Nkonkonsa Celebrity Gossip From Africa
Ghanaian actor Ekow Blankson has said in a recent interview that monies from acting could not even buy a car claims it was a ‘hand to mouth’ job.
In an interview with Ghanaweb TV’s Lowdown, the actor and the managing director of TV Africa stated that he would have been rich if he acted in Hollywood movies.
“Unfortunately, it’s a hand-to-mouth salary. It is not anything to write home about. I believe that the kinds of attention and details that I attach to filming here, then you can say you’d buy a house, a car, you can get married.
But really, I’d say that the monies I have made have been a hand to mouth. The cars that I bought are from corporate salaries and stuff like that. Sometimes, we use it for fuel”, he added.
The ‘Rhapsody of Love’ during the interview compared the working conditions and payment structure of the local industry to Netflix; saying that the payment is far better and also contracts are signed ahead of time.
“Their set-up is really different and really classy. They treat you well. If you’re getting a three thousand cedis for a movie that has about a hundred scenes here with the Netflix, you could get something like eight thousand”.
He stated that some performers in Ghana get paid less than three thousand Ghana cedis for a 100-scene film.
Mr Blankson proposed several proposals for the rebirth of the Ghana film industry in response to claims that it is dying. While advocating for more money to be invested in the business, the veteran also argued that films should be well-marketed and disseminated.
“We need funds. The industry needs funds to operate. We have industry but we don’t have a film economy. We have a film industry; we have people who make up the film industry but we lack in the place of film economy.
“As a country, we need to understand what our films can do for us and I’ll speak on the authority that I’ve travelled and I know what content does. What are we as Ghana doing? Today, look at Nigeria. Nigeria has beaten Bollywood. Bollywood was second in the world; it was Hollywood, Bollywood and Nollywood. The reason is that they understand and get funded, get help,” he said.
