Nollywood Actors Should Receive Royalties On Their Movies –Stella Damasus

 

Veteran Nollywood actress Stella Damasus has advocated for a percentage of proceeds from Nollywood movies to be paid to actors as royalty.

The screen diva made the remarks during an exclusive interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica on Sunday.

Miss Damasus argued that contracts should include clauses stipulating that actors should receive a royalty from the movie.

"A lot of filmmakers make their films and pay the actor one-off," she said. "But they take the film to show in different places, sell it to different people who will dub it to different languages, sell it to different platforms, and then they keep the money.

“But the actors don't get royalties like it's obtainable in other places. Imagine doing thousands of episodes of a film that can show for years without you having claim to a dime in royalties. It's crazy."

The author of the recently launched book "Mama, It's A Girl," said that instituting royalty for actors and other similar welfare measures would curb the cases of Nollywood veterans having to beg for help from the public in the twilight years of their careers.

She said that the stipends that the actors are being paid for their movies have caused many to overwork themselves in their prime, often resulting in health complications during their fifties and sixties.

The lead actress in the popular movie "Widow" also advised the Actors Guild to set up health insurance and an emergency fund to help members take care of some challenges during difficult times.

"The film industry should have something like health insurance. They can partner with hospitals in such a way that they can pay a stipulated amount monthly, even if it is for the initial consultation or tests that can be covered, for card-carrying members of the Guild," she proposed.

Recently, there have been cases of Nollywood actors embarking on public fundraising to tackle medical emergencies.

These appeals have elicited mixed reactions from the public, with some questioning how some of these actors used the proceeds they received from movies in their prime.

However, Stella Damasus explained that, often, the money received for a movie is so meagre that it gets used up even before the shooting of the movie is completed.

To meet their financial obligations, she said actors have to shoot multiple movies at a time with little rest in between, which can adversely affect their health.

"So you shoot back to back because you are paid stipends, and you don't have royalties. So you depend on what you are paid on set. Now you go from set to set and don't have time for a proper medical checkup.

“You are dealing with your body in a way that you probably don't understand, and when you are in your fifties or sixties, the health complications begin to show up," the Nollywood star explained.

She lamented the situation whereby Nollywood actors have to beg to take care of their health after they have exhausted their meagre resources, describing it as painful.

To help solve this problem, Stella Damasus has set up the Global African Filmmakers. This organization will bring together all Africans making movies worldwide to find solutions to issues around welfare and expanding opportunities.