Is There Really Transparency in the Nollywood Industry?

In recent times, the movie industry in Nigeria has been about productions of A-list films. The cinema world is the biggest platform for box office breakings and many producers and directors are doing their best to make their movies larger than life. We hear of hits. Fifty million in one week of screening, a hundred, grossing over two hundred and fifty million etcetera. But one question stands out— how transparent are filmmakers about the production costs of their films? This is important because as much as its juicy to see that a movie grossed a large amount, its equally important to know how much was put into production, sponsorships, royalties and payments to cast and crews etc.

There is a lot that happens BTS in movie productions and a lot goes down more than just screening to gross the box office profits. Recently, Gideon Okeke spoke up about this and it stirred up a lot of attention on him as an actor and on the industry as a whole. Are actors paid right? Do film producers put the best interest of their cast and crew in mind during production or do they only consider what favours them as the filmmakers?

Does the film industry really give actors what they deserve? I mean, they are the faces of the stories told and without them the success of the movie is indeed incomplete. Many actors declare that they are broke, many complain of being underpaid and many are unable to afford medical bills in times of ill health. When the world’s most paid actors are being listed, Nigeria actors are almost never on the list. Acting is most often than not presented to be a not so lucrative career in the Nigerian film industry.

Why then do filmmakers announce their movies like they were the best thing since sliced bread, breaking the internet, grossing millions of naira at the box office at the expense of the actual reason these movies are what they are?

Again, with all the excitement about breaking the box office, are these gross profits actually profits? How much was put into production and how much profit are these films really making?

We need a great deal of transparency from Nollywood filmmakers and I think it’s time we were told more than just surface glory.

Kindly share your views with us in the comments.