Why many Nollywood actors are poor -Umeh

The Veteran Nollywood Actor, Uzo Umeh has said that many actors in the Nollywood industry were poor because they were paid off for shooting a film.

Uzor, who disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Enugu, said the actors had to wait till they shoot another movie before they would be paid again.

The movie star noted that their counterparts overseas were better than them because they would be paid for shooting a movie and enjoyed the royalty thereafter.

“What this means is that as far as that film you shoot is being sold in the market, you get a percentage as royalty but in Nollywood, we are paid off.

“You shoot a film, they pay you for it, that ends it but if there is a kind of legislation that if a person gets to a particular age and shoot a film, he gets royalty as long as the film is selling, it will be better,” he said.

Umeh added that big actors and actresses in advance countries do not shoot more than three movies in a year and they would be satisfied but in Nigeria one must be on his/her feet for money to come.

According to him, Bollywood is not growing as expected because government sees it as a private business for those that created it.

The thespian said entertainment was something that could give a country a great name like Bollywood and Hollywood, but it should not be left in the hands of private sector.

He advocated for health insurance for the operators of the industry because a lot of them were getting old and sick not because of the pressure from the work but sickness that came with old age

The Nollywood actor added that sometimes many of them would be sick and be neglected by the society they once entertained.