Nollywood actress and filmmaker, Kenny George, has voiced out her concerns about the growing challenges facing the Nigerian movie industry.
In a post shared on her Instagram page during the weekend, the actress lamented that investors are gradually pulling out of Nollywood because of the high cost of film production. She expressed fears that if the trend continues, actors may end up as the only investors in the industry.
According to her, the cost of producing movies has increased to the point that many investors are no longer willing to put money into film projects. She noted that actors’ fees and other expenses have become too expensive for producers to handle.
Kenny George said, “I stand by my word that one day, actors will be the only investors in Nollywood. Right now, most investors are backing down because the cost of filming is very high. Actors’ fees are also becoming too much. You will hear an actor who cannot even get up to 10,000 views on his or her channel demanding ₦500,000 per day. This problem is serious, yet nobody is talking about it.”
She added that after spending so much to produce a movie, filmmakers are left with YouTube as the only sure platform to showcase their work. However, she stressed that even YouTube is not giving stable or reliable returns, which makes it difficult for producers to recover their money.
Kenny George also noted that some actors now charge so high that it has become a struggle for producers to hire them.
“Actors are billing heavily in the name of the economy. To even get an actor to collect ₦100,000 per day is now a big challenge. Very soon, actors will be the only investors in our industry. The way things are going, Nollywood may return to the old days when filmmaking was done through group support. You help me, I help you, so we can make our movies. That is where we are heading again,” she said.
The actress further explained that filmmakers are now forced to take on multiple roles because of the situation. Many producers, according to her, now double as actors, executive producers, marketers, and even content distributors.
“We have now become actor, producer, marketer, EP and everything together. To crown it all, both actors and investors have become full-time dancers,” she added humorously.
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Kenny George then appealed to relevant authorities to step in and address the matter before Nollywood suffers greater damage.
“I will advise the right authorities to look into this problem and let us all proceed with caution,” she said.
