How long will they continue to ‘beg’?
In past few months, Ghanaians have witnessed a series of ‘begging’ by veteran actors who, albeit active, but have been caught up in one related issue— from health to feeding to up-keep.
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From the late Nii Odoi-Mensah to William Addo and now Abeiku Nyame (Jagger Pee) – it is becoming a worrying trend to see and hear veteran actors solicit for funds for their up-keep.
Ghanaians being held to ‘ransom’: There’s no denying the fact that, all these actors have paid their dues to the arts; they dedicated almost half of their lifetime to making sure Ghanaians grew to love their home-grown movies.
It is therefore okay for the people to be called upon once in a while to help raise some funds for such actors who are caught up in some predicament, but it is definitely not alright to hound the people constantly for support for one actor to the next.
How did we get here?
The Ghanaian film industry was extremely vibrant when these veteran actors were in their prime and it is expected, that considering how dynamic they were, they would have also piled up some wealth.
However, the argument often put across is that these actors were poorly paid at the time and mostly did it out of passion. Such a justification, I find it utterly flippant!
Mind you, these actors were highly educated at the time and quite outspoken too. They knew the business and wouldn’t allow any ill-treatment with regards to their payment and all.
Of course, it will be absurd to compare what the current crop of actors are making in terms of pay to what the veterans took home, but what these ‘old’ actors got at the time was valuable.
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The question is; what did they do with all that? How did they parlay their popularity and influence into other business ventures?
Lack of financial management:
For some reason, some of these popular folks figured that they will get to enjoy relevance forever and the revenue will keep pouring in, so they blatantly failed to plan and also failed to do proper investment with the ‘little’ they accumulated.
What is more disappointing is the fact that, most of these actors are lettered and well-read.
They knew, read and followed the sorry stories of other actors who were entangled in similar mess but the whirlwind of fame clouded their sense of judgment.
Weak systems and structures:
The reason we do not often get to hear stories of international veteran actors suffer similar fate as ours is that; they have a very good system made of up effective structures that protect and support old actors.
Elsewhere, policies such as residuals, which are the royalties for actors, have been put in place by the various Screen Actors Guilds to supports these actors, even when they are incapacitated.
Here, the often-fought-over blank levy has a certain part dedicated to actors but unfortunately, it is used for something called – capacity building.
Who needs capacity building when they do not even have transport fare to attend capacity building seminars which are never organised anyway?
Forced into early retirement:
The new generation of actors can never be compared to the veterans with regards to skills. No way!
The likes of Mawuli Semevor, Kwesi Koomson, Nat Banini, Victor Lutterodt, David Dontoh, Grace Nortey, Agnes Dapaah, Dzifa Gomashie, Dzifa Glipkoe, Grace Omaboe and many others were more proficient on the job than this new crop, but, producers/directors have refused to feature them in movies and TV series.
Most of these actors are very active and can ably fit into various roles in the newly-released movies but producers prefer to alter the faces of young actors and cast them to play aged roles, thanks to the ‘magic’ of dreadful make-up.
Way forward:
It is interesting to observe that for some time, we rarely hear aging musicians openly crying over their problems in order to solicit for money.
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No kidding, these musicians are not better off than the actors but fortunately, they (musicians) have some succor – in the name of a certain welfare fund (AMWEF).
The AMWEF initiative, put together by the Bice Osei Kuffour administration at MUSIGA – has been mobilising funds via some corporate sponsorship as well as internally-generated funds to provide support for aging musicians.
Our veteran actors have the same if not more popularity, influence and clout their musician counterparts enjoy, however, what they lack are unity, organisation and ideas to put together similar initiatives. They should sit up and learn from MUSIGA!
In the absence of a Screen Actors Guild, the Ghana Actors’ Guild can develop structures to ensure aging actors get residuals/royalties from their works.
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Email:[email protected]/Twitter: @ArnoldBaidoo