Yvonne Nelson
Yvonne Nelson has said producers who ganged up to ban her from acting in 2010 was the reason she went into movie production.
The Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) in 2010 handed out a one-year ban to the actress over a confusion which ensued on a Venus Movie Production’s set. She had reportedly refused to show up on set for a scene with Jackie Appiah, who she had previously waited for but also didn’t show up. Yvonne’s excuse was that she had to go to school.
FIPAG called on its members and non-members alike not to feature the actress in their movies. They allegedly even went ahead to get distributors and marketers to also enforce the ban directive.
Even though Yvonne said she was broken by that incident, she didn’t give up. She managed to turn her ‘lemons into lemonade’.
“In 2010, something happened on set when we were shooting and they banned me. Roger Quartey was the head of affairs in the ban, and I want to say thank you to Roger for that thing that happened because if that didn’t happen like I wouldn’t have started production. What they did broke me but it made me strong and I started production. I registered my company and started producing movies, now I have my movies on Netflix,” she said on UTV’s United Showbiz on Saturday.
She appeared on the show with five other celebrated actors like Majid Michel, Van Vicker, Jackie Appiah, Nadia Buari and John Dumelo, all of whom have been relevant in the movie industry for over a decade and still counting.
All the six actors accused Roger Quartey, who was a production manager at that time, of cheating and not treating them well.
John Dumelo recounted how he received GH¢500 for his role in ‘The King Is Mine’ and never got to enjoy the money. Roger, he revealed, took GH¢250 out of that money while director Frank Rajah also took GH¢200 and he was left with just GH¢50.
Majid and Vicker made similar claims but when they were asked the one good thing Roger has done to their careers, Yvonne said she thanks Roger for spearheading her ban.
Currently, she is recognised as one of Ghana’s award-winning producers. Over time, she has produced movies like ‘The Price’, ‘House Of Gold’, ‘Single & Married’, ‘Single Married & Complicated’, ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’, ‘Heels & Sneakers’, ‘Sin City’ and ‘Fix Us’.
Meanwhile, her colleague Jackie Appiah said she would like to focus on acting because going back behind the cameras to produce is very stressful.
“I don’t like stress. Producing is very stressful and I congratulate all those who produce. They have done well. I prefer to do just acting but I have other things I do on the side; my private stuff,” Jackie indicated.
By Francis Addo