through partners). I coordinate; I do not carry cameras.
• Permits and accreditation — the Benin filming permit issued by the ADAC (Agence de Développement des Arts et de la Culture), crew accreditation, drone authorisation, festival accreditation for Vodun Days, the Porto-Novo Mask Festival and the Ghanaian and Togolese festivals we cover. Lead times and what to prepare are in Filming in Benin.
• Ritual access — asked of the lineages, in their time, with a counter-gift that appears on your invoice at cost. The answer can be no. How that works is in Filming Vodun in Benin.
• Locations and scouting — Ouidah, Abomey, Porto-Novo, Ganvié, Grand-Popo, the Mono, Dassa and the hills; a written scouting report with photographs and an access plan before you commit crew days.
• Languages — French, English, Fon, Goun, Yoruba; Ewe, Mina and Twi through the team for Togo and Ghana.
• Expert source and academic introductions — I am available on the record on Vodun, the Slave Route and the cultural politics of Benin. Introductions to scholars at Abomey-Calavi, Lomé, Cape Coast and Legon, whose honoraria are paid at a published rate and never negotiated down.

What I do not do

I do not take crews into the north of Benin. The Atacora and the Pendjari border zone are under a formal travel warning, and a fixer who says yes to that is not one you want in the south either. I do not arrange ritual access for productions whose framing needs spectacle — possession as horror, sacrifice as gore, the convent as a curiosity. I turn those down in writing, because one bad film closes doors for everyone who comes after, including my own travellers.

Who this is for

Documentary and television. This is most of the work: eight to fifteen shooting days, a permit to build months ahead, two or three lineages to approach, and a director who needs to understand what she is looking at. I work as field producer from the first call to the wrap.

Press and photography. Two to five days, one story, fast. Fixer-translator, car, a phone that answers at 23:00 when the ferry is late.

Research and institutions. Universities, museums, foundations on field missions: permits, introductions, archives, and a programme that respects the calendar of the communities rather than the semester.

Advertising and fashion. I open the doors and carry the permits; a technical partner brings the trucks and the lights. I will tell you at the first call whether the location you want is one where a shoot of that kind is possible — several are not.

How it works

1. You send a brief — project, dates, crew size, what you need to film, what you already have.
2. Within 48 hours you receive a written rate card and a first answer on what is feasible, what is not, and what the permit calendar imposes on your dates.
3. Scouting, if the project needs it: a written report with photographs and an access plan.
4. The charter. Before any ritual access, we sign one page: what may be filmed, what may not, who gives consent and how, and a right of withdrawal on both sides. It protects you as much as the lineage.
5. The shoot, with me on the ground or, if I am on a cruise call that day, with the coordinator I have briefed — you will have met them before.

Rates and terms

Fixing is a professional line of business here and is priced as one. You receive the rate card at first contact, before you brief me in detail. Three units, depending on the work: a day rate for press and photographic assignments, two-day minimum; a project rate with milestone payments for documentary and television, where the value sits in the months of preparation as much as in the shooting days; and fixed-fee packages for the ADAC filming permit, crew accreditation and negotiated ritual access, priced as deliverables rather than as time.

Forty per cent on commission, balance within fifteen days of wrap. Cancellation inside seven days is charged at fifty per cent, inside forty-eight hours in full. Two lines are never marked up: the counter-gift to the lineages, itemised at cost, and the honoraria of the scholars you meet.

References

I have fixed for productions and researchers on this coast, and I am collecting their written testimonials for this page. Until they are here, I will put you in direct contact with a previous client on request — a phone call with someone who has worked with me is worth more than a logo.

Go further

• Filming in Benin — permits, lead times, seasons, what to know
• Filming Vodun in Benin — the protocol
• For press — accreditation and expert access on the coast
• Who I am