RMD and Bovi Discuss Mistreatment and Low-pay of Actors in Nollywood

You know an industry has a lot of work to do when even the top names in that industry are speaking about an issue that has been in regular discourse for some time now.

Richard Mofe-Damijo is undoubtedly one of the biggest and most popular actors in Nollywood today. Bovi is one of the biggest comedians in the country and continent. These two men are heavyweights in this industry, and so when they both decided to get on an Instagram Live and torchlight some of the issues they experience in the industry, I just knew it was going to be eye-opening. It was. Let me not keep you in any more suspense, here's what was said.

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Below is the excerpt of what was said during the Instagram Live between Bovi and RMD concerning actors mistreatment in Nollywood:

Bovi - It's so second nature for many of us to downplay our own. Maybe it's one of the reasons why I don't do a lot of movies. I just sit back and watch the movie industry and all the drama and I can't. I remember telling my partners the last time that you can make a film with bad sound, you can make a film with a bad camera, you can make a film with bad costumes and bad locations, you can't make a film without an actor. You can't. So the actor is priority, but I see some things and I'm just like ah! I'm even mad at the actors like "why do you accept this?"

RMD - Because also the actors do not recognize that aspect of their profession. Like what you're saying. They do not recognize that. They've also been beaten to the point where they will take anything. Let me give you an example, I remember Alibaba coming to meet me during The Wedding Party 1 and he said to me, "bros na the money them dey pay una be this?" (laughs). I was like "ehn, that's it". And it's even worse for me because I am a leading man. I will step out of a movie, take permission for two hours, go earn twice what they're paying me, for two hours, and come back to take less (money) for two weeks or three weeks (of shooting) as the case may be. I have come to the point where I recognize what a pioneer's role is. I mean, we'll keep doing this so that at some point (younger people), when they get into a room, they'll say "Grandpa Richard didn't take that, my daddy didn't take that, I certainly wouldn't take this." There are actors who today they will take anything because they will tell you - I'm sure some comedians say to you "But you're Bovi na, you be Bovi na" - and I keep saying to them, "Yes I'm RMD, but I didn't drop from the sky." I did not come to Lagos as RMD. I came as a small Warri boy that just knew I was going to lay my claim in this little space. So we all should come in here and lay our claims.

Wow, when RMD said many actors have "been beaten to the point where they will take anything", that just made me so sad. Because this doesn't happen only in Nollywood, it happens in so many spaces of work. Because of how bad the economy is and how hard it is to find work, people are literally now settling for anything at all in terms of compensation just so they can feed. If even top names like RMD and Bovi are complaining about this and experiencing this, I cannot imagine what the smaller, newer actors are going through. Hmm. Nawa oh!

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