Opera Square now centre for electrical gadgets - Prince David Osei

For some time now, the fight for telenovelas to be off screens has got numerous actors throwing in their bit to get their pleas heard and Ghanaian international actor Prince David Osei has a piece to share.

Speaking to Flex newspaper, he has bemoaned the way telenovelas have become the norm of the day which is diverting the culture of Ghanaians into something else.

He said, TV has succeeded in brainwashing the people of Ghana into watching soap operas making it seem as something exciting to watch and this according to him has declined citizens from patronizing local movies.

“Television stations advertising these soap operas have done it so well that, people have been brainwashed into watching local movies which is very bad. They say they lack content thus, have opted for old telenovelas which annoyingly have a panel to discuss episodes after episodes. It’s ridiculous; we lost touch of ourselves as Ghanaians,” David said.

Prince claims he hasn’t seen or heard of anyone Ghanaian being it an industry person, a footballer or a politician being praised for doing good but always hear of our own being lambasted, insulted and critiqued for God knows what wrong.

“Soap operas have got all sponsorships needed for viewership but local series have to go through the mill before a sponsor comes on board. Nigerians don’t do this. They have set aside support for their industry; movie producers are given grants & loans to produce movies & are again sent abroad to pursue courses in directing which is being paid for. India or Mexico will never show a movie from Ghana even if it’s the best. So why are we promoting them when we aren’t relevant to them?” he quizzed.

He went on that Opera Square which used to be the Hollywood of Ghana has at the moment become a place for electrical gadgets where fans & cooking utensils are sold because the desire for Ghanaians to purchase local movies have been replaced with the love of telenovelas adding that at evenings or leisure times, when Ghanaians used to watch their favourite local movies have now become moments for telenovelas which creates no employment.

In a way to curb the situation, Prince has suggested that “TV stations should go into partnership with actors and producers after they’d realize the content on board is superb. In America, Prison Break was produced by Fox TV station, Scandal was also produced by ABC TV. They are all into TV series & movies, even BBC does radio and TV drama. This is what keeps the station running. So when you get the actors & producers on board, they give you good content as each series or movies elapse, it will boost both employment & the television station together. So far as it is of high quality & the channel for pushing these foreign contents are diverted to ours, Ghanaians will definitely love it,” David said.

At the moment, Prince David Osei is in USA doing a couple of production in Hollywood as well as some TV commercials, documentaries & drama.