Veteran Ghanaian actor Nii Saka Brown has opened up about what he believes are some of the practices that contributed to the decline of the Kumawood movie industry, criticising the lack of professionalism and overreliance on improvised dialogue whiles on set.
Speaking in an interview on Max TV, the seasoned actor recounted an experience from a movie shoot in Kumasi that left him surprised.
According to him, the producer arrived on set without a script and expected the actors to create most of the dialogue themselves.
Saka Brown explained that he was repeatedly asked to continue talking during scenes despite having exhausted what he felt was necessary for the character, adding that producers often encourage actors to engage in excessive conversations and unnecessary exchanges filled with insults.
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“I went to Kumasi to shoot. When I got there, the guy said, ‘Give us more dialogues.’ He didn’t bring a script, so it was all about adding more dialogue. I told him, ‘I’ve finished talking.’ They want you to insult people, talk and talk, just too much talking. Somebody even said you can leave a scene, go and take a bath, come back, and they’ll still be on the same scene,” Saka Brown stated.
The actor also raised concerns about the technical standards on some Kumawood productions.
He claimed that there were instances where movies were filmed using mobile phones, describing the practice as unprofessional and blaming industry leaders for failing to intervene when such standards became commonplace.
According to him, the industry’s leadership watched these practices continue without taking corrective action, which he believes contributed to the struggles currently facing Ghana’s movie industry.
“You go on a set, they’re using a phone to shoot a movie and I say that is unprofessional. But the people at the top sat down, watched them did all that and here we are,” he noted.
Saka Brown further argued that filmmakers have gradually lost sight of the very audience they are creating content for.
He stressed that many ordinary Ghanaians, particularly traders and market women, turn to movies for relaxation after a long day and deserve meaningful, entertaining and educational content instead of productions dominated by insults and unnecessary dialogue.
“We forget about the consumers, we forgot about the people we are doing the thing for,” he added.
AK/EB
