President G.E.J just announced that a loan of $200m will be made available to Practitioners in the Entertainment Industry. That’s a fantastic piece of news for the industry and one which should gladden a lot of hearts.
The effect on the industry is immense considering the low quality of work that is frequently dished out quite by our entertainers. Most people, including myself, are quick to blame these guys for their poor quality of work without considering the huge financial constraints they always have to grapple with. So, how does this really help the industry?
A modern block buster Hollywood movie with state of the art effects and an A list cast usually cost between $30m to $65m on an average. These movies if successful often turnover three times the cost making them. Nigerian movies on the other hand cost between N2m to N10m, excluding the recently record breaking “Inale” which cost about $2.8m to make. With funds it is a no brainer that our movies, music and all that encompasses the entertainment industry will churn out quality products that can compete in any part of the world. Our music industry has already taken a step in that direction mainly because it’s cheaper to complete a product than it will in Nollywood.
But beyond all this, the country stands to gain the most. The Entertainment Industry is credited for producing thousand of jobs for our youth over the last decade. If this fund is made available more and more jobs will be created as the inertia precipitated by inflow will cause an expansion in the industry which will in turn lead to the creation of jobs. Script writers will be paid more to write scripts, marketers will be better incentivized to sell more, advertising agency will be better motivated to create awareness for their products the world over, actors and actresses will earn more (which will in turn require that they hire accountants, lawyers, managers, make up artist etc), Entertainment print and electronic media outlets will have an increased an energized audience, Entertainment websites will also see a marked improvement in the quality of their content etc. In fact the effect is exponential to say the least.
However, with every excellent venture comes it’s threats and weaknesses. But that will not out weigh the long term benefits and the positive effect this will have on the wider economy. This in my view is a definite GAME CHANGER!
I shall attempt to highlights how this funds may be utilized by partitioners in our entertainment industry in a future blog.
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