Report culled from Linda Ikeji’s blog
I know it sounds unbelievable, but it’s fact! A-list Nollywood actors & actresses get paid for featuring in movies, but if you’re an unknown actor struggling to get into the movie industry, some movie producers make you pay to feature in their movies. That’s the new trend now. I’m sure some Nollywood practitioners will come here to deny this but y’all know it’s true. And if you don’t know this already, you guys need to start investigating this.
If you’re looking to feature in a movie, all you need to do is pay a fee, no audition is required. For minor roles, these producers demand anything from N50k to N100k…it all depends on the role they are giving you. If you want to play a lead role it’s between N500k to N1million. Waka pass people are even made to pay.
The trick some of these producers use is this; they say they are not making money from these movies because people aren’t buying them so can’t invest all their money in it. They also say finding financiers to pay for the production of a movie is hard, so for these movies to see the light of day, every cast member has to contribute. Thing is, many are eager to pay. Several people told me that it’s the girls they refer to as ‘runz girls’ looking for popularity that started this trend. They would offer movie producers money to feature in their movie so they can refer to themselves as actresses and now it’s become a part of Nollywood.
But let me state here that there are some movie producers who don’t do this…not all of them demand for money. But a lot of them do. Is that OK? What’s your thought on this new trend?