FIPAG warns film producers
The Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) has issued a stern warning to local movie producers to desist from duplicating their own movies.
The practice, according to the association, involves some local film makers making copies with inappropriate printing equipment , thus resulting in inferior quality VCDs and DVDs. This has been going on since the beginning of this year and is one of the factors negatively affecting the movie industry.
Speaking to Showbiz in an interview last week, the General Secretary of FIPAG, Ankrah Rukiyatu Seidu said certain particular production houses are guilty of the practice.
She said the movie production houses indulged in the practice are not only causing dwindling sales of movies but also killing the movie industry.
According to her, it will do the producers a lot of good if they put a stop to duplicating their own movies since FIPAG is meeting soon to take drastic measures on the issue.
“We as at now don’t make enough money from the movie business and this is worsening the situation. I want to say with authority that any movie producer who duplicates his or her own movie is a thief because once they are able to handle their own products, there is a hundred per cent chance that they can duplicate other people’s movies too,” she stated.
Asked the way forward, Rukiyatu who claims only three companies in Ghana, namely SKD, Accra Sounds and ARM have the right to duplicate movies, said her outfit has asked retailers not to purchase any movies that have been duplicated by movie producers. She cited an example of consumers complaining of poor picture quality
She added that some of the consumers had to bring back their CDs for refund because their DVD and VCD machines could did not pick the CDs and DVDs.
Rukiyatu advised consumers to buy original copies of works which have white surfaces instead of the badly duplicated ones which usually have red, green and blue surfaces.
When Showbiz contacted Double D, one of the production houses that duplicate their own films, the CEO admitted engaging in the practice and said he did not see anything wrong with duplicating his own movies.
“ I started making copies of my own movies because the main three companies that have the requisite equipment: SKD, Accra Sounds and ARM, are always coming up with stories of machine break-down or no power for the machines to duplicate the movies,” he said.
