Nigerian comedian and filmmaker Basketmouth has accused Nollywood producers of mismanaging funds provided by global streaming platforms, claiming their actions have significantly hindered the quality of Nigerian films.
In a recent interview, Basketmouth alleged that many producers divert a significant portion of production budgets for personal use, leaving only a fraction for actual filmmaking.
“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,” he revealed.
He further claimed that streaming platforms, after noticing the alleged misappropriation, attempted to ensure transparency by paying actors directly. However, producers reportedly found ways to continue exploiting the system.
“Even to the point where the streaming platforms stepped in and said, ‘You know what? We are going to be paying the actors directly,’ these guys would still go behind and tell the actors to pay half of that money back to them. You can verify the information anywhere,” he added.
Basketmouth emphasized that the result of such practices is evident in the substandard quality of many Nollywood films, particularly epic productions that fail to meet expectations.
“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,” he lamented.
