Clarion Chukwurah Descends On Award Organisers

The Nollywood industry is being faced with various challenges ranging from piracy, poor marketing structure, quality scripting, and recent suggestions movie village and many more. But one person who keeps shouting on the relevant bodies of Nollywood to sit up is veteran actress, Clarion Chukwurah.

The actress, who is known for tongue lashing any mal-administration in the make-belief world, has frowned at the rise of entertainment awards in the country which says does not have any value both to the industry and to the individual as a whole.

According to her, With Nollywood, the award organizers walk away with the money while the Nominees and Awardees return home with worthless plaques that make no difference to the Executive Producers. It is instructive to note that without the Practitioners, there is no Show yet every arm of the event, from the Venue, to the Technicians, to the Event Managers and Broadcast Networks et-al, are paid but the established Brands who are invited as Nominees to walk the Red Carpet to endorse their own brands that is still in the making and other upcoming Nominees, who are the Show are simply used and paraded for free.

“Thirty years ago when I won the Best Actress Award at the All African Films Festival In Burkina Faso, it came with a Certificate and $500. Nomination for the Golden Globe or the Oscar comes with a certain amount of money, transforms you to an A-list Actor and jerk up your fees, adding value to your career and your professional worth,” she revealed.

Clarion stated that It has become necessary to withhold Guilds' endorsements for these Award Events until stipulated requirements are met; such as obtaining a License from the Conference of Nollywood Guilds for a fee, Proof of Prize for Award Nominees and Winners, and a verifiable document of Agreement signed by the guild of producers, and the association of marketers endorsing the Award as a basis for increased value of the recipients.

She said such a process will help structure the industry against easy exploitation, promote focused growth and build industry collaboration with bodies having serious intent to promote and add value to the industry reducing the others to what they truly should be.

The actress, urged the Professional Guilds to move into action to streamline these Award Events down to those bodies who are serious about promoting the growth of the Industry and adding meaningful value to the career of practitioners.