Roselyn Ngissah
Actress Roselyn Ngissah has called on management of Ghanaian TV stations to start producing their own local series.
The actress said this would help augment the lack of local content on TV screens and also assist the country’s struggling movie industry, since the current state of the industry is also affecting actors.
“TV stations, instead of using their money to buy whatever foreign content, can produce their own series and movies. It will even be competitive and it will give us a lot of jobs as artistes,” she told NEWS-ONE in interview at the press screening of an upcoming movie titled ‘Adam The Eve’ at La Beach Hotel in Accra.
Roselyn believes that one of the major reasons the movie industry is stagnant is due to lack of distribution (marketing) networks for movies in Ghana.
The next factor, she added, is the influx of foreign contents on Ghanaian TV platforms.
“I think we should concentrate on the mode of distribution-marketing. I think that is the major problem aside the influx of foreign content on our TV stations. I think it should be balanced. It shouldn’t be the 80 percent foreign content and 20 percent local content we have been seeing. If we have 70 percent Ghanaian content then we will have lots and lots of productions springing up. Then there will also be competition because TV stations won’t just go for just anything and then where there is competition, the best of the product comes out. Even the TV stations instead of using their money to buy whatever foreign content can produce their own series and movies. It will even be competitive and it will give us a lot of jobs as artistes,” she reiterated.
Roselyn’s call comes at a time when TV operators have been showing foreign content at prime time and defending it. Some of them claim they show foreign content because the local contents are not of good quality. Others claim the public love the foreign content.
But Roselyn thinks it is high time they applied all methods to protect the country’s culture, and that includes TV stations themselves producing as it is done in other jurisdictions.
“I know African Magic on Dstv produce their own series and their own movies for their own station,” she added.
Roselyn is playing the role of marriage counsellor in the upcoming ‘Adam The Eve’ comedy movie by Timehouse Production. The movie which will be premiered in Accra on September 1 at the Silverbird Cinemas and subsequently in Kumasi and London stars other award-winning cast such as Majid Michelle, Ingrid Alabi, Peter Ritchie and a host others.
By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: fdee500@yahoo.com)