I AM LACKING BEHIND IN NOLLYWOOD BECAUSE OF MY POOR ENGLISH……….MADAM SAJE
[img]http://www.nigeriafilms.com/image.aspx?img=Y29udGVudC9jb250ZW50L01hZGFtLVNhamUuanBnc2QuanBnfDY2MA==[/img] Nollywood actress, Fausat Balogun popularly known as Madam Saje, may have done well for herself in the Nigerian Yoruba movie industry, but she is still asking herself some questions especially about her low standard of education which has hindered her from featuring in the English movie sector.
Though fans and friends love her both as a mother and as an actress because of her ability to interpret her scripts well to the taste of many. This has continued to bring more movie producers to keep coming for her to feature in lots of their movie.
Madam Saje during a TV programme, ‘Gbarada,’ revealed that her ability of not having an educational degree, has hindered her growth in the English movie industry as producers keep inviting her for jobs but she keeps turning them down.
The ace actress explained that though she is seen as a versatile actress, her little spoken English cannot help her and also, she is scared of losing her teeth in the course of trying to speak the English language.
[size=15pt]Yoruba Movie Stars are Mostly Used & Dumped – Veteran Actor “Pa James”[/size]
Kayode Olasehinde also known as Ajirebi is famous for his role in Wale Adenuga‘s hit series Papa Ajasco. He plays the very funny old man called Pa James.
In an interview with Tope Olukole of Yoruba TV station Orisun TV, he chats about the role he has played for more than 13 years, and the Nigerian movie industry.
When he was asked why he doesn’t feature in a lot of Yoruba movies these days, he says;
“I do feature in some selected few. You see, our people in Yoruba movie sector seem to belong to the set of people I would refer to as ‘Use and Dump’. Though they didn’t do that to me, they have done it to some people. They would patronize you and offer you peanut, and the moment you demand for a higher pay, they would abandon you and by so doing, their movies are lacking in some areas. You will notice that some of the things we introduced into movies to create suspense are no longer there. They are aware, but because they don’t want to spend much, they overlook such areas. What they normally do is to call their friends to come and partake in their movies and give them something, not the correct fee. But now, this career has gone beyond giving casts transport fare alone, while they (producers) would buy cars after the production. They want to cheat us. If a producer comes to me and we agree on fees, I will feature in his movie, but no more peanuts. I have paid my dues and I have responsibilities to meet.”
[size=15pt]Shocking earnings of Yoruba movie stars[/size]
Yoruba movie stars Quite a number of perks come with being a movie star in this part of the world. They include designer clothes, luxury cars and posh apartments. Apart from their penchant for such status symbols, today’s Nollywood actors and actresses are also seen as role models, especially to the young and impressionable who dream of becoming stars some day.
But, judging by the results of a recent investigation conducted by Saturday Beats, it appears all that glitters is not gold, after all.
Contrary to popular opinion, the life of the average Yoruba movie star is that of constant ‘suffering and smiling’.
In spite of the fabulous profiles and immense goodwill enjoyed by some of these celebrated screen gods and goddesses, the contents of their bank accounts are really nothing to be cheerful about.
Even the ‘alarming’ increase in the volume of home video films produced in Yoruba language ought to be sufficient to improve the bank balances of such celebrities. To make matters worse, many of them suffer from a financial disease known as ‘Withdrawal Symptom.’ In fact, it is no longer news that a good number are regular visitors to ATMs.
“As soon as money is paid into their bank accounts, you will see them rushing to the nearest ATM to withdraw almost all the cash,” an amused banker told Saturday Beats recently.
Certainly it is difficult to believe that no reasonably successful Yoruba actor or actress has ever been paid up to N500, 000 for a lead role in any movie. Half a million seems a fantastic sum by all indications. Instead, the maximum fee payable to the best actor or actress has remained between N150k and N250k. Even many of the ‘veterans’ receive as low as N10k to appear in a film feature.
While those that are constantly in demand or have won awards in the industry, such as the likes of Funke Akindele and Odunlade Adekola, earn a maximum of N250k per feature film, the rest are left with peanuts. Interestingly, an exception to this ‘golden rule’ is Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde. Saturday Beats investigation shows that she earns between N250k and N400k.
Another ‘big earning’ actor is Adebayo Salami, aka Oga Bello. It is said that he hardly receives part payment from any producer. Usually on location, he would demand his fee of not more that N150,000 before going into action.
The same is said about Omotola who does not budge until she or her manager has confirmed that a certain amount of money has been deposited in her bank account.
However, the so-called big budget film productions have never exceeded the N3m mark despite the fact that a lot of money goes into paying the crew and cast. Money is also spent on production equipment, lights, costumes, makeups, transport, food, accommodation, generating plant sets, and other logistics/incidental expenses. That is also why most of the cast and crew are grateful when the filmmaker or marketer, who bankrolls the production, is able to hand them paltry sums of money.
“You can count on your fingers the number of individuals involved in the production who respectively got paid less than N50,000,” a production hand says.
Also included in the budget are the editing suite staff, copies of empty VCDs to be dubbed, posters and film jackets to be printed, marketing and distribution.
Now we know why most of the highly paid or underpaid actors/ actresses are writing their own movie scripts and directing or producing their own movie projects, as well as saturating the market with volumes of half-baked home videos every week.
Bukky Wright was the highest paid actress in the Yoruba language genre before Funke Akindele broke her N150,000 per featured film record with Jenifa.
Omilade Babatunde, aka Baba Suwe, used to be the highest paid aactor until the much younger Odunlade Adekola, aka Cause Trouble, began to earn up to N250k per feature film. The other notable figures? Well, they are trying hard to catch up with Omotola, Funke and Odunlade.
Omotola, Adebayo Salami, Funke Akindele, Bukky Wright and Odunlade Adekola were unavailable for comment.
But prolific film producer, Kunle Afolayan, said, “I really don’t know how much they earn now because I’ve since moved on to other major things.”
Top actress, Lizzy Anjorin, found it hard to answer the question.
“Ha! That’s a tough question that I don’t have a ready answer for. Fees vary from one filmmaker to another. As for me, I bill per script and I don’t appear in just about any film.”
Saturday Beats sought the view of scriptwriter/actor/filmmaker, Femi Davies.
He responded, “You can’t really get any top actor/actress that will proudly and honestly tell you this is how much he or she earns per film. But for my years in the industry, I don’t know anyone that collects half a million naira per film he or she featured in that’s not a film produced by him or her. Things can only get better.”
When will you stop showing yourself up as a perpetual slave to the white man? When will ur soul be liberated from this perpetual bondage? When will you value your local language more than a foreigner's language? When will you start valuing your language and stop seeing it as a vernacular and putting your language and your identity into the background? So you think speaking better English makes you better? No, it only makes you a better mental, psychological and emotional slave to the Englishman. Mr, stop acting like an irredeemable slave; start acting like a free-born for a change!
That doesn't stop the fact that you are here eating and drinking under conducive atmosphere made possible by an accommodating Yoruba populace. Do you igbos actually think we cannot do to you what Hausa's are doing to you? Don't be surprised to wake up one day to see all your shops burnt down to the ground. You are asking for it and you will get it.
Why can't we have our own identity? Must it always be wood? Must we copy foreigners? What is morywood for God sake? If u call it moremi industry, will d heavens fall? Abeg, make una amend una ways jor.
Whether or not the Yoruba movie industry chooses a name for itself, like the OP suggests, may not make much impact. The Yoruba movie industry is already established. Movies have been done by them as far back as the 1970's. Prior to this period, travelling theatre groups that went to different parts of the country and beyond had sprung. They became fine-tuned when the schools of drama in Ibadan and Ife were established.
Anything yorbanised has always been a source of embarrassment to the black race. Yorubas can not run a virile and thriving sector. See how the yorubas killed industries handed over to them by awolowo using the indigenisation decree.
Nigeria airways, oshogbo steel, nitel,leyland, odua group of companies, niger dock, multilinks, starcom, airtel, GLO, lever brothers, ajaokuta steel, Lagos state, daily times, Kingsway, leventis, air Nigeria, nicon insurance all went down the moment they were yorbanised.
I pity buhari if he survives this coming scandals and catastrophe of working with the worst known vultures who wrecked Nigeria and killed the potentials of the black race.
Open your heart and allow CHANGE in your life.
Eschew from tribal hate and stop causing tribal e-war.
Anything yorbanised has always been a source of embarrassment to the black race. Yorubas can not run a virile and thriving sector. See how the yorubas killed industries handed over to them by awolowo using the indigenisation decree.
Nigeria airways, oshogbo steel, nitel,leyland, odua group of companies, niger dock, multilinks, starcom, airtel, GLO, lever brothers, ajaokuta steel, Lagos state, daily times, Kingsway, leventis, air Nigeria, nicon insurance all went down the moment they were yorbanised.
I pity buhari if he survives this coming scandals and catastrophe of working with the worst known vultures who wrecked Nigeria and killed the potentials of the black race.
Out of ten richest men in Nigeria we have more than four Yorubas on that list.Four of our States are among the richest ten States.Consult Wikipedia and Forbes for confirmation. Let your heart be healed and stop these hatred, you have nothing to gain from it.
OrlandoOwoh: Whether or not the Yoruba movie industry chooses a name for itself, like the OP suggests, may not make much impact. The Yoruba movie industry is already established. Movies have been done by them as far back as the 1970's. Prior to this period, travelling theatre groups that went to different parts of the country and beyond had sprung. They became fine-tuned when the schools of drama in Ibadan and Ife were established.
Anything yorbanised has always been a source of embarrassment to the black race. Yorubas can not run a virile and thriving sector. See how the yorubas killed industries handed over to them by awolowo using the indigenisation decree.
Nigeria airways, oshogbo steel, nitel,leyland, odua group of companies, niger dock, multilinks, starcom, airtel, GLO, lever brothers, ajaokuta steel, Lagos state, daily times, Kingsway, leventis, air Nigeria, nicon insurance all went down the moment they were yorbanised.
I pity buhari if he survives this coming scandals and catastrophe of working with the worst known vultures who wrecked Nigeria and killed the potentials of the black race.
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One day you will just poison yourself cos of yoruba matter. buhahahahahaha. Rest in peace broda.
I am not trying to be tribalistic but let's be truthful to ourselves. Yorubas cannot successfully run an enterprise because they cannot see the opportunities around them. I've come to realize that they can only tap into existing opportunities (i.e steal other people's business ideas). Sometimes they thrive, but most of the time they run down the already successful industry with their incompetence and lack of vision.
Let's compare Nairaland and Linda Ikeji blog for example. Nairaland has been existing for many years before Linda Ikeji blog started but see where Linda Ikeji is right now while Se.un still live with his parents. Se.un diversified into celebrity gossips and also adopted advert placement on his "Nigeria No: 1 forum" only yesterday after Linda Ikeji bought her 3rd car, a 2014 Range rover Evogue (i.e Se.un stole Linda's business model).
MoryWood or whatever you choose to call it will be a failure whether you like it or not because there is no existing UcheWood blueprint to steal from. Like me or not, i will always stand for the truth whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, and please don't quote me because i won't reply.
asadike: Why can't we have our own identity? Must it always be wood? Must we copy foreigners? What is morywood for God sake? If u call it moremi industry, will d heavens fall? Abeg, make una amend una ways jor.
This is a very nice input.
The ways of humans is unique, in the sense that what we call mainstream is indicative of the direction in which a greater human population is leaning. It is unwise and self-defeating to flow against the grain of human conscience.
In the Yoruba phrase, t'oban gbo "gbe gbe gbe", yara gbe ti re!, is instructive of a need to flow with the majority.
Right now and around the world, " xWOOD" is the mainstream theme for cinema entertainment.
I agree we need to innovate and stand out but in areas like this we have to join them to win global credits.
rudedough: I am not trying to be tribalistic but let's be truthful to ourselves. Yorubas cannot successfully run an enterprise because they cannot see the opportunities around them. I've come to realize that they can only tap into existing opportunities (i.e steal other people's business ideas). Sometimes they thrive, but most of the time they run down the already successful industry with their incompetence and lack of vision.
Let's compare Nairaland and Linda Ikeji blog for example. Nairaland has been existing for many years before Linda Ikeji blog started but see where Linda Ikeji is right now while Se.un still lives with his parents. Se.un diversified into celebrity gossips and also adopted advert placement on his "Nigeria No: 1 forum" only yesterday after Linda Ikeji bought her 3rd car, a 2014 Range rover Evogue (i.e Se.un stole Linda's business model).
MoryWood or whatever you choose to call it will be a failure whether you like it or not because there is no existing UcheWood blueprint to steal from. Like me or not, i will always stand for the truth whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, and please don't quote me because i won't reply.
you are the most useless, unreasonable person on earth, comparing almighty nairaland and LIB. For you to learn. Google the worth of both them come back here to correct your dumbness
OrlandoOwoh: Whether or not the Yoruba movie industry chooses a name for itself, like the OP suggests, may not make much impact. The Yoruba movie industry is already established. Movies have been done by them as far back as the 1970's. Prior to this period, travelling theatre groups that went to different parts of the country and beyond had sprung. They became fine-tuned [/b]when the schools of drama in Ibadan and Ife were established.
[size=15pt][b]Poverty pushed me into drug peddling– Popular known Actress Yetunde Wunmi[/size]
She joined the acting world in 1981 as an apprentice under Sunday Akinola (Mogaji Feyikogbon) but later left in 1989 to team up with the Tate Alade Aromire. The light-complexioned actress has appeared in so many movies that she has even lost count of them.
In this interview with BAYO ADEOYE, the actress who was arrested, prosecuted and convicted for drug peddling, spoke about the challenges she faced on her journey to stardom, her views about the Nigerian movie industry and her ordeal in detention when she was arrested and jailed for possession of hard drugs at the Lagos Airport.
How do you manage your family and your acting profession?
I’m managing very well. I thank God that my children are grown ups and they are on their own. When they were still young during that time I told you earlier, I had a junior who was staying with me then and assisted in looking after them for me. Whenever I was away then, I would drop money for them to eat and equally bought food stuffs at home for them. Then, I could leave for two or three months before returning. I thank God that He gave me only two and I was able to take good care of them.
[size=15pt]Poor remuneration, bane of Yoruba movie industry, says Baba Wande[/size]
My only regret is the way we are being treated by the marketers. We do a lot to prepare a story. We look for money to shoot the film and go through all sorts of sufferings at the various locations to shoot a movie and at the end of it all, getting to the market, you will not be paid; that is my only regret
Funke Akindele Dumps Yoruba Films For English Movies?
The recent story at our disposal, has it that popular Yoruba actress, Funke Akindele (Jenifer), has finally dumped the Yoruba film industry for the English language movies as she has been very busy on film sets in Enugu and Asaba where Igbo producers roll out several flicks in English Language.
The actress now has several English speaking movies to her credit and she has also won awards courtesy of such films. It has been observed that many of the film’s producers use Funke in are comic roles where she plays a clownish character. It is not clear if Funke will still be very active in Yoruba films, though we gathered that some Yoruba producers do not have the financial strength to pay for her services. Unconfirmed reports has it that Yoruba producers want to offer the actress fees ranging from N100,000 to N200,000 which some say she has surpassed.
However, we could not confirm what the Enugu and Asaba based movies makers pay Funke to get her on set, but what we observed is that the actress prefers to act in Asaba and Enugu movies instead of the Yoruba flicks because of the language barrier of the latter. It would be recalled that Funke Akindele got her breakthrough in the movie world when she acted in herself produced flick titled, ‘Jenifer’ from where she later got her nickname ‘Jenifer,’ soon after the success made by the film, she became one of the hottest movie stars in Nigeria and one of the most sought after.
Many film makers came calling afterwards and this landed her several endorsement deals including, Glo, Vita form, Jobber man, Klin detergent, Omo detergent, Qlicking.com, Lagos Island Revenue service among others.
When will you stop showing yourself up as a perpetual slave to the white man? When will ur soul be liberated from this perpetual bondage? When will you value your local language more than a foreigner's language? When will you start valuing your language and stop seeing it as a vernacular and putting your language and your identity into the background? So you think speaking better English makes you better? No, it only makes you a better mental, psychological and emotional slave to the Englishman. Mr, stop acting like an irredeemable slave; start acting like a free-born for a change!
movie making is a busines venture. Dia are oda means of promoting language
Barter system is killing Yoruba movie industry –Kunle Da-Silva
You have been in the industry for some time, what drew you to acting?
Kunle Da-Silva It started way back in the early 90s when I was in the technical college where I used to act on stage. Later on, I saw a friend that we went to the same primary school, Mary Joseph, on screen. So, I decided to try television dramas, and the acceptance was encouraging. Before long, I went into movies too.
Would you say you are fulfilled as an actor?
I have achieved a lot as an actor because I’ve acted with A-grade actors in the Yoruba movie industry like Adebayo Salami, Dele Odule and Jide Kosoko, among others. And talking of the youths, I’ve worked with Odunlade Adekola, Femi Adebayo, Toyin Aimakhu, Yomi Fash-Lanso and Funke Akindele, who I usually work with. The industry has been fair to me.
I am now into movie productions. I did my first production, which came out in 2012 and it was widely accepted because I brought in innovations. My production was the first that would be shot at an airport runway and we used the airport hangar, the departure hall, the airport shuttle and the plane, which had never been done before. Even in Nigerian English movies, it had never been done. My movie, Ofin, was the first to do it.
How much did it cost to produce?
It was a big project. An individual sponsored bankrolled everything and we spent about N7million. I’m not going to deceive you, but it was only possible because of the sponsor. I’m not going to delve into the Igbo setting that I don’t know much about but in Yoruba, it’s almost impossible for an artiste to want to shoot a movie by him or herself. The marketers have taken charge of productions, marketing, sales and everything.
The power, the monopoly, has been there from the beginning, even before we came into the industry, so for anyone saying he wants to come in and change the setting, he must be ready to fight a really big battle.
Marketers themselves sponsor big productions and you get royalties and it won’t all come once. This is because they are so smart that they won’t want you to be independent to be able to gather a large sum to be able to shoot your own movie. Like my own movie, the person just walked up to me, Da-Silva, I’ve seen your movies, I love your acting, I know you can do it and I want to sponsor you. That was why I shot everything, completed it and gave a completed job to the marketer. Even my next job, which is for this year, will be done in the same way.
Though producers don’t always admit making money on their movies, did you recover the money you spent?
We did, though it came in trickles. The marketer didn’t really help matters at first, but later, he changed when he saw the moves we were making against him. He was making money and we knew as we were monitoring the sales and we knew all the initial copies were sold out within a week. The marketer wanted to be funny but when the executive producer started taking action against him, he sat up and came clean.
Did you show it at the cinemas?
I had some bottlenecks. As I said, the Yoruba movie setting is in such a way that a cabal is there which want things to work its way. I had issues with some marketers, they are clamouring to buy the job and I was not willing to sell. Then some things came up and I decided not to show it at the cinemas to avoid piracy.
What do you like most about being an actor?
What I love most is the knowledge we impart to the audience. We have a lot of problems in this country, social, economic, cultural, and you really need to pass messages to the people and one of the best ways of doing so is via movies. So the first thing that comes to my mind is the message I want to pass.
Then also the popularity, the people’s clamour to meet you, but it’s not easy. I’ve walked on the streets and my clothes were almost torn to shreds. People will want to greet you. Imagine a scenario where people you see on the road expect you to know them and if you don’t greet them, they will just start accusing you, saying; “We buy your films, we watch your films and you don’t want to greet us.”
At times, they will walk up to you and say: “I’ve bought your movie, I must collect money from you. But they don’t know it’s not like that. So, I don’t blame them. It’s the situation in the country.
You said the message in movies is paramount to you. What sort of message do you send with your movies advising people to go and do juju for money?
When a movie is shot and you see an artiste in it using a human being for ritual to amass wealth, at the movie’s end, there’s always a repercussion for such action. Now, what we are sending to the public is that if you do this, this is definitely what you’ll get at the end of the day and so don’t do it.
But let me tell you, Nigerians have thick skin. When they see ritual, they won’t want to take the message that the person is going to regret or regretted the action. They will only hold on to the part that the person made the money. And they will want to do it too.
Don’t you think, therefore, that it’s better that you avoid juju in your movies totally?
I’ll want to use the word tradition. We cannot eliminate tradition from Nigeria. We are a culture minded people and we cannot delete our tradition. If we remove our tradition and embrace the Western style of making movies, we are killing our own tradition and we can’t do that.
Despite all the money in the industry, many actors are still poor. Why is this?
I’ll give you a revelation, and I’ll speak about the Yoruba movie setting, which I know very well. The Yoruba setting does not pay much like the Igbo setting does. The older generation artists are paid peanuts. They want to survive. They’ve got families to fend for so they’ll rush at the peanuts than sit down at home doing nothing.
What’s the highest amount you’ve been paid?
Well, in the entertainment world, the highest I’ve got is half a million, but that was for an advert with Glo.
What do you then charge for acting?
In the Yoruba setting, it’s a family thing. I have to tell you the fact. And it is killing the industry. They’ll say you are my brother, do this for me, when it’s your turn, I’ll scratch your back.
movie making is a busines venture. Dia are oda means of promoting language
because of tribalism and racial obsession yorubas would rather starve speaking a dying language to a marginal audience that's too poor for endorsements than to contribute to the great Igbo Nollywood which brings in people from all tribes, multiple nations in africa, white black asian mulatto etc under one united roof that's prospering.
Today there are 3 movie industries the world speaks of
Hollywood Nollywood and Bollywood
Hopefully Morrywood (LMFAO) can stop it's racial obsession and learn to be inclusive and strong like the other three. Yoruba movies don't 'promote language'. Today people in Uganda know chineke, ngeri, bia, nwatakiri, chukwu, ifunaya, igwe, eze, omalicha, bia, je etc from ENGLISH nollywood movies.
When will you stop showing yourself up as a perpetual slave to the white man? When will ur soul be liberated from this perpetual bondage? When will you value your local language more than a foreigner's language? When will you start valuing your language and stop seeing it as a vernacular and putting your language and your identity into the background? So you think speaking better English makes you better? No, it only makes you a better mental, psychological and emotional slave to the Englishman. Mr, stop acting like an irredeemable slave; start acting like a free-born for a change!
That doesn't stop the fact that you are here eating and drinking under conducive atmosphere made possible by an accommodating Yoruba populace. Do you igbos actually think we cannot do to you what Hausa's are doing to you? Don't be surprised to wake up one day to see all your shops burnt down to the ground. You are asking for it and you will get it.
let everyone that want to promote their language respond in their language. You'll come here to discuss in English how movies should be in Yoruba. hypocrite. Let the language die it's natural death.
rudedough: I am not trying to be tribalistic but let's be truthful to ourselves. Yorubas cannot successfully run an enterprise because they cannot see the opportunities around them. I've come to realize that they can only tap into existing opportunities (i.e steal other people's business ideas). Sometimes they thrive, but most of the time they run down the already successful industry with their incompetence and lack of vision.
Let's compare Nairaland and Linda Ikeji blog for example. Nairaland has been existing for many years before Linda Ikeji blog started but see where Linda Ikeji is right now while Se.un still lives with his parents. Se.un diversified into celebrity gossips and also adopted advert placement on his "Nigeria No: 1 forum" only yesterday after Linda Ikeji bought her 3rd car, a 2014 Range rover Evogue (i.e Se.un stole Linda's business model).
MoryWood or whatever you choose to call it will be a failure whether you like it or not because there is no existing UcheWood blueprint to steal from. Like me or not, i will always stand for the truth whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, and please don't quote me because i won't reply.
What you just described is not a negative and neither is it a derogatory of Yoruba race. Nollywood and all its intrigues is new to other cultures in Nigeria but to the Yorubas we have been there, done it and saturated it.
When it comes to theater and cinema, you are not in the class or rank of those who hold pedigree to make critical contributions to the pioneering instincts of Yoruba magic and drama. Suffice to share with you an entry in Encyclopedia Brittanica which chronicles that Yoruba has been in theater since 1944 and our women have been on stage, in studios and on screen since 1946. Now beat that!
