Actors, producers, directors must unite – Abubakar Sanusi Yakubu

Alhaji Abubakar Sanusi Yakubu, the new president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), in this interview with Weekend Trust, spoke on his plans to make the acting profession more rewarding for practitioners among other issues   You were recently inaugurated. What is your roadmap? First, the welfare of actors, which is paramount. I want […]

Alhaji Abubakar Sanusi Yakubu, the new president of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), in this interview with Weekend Trust, spoke on his plans to make the acting profession more rewarding for practitioners among other issues

 

You were recently inaugurated. What is your roadmap?

First, the welfare of actors, which is paramount. I want every member in every state chapter across the country to feel the impact of the guild. We want to create an enabling environment for members to practise their trade without hindrance.

With the current economic situation, we also want to introduce side hustles for members to help them earn a better income and live well. We are collaborating with producers and other stakeholders to ensure better remuneration and consistent job opportunities.

 

How?

Sometimes there are not enough jobs. In the Guild, we have more members than available roles. When screen roles are limited, we encourage members to work behind the scenes; we teach them makeup, costume, catering and other skills that can generate income when acting jobs are scarce.

How do you encourage members to take advantage of digital platforms, especially in today’s technology era?

We introduced a programme called the Influencers’ Channel, where we teach members how to use the social media effectively to influence. Acting is a social profession and actors are influencers by nature. So, we help them by building a network of influencers to promote programmes and activities that generate income. With YouTube and other platforms you can create content from home and earn money.

We are taking full advantage of the digital world to empower members and help them utilise digital systems to make an income.

 

Does the government support actors under the creative economy initiative?

Not adequately. Actors are the soft power of the industry. We are like software, actors are the faces people see, but when grants and support programmes are introduced, producers are usually the first beneficiaries. Actors rarely receive such support. We are calling on the government to create funds to build actors’ capacity. That is what we need to do from time to time. We need regular trainings to meet international standards.

The government has introduced grants and copyright initiatives and the president recently approved funds for copyright and residuals. Actors should benefit from these because we are performers.

Nigeria is a signatory to the Beijing Performance Rights agreements. We deserve to earn from those rights. We are calling on the government to recognise and respect actors as stakeholders who should benefit from these rights too.

 Acting doesn’t seem to be too rewarding in this part of the world. Why is this so?

Well, to an extent, it is because it’s an emerging industry and we are evolving. You can see that the Nollywood brand attracts a lot of practitioners, and the majority come in through acting.

Even those who are now award-winning directors and producers, their first point of entry was through acting. So, the acting arm of filmmaking is large. We are large.

But then, it is accommodating and rewarding to a certain level. In a film production where you have 10 cast members, at least three or four are well remunerated. But down the line, it is not worth it for many. And it is because of what it is.

We are talking with producers to make it cut across all the categories of actors, even up to walk-ons so that they can have something tangible. The known fact is that the influx of actors became too heavy for so many to have something tangible as a reward system for their effort in a production. That was one of the major problems that affected the income of some members.

But as we evolve, the rates improve. As more openings come in the cinemas, actors earn well, they earn well on Netflix jobs. There is a percentage increase in productions where you may have 100 performers on set and even the lowest paid is able to earn and put food on their table. It is not too bad, it is coming up.

Although there is always room for improvement, many are still not well remunerated. But it is a gradual process. We are getting there.

 

What about the problem of piracy?

That has reduced tremendously because we have moved away from CDs and disc productions. Content is more online now, and people are beginning to get rewards. For instance, on YouTube, you cannot upload someone’s production without violating copyright. Piracy has reduced to the barest minimum.

People now earn from their work; the only issue may be territorial piracy, where some people take content from here to China, open a channel there and make money from it without the knowledge of people in Nigeria.

We would like to work with the Nigerian Communications Commission to be able to track such cases. Wherever Nigerian contents are being shown, we should be able to track and identify those behind it so that the government can also make revenue from it.

 

We have all the Woods from the three major tribes in the country. How are you bringing them together because in unity lies your strength?

That is upon my agenda to unify all the Woods, especially for the actors. Acting has no language. You may be producing Hausa film, but the actors are actors and can be from anywhere.

I want us to have one united body of actors from all sectors – Kannywood, Igbowood or Yorubawood all together. All actors must be unified so that we can have a formidable union to tackle our major problems, which include remuneration, welfare and creating a conducive environment to work.

I also want producers and directors to come together, irrespective of language, tribe or region. Let all of us belong professionally to our respective lines of practice.

 

Where do you hope to see the acting profession in the next five to 10 years?

I want to begin to see us in international productions. I want to see our actors taking up lead roles in major productions in Hollywood, Bollywood, China and across the world. We have the talents and what it takes to compete in any production globally.

I want to see our members secure roles abroad and bring foreign exchange back to Nigeria.