Some Nigerian movie practitioners under the aegis of Nollywood on Thursday took to social media to express their views on the issue of “sex for role’’ menacing the movie industry.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that one topic that has continued to top the chart in discussions on the Nigerian film industry is the phenomenal “sex for role’’.
The development, they noted, had impeded the good image of Africa’s largest entertainment sector.
Jennifer Anjorin, an upcoming actress, said the game had changed where the talk was no longer all about sex for roles but about money for roles.
“Now, young female movie hopefuls are not the only ones giving something up for movie roles. Men, as well, do it now.
“They have to pay a particular sum of money to get featured in a movie and the bigger the money, the more prominent the role.
“The usual victims are desperate untalented young men and women,’’ she said.
Also, a prominent filmmaker, Chidi Nwokeabia, blamed the actors, saying that their desperation and quest for overnight stardom is what some filmmakers, especially the new-breed capitalise on.
According to him, many of these girls will do anything to become stars overnight and this has led them into the arms of exploitative filmmakers.
“Again, with the lull in the industry, filmmakers, most of whom are jobless, need the money from these desperate girls to survive.
“It is a very bad trend and the earlier we stopped it, the better for our industry and rising actresses,’’ he said.
Nollywood actor, Mike Ezuruonye, attacked new actors in Nollywood who he described as fame seekers rather than craft developers.
He noted that in the midst of this development, upcoming actors are not ready to develop themselves in the craft; rather they are after the fame.
The actor also explained that the reason why it looks as if he is no more in the industry is that he selected the kind of scripts that is brought to his table so as not to offend his fans with some kind of movie roles.
“I’ve been very selective with the movies I feature in now.
“You’ll get to a level you have to be careful about the kind of roles and movies you accept and still not offend your fans because you owe them a lot of allegiance.
“So, I believe that I should be acting in movies that will put me in a better light and help take my career to the next level,’’ he noted.
Nollywood actress, Mercy Aigbe-Gentry, disclosed that the major challenge actor’s faced in the movie industry in Nigeria was bad press.
According to her, the media has not been fair to the make-believe stars because of what they write, which she says members of the media do just to sell their newspapers.
Aigbe-Gentry revealed that some people in Nollywood try to pull down their colleagues because of jealousy.
In her words: “Nigerian journalists have not been fair to us (actors). It’s often very sad when you see untrue, dirty details about you in the newspapers.
“They rubbish our reputation in order to sell their newspapers and its heart breaking. Again, in the industry, you see people beefing you here and there.
“They feel jealous because you are relatively young in the industry and you are getting more roles than them, who are veterans in the field,’’ she said. (NAN)