JUDE CHUKWUKA : Nollywood producers are impoverishing actors

By Sampson Unamka

Nollywood actor, Jude Chukwuka has taken a swipe at Nollywood producers by blaming them for the low remuneration many actors get.

In an exclusive chat with The Nation, the ‘Castle & Castle’ actor said, “It is the producers that make all the money that impoverish actors.”

Continuing, he said, “The guy (producer) wants to do a film that he will make N280 million, he keeps begging you to run a role for N500,000, it is preposterous and at the end of the day, he takes his family to the United Kingdom or the United States of America while you the actor, you are looking for another role to add to the N500,000 that he gave you to pay your rent.

“So it is also hurting the producers because most of these young actors are now going the route of social media to exhibit their talent and rake in cool funds and it will cause a dearth of actors in the industry because there will be a time the producer will say come and act for me and the actor will say ‘I am busy with my skit, Youtube is waiting’ then that’s when they will know.”

On the notion that Instagram actors/skitmakers are getting better remuneration than actors, Chukwuka said, “I have no issues with that, there is that possibility. If you check their Youtube channels you will see massive viewership and all, that in itself, there’s a way it’s being calculated and it translates into a lot of dollars for them you know, and it’s small-dollar big Naira around here. So, from that point of view yes maybe, because how often do I get a role to play? But they(Instagram comedians) do this weekly or daily thing and it keeps churning clicks and views and all that so there is that possibility.”

Chukwuka concluded by saying, “I do not want to see a way out of this, because it favours this younger generation. I wouldn’t want them to go through what we went through, it took me 28 years to get to this point okay. If they have a legitimate way to get there faster let them do it. I have no issues against them.”