Dave Ogbeni has disclosed via his Instagram page the steady decline in the Nigerian movie industry. The popular Nollywood actor stated clearly that talent has been relegated to the background as people with one million Instagram followers and above “automatically” pass auditions and even land lead roles.
He posted:
“Welcome to Nollywood where with 1million followers and above on Instagram, you’ve automatically passed an audition and qualify for a lead role in a Movie project”
The thespian captioned;
“You want to act? Oya go and buy followers
New Nollywood
What da H*LL Happened to Talent?”
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There were reactions from some Nollywood celebs.
Walter Anga: “😂😂😂😂😂😂 Ogbeni”.
Iheme Nancy: “😂😂😂😂scatter everything 😂😂”.
Collins Ejike: “😂😂😂😂😂 this table I dey pity the leg 🦵”.
More reactions below.
fatou_jallow_zions: “That’s why the movies are rubbish”.
jennifer_chibueze_: “No more talent but followers, and I have been trying to get in for a long time now 😩😩😩😩”.
infinityebereohakwe: “It’s a lie oo…no be everything filmmaker dey look that side abeg…..who fake followers epp ni”.
lucyamehlucious: “😂😂😂😂😂😂 omooo should I send an extra speaker, so that it’s louder, you couldn’t have said it better.”
jamesamuta: “This is actually a very ridiculous trend in the section of the industry where it’s applicable. Needless to say, this isn’t the case everyone. Some studios and producers still care about talent. However, there are roles where producers rationalize that talent isn’t necessarily required to pull off. Using the “movie star equation”, they just need a vehicle to drive eyeballs to the project ( a star, an influencer etc) – someone will a fan base- preferably an undiscerning fan base.”
Remember there are roles where some actors are just required to “sit over there and look pretty” – for such ornamental roles, it perhaps makes more economic sense to use the more famous of the talent-lacking fold. Cos remember, anyone can play such a role – so such roles will naturally go to the person who is perceived as bringing more VALUE to the project. For such producers, an actor who can’t act but has 1 million followers is better than an actor who can’t act but has only 2k followers. You get their reasoning? Trust me, a truly talented actor can never be in the same league. The people who seek to hire him or her go after them for their talent and not fame. But when it’s not a serious project and you just need ornamental actors to promote the project, then talent isn’t top on your priority list.”
