A movie and music producer, Joe Atu, has attributed the decline in the production of Nollywood movies to the paucity of funds.

Mr Atu, also known as Smash Beatz, disclosed this in an interview in Enugu on Saturday. He said it costs millions to shoot and produce a quality film.

He said that actors and actresses, who used to collect N500,000, now triple their payment.

He further said that the cost of renting and hiring houses, cars, costumes and other items for a movie, including welfare and money paid to crew members, had increased.

Mr Atu, who also specialised in creating background songs for movies, also said that the video quality of any movie depended on the budget mapped out for it.

“When you use good cameras and crews, you produce quality movies, but you cannot put in little money and expect super outcome. For you to get good lighting, engineers, editors and others, you pay heavily,” Mr Atu explained.

He, however, argued that Nollywood had been making good films lately despite the challenges in the industry.

According to him, Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya’s movie industries were also shooting good movies to give Nigeria serious competition in African movies.

“It is no longer only about Nigerian movies as it were in the past. The movie industry in Africa has grown. Other countries now shoot quality and interesting movies,” Mr Atu said. 

(NAN)