Leila Djansi
FILM PRODUCER Leila Djansi is urging her colleagues to widen their net when it comes to casting people for their content.
She said on Joy News’ Showbiz A-Z on Saturday that she always casts people from different countries and backgrounds in her film to give it the diversity it needs.
Some of these movies include ‘Sinking Sands’ which had the likes of Ama K Abeberese, Haitian-American actor Jimmy Jean-Louis and Nigeria’s Yemi Blaq and ‘Ties That Bind’ with cast like America’s Kimberly Elise, John Dumelo and Nigeria’s Omotola Jalade Ekeinde.
According to her, these films produced in the country might get a lot of attraction and huge number of audience to purchase if they have inclusive cast.
These numbers and audience, she explained, will help get the movies on streaming platforms like Netflix.
“Netflix deals with numbers, that is why it took interest in South Africa, India and Nigeria because of the numbers. They care about quantity and numbers, they want subscribers.”
“Maybe you guys want to be more inclusive in your casting to get the numbers,” she told George Quaye, host of the show.
Leila Djansi added that producers need distribution services to sell their movies, especially when the country has none.
“In America, I was supposed to shoot in April, for my film we have a distributor attached to the film and the very first thing they look at is a pre-sales agreement based on the cast.”
She stated that it is important for industry players to look at making films professionally.
-Myjoyonline