How actors are making money to fund films

Film director/producer Specioza Mariam Nansudde has expressed worry about the big budget for her project titled On My Wedding Day.

Under her company, Blue Sky, Nansudde, real name Specific Maria, has so far produced six successful film projects.

“Blue Sky has been in existence since 2019. And in that period, I have  released some good work, with my first film being House Girl. Since it was my  first film, I faced a lot of challenges due to lack of experience and financial constraints. Fellow producers and directors helped me to gain experience and overcome the weaknesses. The consequent films were not a challenge since I already had enough experience on how to make a successful films,” she said.

Specific Maria said On My Wedding Day is about love as it was in the days of old.

“Today’s love is about money. If you do not have money, you cannot get love. I want to take viewers back to how Uganda used to look like in 1940s and 1950s and how people used to  relate with each other,” she said.

Specific Maria noted that the film needs an investment of sh143m, which she doesn’t have. 

“We often put in a lot of money and time in films and in return, we get little or nothing at all. Some people make promises of sponsoring our films, but they do not fulfil their promises as per contract.  Others think that local films are cheap, which is a wrong assumption. Regardless, we produce films out of passion,” she said.

Specific Maria, however, revealed that some corporate companies have come on board and are ready to support her. 

Nansudde advised Ugandans to support local content..

We later talked to Richard Mulindwa, the director of Limit Production, who has been nominated for several local and international awards for quality content, to find out where gets the money he invests in movies.

“I also started like other film producers where I was struggling to get sponsorships from companies to help and finance the movies. Slowly, I started getting them. They would benefit by advertising their products in the film. However, the companies always limited me from using other products from a different sources. Later, I started writing proposals to companies to buy my content  before its produced. I do content according to the buyer’s interest. I am always paid first by some international televisions to make for them films on order. We use our films on YouTube, where we are paid and we sell them online where they are well paid,” Mulindwa said .

We asked some actors and actresses if these budgets talked about considered them. We managed to talk to Mr. Jinga the mute comedian and Suzan Kobusingye, both from Mbarara city.

“I am very interested in making local content. My goal is to make local content go international so that I get  international recognition. This will later turn into  money making, selling Uganda ‘s culture and norms. It will also attract tourists, which brings in revenue through taxation. Once given a role to act, we are always paid for the work. We do not feature in films for free,” Mr. Jinga said.

 Suzan Kobusingye, 21, said: “I have always dreamt about becoming a film star since childhood. I am inspired by Nigerian female actors who worked hard in their local languages and broke through to the international stage. They are well paid. My good looks and talent have made me get a lot of film deals. I am paid per time spent on set. I have a lot of deals, where companies pay me to make for them advertisements.”