Filmmaker, Niyi Akinmolaywan, has given reasons why it is difficult for him and other filmmakers to work with new actors.
In a Twitter thread, Niyi opined that some of the new actors are more concerned about the aesthetics of their social media pages than using it to show their crafts.
His thread reads
”One of the reasons why it’s so hard to take risks with new actors is most of them forget why they do the work.U are refusing to post stuff about your work just because it won’t align with your Instagram aesthetics. And you are wondering why producers would go for Toyin Abraham
Not even talking about marketing a film you are in. You are an actor who wants to be a star but there’s never any stuff of you at work. You don’t engage fans. You don’t share the work of your colleagues/producers so they can share yours too. (This is a strong social currency)
I can tell you for free…no one is hiring an actor just because they have a clean IG page with glowing filters. We want to know how many people engage with you. We want to know if that engagement has anything to do with your craft. Also…this is how you get brands to notice you
Music people have shown you that the best way to get traction is to leverage on social media platforms people already use. Most songs blow up on tiktok before people buy the albums. Our audience don’t reward the hermit artist. Be out there when you need to be. Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have time to hibernate. You must always. But you have to let producers believe you are ready to be the next Funke Akindele, Toyin, RMD. Some of u think u don’t need this cos u are gunning for international lol.
Look at squid game for example All the stars there were already famous stars in their country. The creators didn’t look for hidden people just because they wanted to dump it in a platform. They needed the noise to start from Korea so the world can feel it. Without Nigerians loving afrobeat…it wouldn’t travel”
