 |
| Emeka Ike |
In an interview with Punch published in January 2019, the actor touched on his sincere thoughts about the fast-growing Nigerian movie industry.
Here are the six things Emeka Ike thinks of the Nigerian movie industry.
1. State of Nollywood
The ‘Stigma’ actor bared his mind on the state of Nollywood saying, “The industry is no longer what it used to be. Producers don’t make (as much) movies anymore; the issue of being poorly paid is out of it. I haven’t made movies in over six years. However, last year, I was begged to go to a location for a movie which is all over the Internet now.”
2. The new wave
On the new wave in the industry, which includes the rise of cable television, Emeka said, “Cable television has taken over everywhere and the producers and marketers that used to be popular then are no longer famous because nobody is buying their CDs.”
3. Unstructured system
The ‘Deceptive Hearts’ actor feels the home video system was not properly structured before its fall. The era which heralded Emeka’s emergence as one of Nigeria’s top actors is believed to have lost its fame due to poor structure.
“The home video system was not properly structured; so, people started buying decoders. The level of politics in the home video sector was so high and our economic value became affected because initially, we got paid from the funds got from the sales of movies. As an actor, you can determine the fees you will charge for a movie. When cable television was introduced, it drastically reduced the sales of movies because some of those movies were already being aired on TV. It is not a personality thing but the lack of structures in the industry. And see where it has brought us.”
4. Tired but hope is not lost
Though Emeka is not so keen about discussing how the movie industry can reach a greater height, he feels all hope is not lost.
He said, “I realised that whenever I tried to speak with people on how we could lift Nollywood higher, they didn’t do anything. Some of them are not even informed about what is going on in the industry. Now, it just seems like I am a noise maker but I keep praying that God helps us in 2019.”
5. Relevance in the industry
On his relevance in the movie industry, Emeka Ike believes not appearing in many films is not peculiar to him saying, “It is not just about me; it is about all the actors in my set. You don’t see Jim Iyke, Ramsey Nouah, Genevieve Nnaji, and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde as often in movies anymore as you used to. So, it is not about me alone. It is the new trend that came about when cable television operators came on board.”
6. Change in Nollywood is far
For Emeka Ike, he has stopped wishing for Nollywood because he feels the change is far.
“I have stopped wishing Nollywood anything because I see that change is far. Some years ago, you could hear me say Nollywood was dying, but you will never hear me say that now,” he said.
In This Story: #Emeka #Nollywood #Industry #SixThings
Sharing is caring. Share this story
No comments:
Post a Comment