Popular actor and comedian, Debo Adebayo aka Mr Macaroni says upcoming actors deserve better treatment than they are currently getting from many movie producers in the country.
He lamented the shabby treatment being meted out to the upcoming actors via his verified Twitter handle on Monday.
According to him, owing and disrespecting upcoming actors has regrettably become a norm that must be changed.
Mr Macaroni, who has risen to become one of the most recognisable faces in the comedy skit genre in Nigeria, recalled his frequent clashes with producers over their unwilling to pay him during the early days of his acting career.
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Mr Macaroni said that instead of paying for their services, such producers promised the upcoming actors “exposure”, noting that exposure does not pay the actors’ bills.
“If you can’t pay upcoming Actors for their time and talent, please don’t disrespect them! That role you say you are giving them to help their career, if no one plays it, the production won’t be complete! Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity.
“It hurts when I go to some production sets and I see the way upcoming talents are treated! When I talk they will say I’m troublesome. Some don’t even get paid at all. Please don’t say it is part of ‘paying dues’. We can do better!! Na talent dem wan showcase. Dem no kill person.
“I’m not asking anyone to be a rebel ooo.. lol. The industry is tough.. I know. But when i started acting, I had issues with quite a number of producers. It’s one thing not to pay me. I tolerated that one. But disrespect me?? Never!! I’ll give you my piece of mind and walk out!!
“Please let us normalize paying upcoming talents and also treating them with respect. Yes your platform will give them exposure, but people must be paid for work done. If we can ask the government to do better, we can also demand same from ourselves,” Mr Macaroni wrote.