Toyin Abraham, a Nollywood star, has disclosed how filmmakers steal money meant for film development, and how she can no longer participate in the criminal activity.
She stated this in an interview with The Will Downtown. She stated that poverty is one of the reasons why filmmakers divert monies intended for film creation.
When asked about filmmakers not spending complete budgets on projects and pocketing some for themselves, the filmmaker revealed that she used to do likewise.
According to Toyin Abraham:
"I'm going to be honest and forthright. What you're saying today (about filmmakers not spending the entire budget on a project) is something I would have done if I had the chance seven or eight years ago. It's hard to live in poverty. Now, my husband is off to London to shoot, my son is sleeping upstairs, and my daughter is upstairs, and we all ride first or business class. At the end of the day, it comes down to hard work and God. When I consider all of our blessings, including our homes, I begin to cry. And all of this happened in the span of five years.
That's why people assume I'm obsessed with FilmOne; even in FilmOne, I'm referred to as the First Lady. Yes, Moses, Ladun, Mimi, Kene, and Tolu are my obsessions. They paid me 42 million dollars the first time. I wished to perish. Everyone wanted to kill me when I received the money, in my opinion. Even when someone spoke to me innocently, I assumed they planned to kill me; everything seemed like a gun. Would you believe I'm still making money (royalty payments) from a film I made five years ago? After the movies, I still have money in foreign currency from Netflix. The airlines will then purchase them as well. Amazon, DStv, and others will also purchase them.
So, to answer your question honestly, I'm confident that if it had occurred to me years ago, I would have done the same thing. Then, if you gave me 10 million dollars to make a movie, I might keep five for myself. But now, if you gave me $500 million to make a film, I might have to add to that in order to make a great film.
#TOYINABRAHAM #NOLLYWOODACTRESS #HOWFILMMAKERSTAKEMONEYFROMNOLLYWOODANDWHYIDONTDOIT
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