THE Ghana Actors Guild (GAG) in partnership with the Federation of International Actors (FIA) has held a two day seminar in Accra aimed at building the capacity of actors and performers in the film industry.
The seminar which was under the auspices of Equity UK, a Britain based Trade Union representing professional performers and other creative workers was sponsored by the European Union, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Cultural Initiatives Support Programme (CISP) with support from the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
It was on the theme “The Role of the Performer in National Development”.
Various speakers at the forum decried the absence of legislations to regulate and protect the sector.
Copyright Administrator, Mr Bernard Bosomprah who delivered a paper on the Copyright Law and its benefits to the performer regretted the inability of artistes to sign legally binding contracts with producers as well as people who engaged their services.
Renowned Film Producer and Chief Executive officer of TV Africa, Kwaw Ansah, who chaired the function, noted that the desperation on the part of most artistes to be seen on television has contributed to various forms of abuse including unfair remuneration.
“A majority of the new breed of actors get carried away by the opportunity of being on the screens and thus accept jobs in various menial forms”, Mr Ansah stated.
He cautioned the Actors Guild to ensure professionalism while adhering to the ethics of the job.
The Assistant General Secretary of Equity UK, Mr Martin Brown called for collaboration between the guild and the producer association.
According to him, the entertainment industry is the largest income generating sector across the world, however, disunity among stakeholders always result in policy makers not paying the needed attention to the sector.
Earlier in his welcoming address, President of the GAG, Nii Odoi Mensah, lamented the low quality of films being churned out in the country.
He made an appeal to stakeholders to take up responsibility to reclaim the country’s position as a pacesetter in the film industry across the continent.
Participants at the seminar commended the organisers for putting up such seminar aimed to perfect their skills in the profession.
Actress Selassie Ibrahim told the Daily Graphic that lessons from the seminar would be beneficial to her work and called on the association to vigorously pursue in-service training for members.
No comments:
Post a Comment