Basketmouth accuses Nollywood producers of mismanaging streaming funds, claiming it affects Nigerian film quality and transparency
[dropcap]N[/dropcap]igerian comedian and filmmaker Basketmouth has criticised Nollywood producers for allegedly mismanaging funds provided by global streaming platforms.
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Speaking in a recent interview on Arise TV, the entertainer claimed that this malpractice has led to a decline in the quality of Nigerian films.
Basketmouth alleged that many producers misuse substantial portions of the budgets allocated for movie production, diverting funds for personal gains rather than investing in quality filmmaking.
“When the streaming platforms came in, they gave money to these producers… these producers would take the money—$1.5 million or whatever they give them—and use about 10% of that money to make the movie,” he stated.
He further alleged that the streaming platforms, upon discovering these practices, implemented measures to ensure transparency by paying actors directly.
However, producers reportedly found a way around this by coercing actors into returning part of their pay.
“Even to the point where the streaming platforms stepped in and said, ‘You know what? We are going to be paying the actors directly,’ these guys would still go behind and tell the actors to pay half of that money back to them. You can verify the information anywhere,” Basketmouth revealed.
The filmmaker argued that this mismanagement has significantly affected the quality of Nollywood films, particularly epic productions, which he described as often resembling stage plays rather than high-budget movies.
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“So, when you do that and expect your movie to be 100%, it can’t. It’s impossible. But these guys? They’ll cut, buy houses, buy cars,” he alleged.
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Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
