MOVIE producer and Chief Executive Officer of Paul Gee Productions, Paul Adjei, has warned against allowing the newly launched National Film Development Fund to become a reward scheme for Creatives aligned with the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC), cautioning that any such tendency would defeat the purpose of the initiative.
Adjei, aka Paul Gee, is, therefore, calling on the fund’s managers to uphold transparency, accountability, and fairness in its disbursements, insisting that priority must go to industry players genuinely active in film production, not to those who rely on political connections.
His comments come weeks after the National Film Authority (NFA) launched the National Film Development Fund, an initiative aimed at addressing the longstanding financial challenges facing Ghana’s film and audiovisual industry.
While welcoming the initiative, Paul Gee, speaking in an interview with Graphic Showbiz on Tuesday, June 2, expressed concern that the fund could end up benefiting only Creatives with close ties to those in government.
“The biggest challenge is that beneficiaries are likely to be individuals around those at the helm of affairs, and not trickle down to some of us who are actively producing films. I won’t be surprised if that happens because we’ve seen similar situations before,” he said.
According to him, successive governments have often been accused of giving opportunities to Creatives based on political affiliations rather than merit, a trend he believes must be avoided if the fund is to achieve its intended objectives.
He alleged a financial support package from the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration meant for filmmakers ended up in the hands of a single beneficiary.
“During the previous government, about GH¢400,000 was provided and one person hijacked the money. Till today, that person is using the money for film productions at the expense of the rest of us. If the money had been fairly distributed, more than 10 producers could have benefited,” he stated.
To prevent a repeat of such incidents, Paul Gee proposed that recognised industry associations be given a central role in administering the fund.
He suggested a model where groups of producers could jointly access financing, produce films and repay the funds after distribution and sales, allowing others to benefit subsequently.
“I think the various associations should take charge of the distribution process. The money can be deposited with a bank and producers who need support can access it with collateral. If you fail to repay, the bank recovers the money through the collateral provided,” he explained.
He argued that such a system would encourage responsibility among beneficiaries and prevent the perception that the facility is “government money” that does not need to be repaid.
Also, Paul Gee called for the creation of a dedicated digital platform to help filmmakers market and distribute projects financed through the fund.
“I suggest we create an app to help us sell our movies after production because what is the point of receiving money to produce a movie when there are no channels to recover the investment?” he queried.
The filmmaker also criticised what he described as inadequate stakeholder engagement before the launch of the fund.
He said many key industry associations under the Audio-Visual Rights Society of Ghana (ARSOG), including the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG), Actors Guild, Women Film Producers and Zongo Film Producers, were not sufficiently consulted.
“There are registered associations with Legislative Instruments backing their operations, so I find it difficult to understand why their executives were not broadly consulted. At the moment, there has been no official communication with ARSOG,” he said.
Paul Gee disclosed that stakeholders within the industry are expected to meet in the coming days to discuss the way forward and engage NFA on issues surrounding the implementation of the fund.
