Ghanaian filmmaker, Socrate Safo has called on the National Film Authority (NFA) to license the players in the movie industry to enhance its growth.
According to him, the lack of legal regulation in the movie industry is one of the factors hindering the progress of filmmakers in the country.
The veteran filmmaker asserted that licensing players in the industry would help to eradicate the mess and deal with persons who flout regulations.
Speaking in an interview with Peace FM Entertainment Review on September 16, 2023, Socrate Sarfo entreated the National Film Authority (NFA) to ensure that licensing and channel of distribution are done properly to help producers and filmmakers in the movie industry.
“There are two major things NFA should have focused on since its inception, Licensing and channel of distribution. Licensing here means that players in the industry have to be licensed and it's part of the law. It's like drivers, if you don’t have a license, you can't drive. So if your license is taken from you after an arrest, it prevents you from driving.
“Now if you have the license and you’re not following the laid down procedures, your license can be withdrawn and that will compel everybody to go by the rules. So the channel of distribution will make the investor recoup whatever investment he made,” he indicated.
The filmmaker expressed his disappointment in the NFA for not being proactive enough in terms of delivering its mandate, especially in the area of regulating the legal aspect of the movie industry.
“The industry [movie] has a challenge which is why NFA was instituted. It was meant to solve the problems. the industry has four legs. The first one is talent which we have here. The second is equipment, we have all sorts of logistics. The funding, I can tell you is not a problem in the industry. What we don’t have that is bringing the industry to its knees is the legal aspect that will govern all the activities of the industry.
“Because the work grows on its own. most of us made several mistakes because there was no orientation in the industry. After correcting our mistakes the industry started growing and then greed set in. We know what brought the industry to its knees that’s why an institution was established to regulate the legal aspect,” said Socrate Safo.
He further mentioned that, “Previously we were contacting private investors to fund movies and people were chasing us with money. Today do we cry for money? No, because if the channel of distribution is fixed, people will chase producers with money because investors want to recoup their money. When we fix these two things will change.”
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