Comedian and actor Bright Okpocha, popularly known as Basketmouth, has said the funds given by Netflix to some Nollywood movie producers were mismanaged.
During an Arise TV interview, Basketmouth said some producers were given up to $1.5m, which they diverted for lavish lifestyles while producing low-quality content.
He said this amid rumours that Netflix has stopped funding local content production but would only pay for quality content produced.
He said, “When the streaming platforms came in, they gave money to these producers, and I’ll tell you point blank: these producers would take the money—$1.5 million or whatever they give them—and use about 10% of that money to make the movie.”
Speaking further, Basketmout said that Netflix paid actors directly to ensure transparency after discovering that the producers were shortchanging the actors.
“Even to the point where the streaming platforms stepped in and said, ‘You know what? We are going to be paying the actors directly, but these guys would still go behind and tell the actors to pay them half of that money back. You can verify the information anywhere,” he added.
He said, “So, when you do that and expect your movie to be 100%, it can’t. It’s impossible. But these guys? They’ll cut, buy houses, buy cars. And that’s why when you see our movies, some of our epic movies look like stage plays.”
