12/03/2024
What is fear?
What scares the crap out you? What is this thing that you would do everything to avoid just so you will not have to deal with the fall out? So, you stay in your lane, avoid confronting it even if said thing is wrong, unjustifiable to you and to others. You then leave it to God and to others to somehow deal with it.
I made the attached post a few days ago and as expected with posts like this, it appeared to be ignored on account of the engagement matrix. But I knew it wasn’t, I knew it would be screen grabbed and re-circulated in the safety of WhatsApp groups, DMs and inboxes.
I got a ton of calls from producers and close friends who had received the screenshots as messages. Some lamented that they were in all sorts of financial trouble because they too used their personal funds to run productions and now struggle to reconcile and or get back said funds in a timely manner.
What is it?
“No producer should ever, for whatever reason use their personal funds to run any aspect of a commissioned production unless it a co-production agreement.”
This statement is so basic it is elementary, yet we find ourselves doing it! For what? To show dedication? To prove commitment? Please share your motivation…I did it because I have an obligation to the crew who gave everything and to the cast who delivered on their side of the agreement. It was me they would drag on the streets of Nollywood.
The calls ended with “we are fighting with you from afar, I cannot be seen to be supporting this because I still have plans to “continue working in the industry.”
So, I fully understand why most of you didn’t have the courage to “Like” the post, not that it matters but again I ask, what are you afraid of? That someone with power will see that you liked and or commented on a post and deny you of your livelihood? Blacklist you? What naa?
It’s a sad day when you realize that creatives can collectively be intimidated by individuals and or platforms when they speak up against wrong doings or practices that will NEVER be tolerated in other industries and yet we want to grow!
There are creatives who have never experienced this and have enjoyed an amazing relationship with folks up and down the value chain. I have delivered projects at the highest levels and worked with amazing folks as well, but we still have challenges and when we see something not right, we should point it out, fix it and leave things better than we found them.
Don’t wake up one day at the end of your career and all you have to show for your creative journey is a showreel of how many Intellectual Properties you have given away in perpetuity to platforms. You did it all for “Title credits”, no royalties…no legacy. Which why I applaud all of you doing amazing work on YouTube and cashing out! I am coming to join you guys biko!
Here is a cheat code; collaborate and then scale.
