Some of your favourite Nollywood stars have have practically become synonymous with the Asaba branch of Nollywood, such that some of us have continued to wonder why at their level and status they have refused relocating away from there, especially on the ground of the level of movies being produced there, of which many of them are considered poor and mediocre.
Well, the truth is not far fetched as there are certain favourable factors as to why these movie stars will continue to patronize Asaba Nollywood forever. Yes, first of all, it is easy for them to be featured in a movie than anywhere else, mostly because of their close and personal relationship with most movie marketers, producers and directors, such that just a call is enough for them to be featured in any movie.
Secondly, the number of movies produced in Asaba can never be compared to any other part of the country, as such, it gives them the opportunity to earn more money than they could have earned anywhere else. Some of them feature in over 4-5 movies in a month, which cannot be possible elsewhere, maybe like in Lagos State. Then how do you expect them to cope in such environment where they are likely to feature in lesser number of movies in a month or even not featured at all.
Even, you will see some of them shuttling between two or more movie sets at the same period; once the other production they are filming with is not ready they rush to the other set to shot one or two scenes with them. This is no blasphemy but a trademark practice within the Asaba Nollywood, which can hardly be tolerated outside that space because it is one of the most unprofessional habit of any actor. Funny enough, the director or producer will only be begging these actors on top such attitude like they are doing the job for free.
On the other hand, majority of them cannot even feature in the quality of movies produced outside their scope, because majority of their movies are either for the YouTube audience, Cable TV Channels, CD plates or the likes of them. As such, they are not ready to risk it, by quitting the Asaba, let’s say for Lagos, because of their level of acting which is only good for Asaba Nollywood. This is not a joke, else how many of them have you seen featured blockbusters outside their area, let’s say in all these box-office movies?
Be it known that I’m not saying that there are not quality movies or actors in Asaba Nollywood, no, there are lots of them. The point is that many of the movies produced there are poor, many of their actors are not up to standard. In other words, most of these your favourite Nollywood stars in Asaba will remain there almost forever because they are used to mediocre and unprofessional practices in the industry, where almost everything is achieved via shortcuts.
Let me even tell you a shocking story, while I was working in the industry, there are times these artistes will disappear from set, their phones off, then production will be shutdown because of their unavailability, and we will be on location for hours doing nothing, meanwhile, it will later be discovered that they actually went to film for another production. If you think it’s a lie, investigate and you will be shocked, and I’m sure such still happens till date. Meanwhile, in the next job the actor will be the first on the cast list, and that can only be tolerated in that part of the industry.
There have actually produced great movies, especially in the past, in the era of greats like late Sam Loco, Nkem Owoh, Patience Ozokwor, Zack Orji, Chief Pete Edochie, and others. That was when great productions like Andy Best, OJ Productions, Emmalex Movies, and the likes gave us something to enjoy and really be happy.
Disclaimer: Please the use of the above photos in this work is purely for illustration purpose and does not in any way represent the message being conveyed in the post.
(Photo credit: Google)