By contrasting her experiences in Nollywood with Hollywood, veteran Nollywood actress Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde has rekindled the debate on the necessity of structural change in Nigeria’s film industry.
In a post shared via her Instagram story, the actress highlighted the stark contrast in royalty payments between the two film industries
Omotola bemoaned the lack of residual compensation for performers in the Nigerian film business, having worked on over 310 productions over her more than thirty years in Nollywood. On the other hand, she disclosed that she still gets paid monthly residuals for only two test projects that she finished throughout her short four-year career in Hollywood.
“Just 4 years in Hollywood, 2 test projects, monthly residuals,” she wrote in the post, accompanied by an image of envelopes from SAG-AFTRA, the American union representing film and television actors. “30 years in Nollywood, 310+ projects, no residuals,” she added.
She reiterated her demand for a structural overhaul of Nollywood’s pay paradigm by concluding with the hashtags #NollywoodNeedsStructure and #UnlearntoRelearn.