From Vioja Mahakamani to Daktari March 2018 | Page 31

after 6 months.” That statement was
not part of the contract at all.
Simply put, it is a feeble attempt to
buy time to plan on “what to do” to
get money to pay the artists, knowing
very well that whatever cash was
set aside to pay them was already
pocketed.
There have also been numerous
claims of production houses who
blatantly refuse to pay the actors
involved, and even go further to
mistreat background actors by not
providing lunch for them, grouping
them in makeshift unhealthy holding
areas. After a whole day of waiting,
the background actors, with empty
stomachs, are told after shooting
their scene, “We will call you for your
money”.
The main agency involved (name
withheld) in providing advertisement
tenders, and many casting agencies
and production teams make bids
for the advertisements from various
clientele, who remain clueless about
the truth behind models and actors
not being paid for their services.
And the bulk does not stop there.
There are practitioners in the arts
industry whose sole purpose is to
“eat”, as Michela Wrong put it in
the internationally acclaimed book,
“It’s Our Turn to Eat”. They wait for
the perfect opportunity to eat, then
disappear like ghosts.
These are just but many stories you will
hear about rogue individuals who prey
on your fear of being “blacklisted” to
take advantage of you. This cannot be
allowed to continue. Dreams cannot
be crushed simply because of greed
and corruption.
Many of us want to have a transparent
environment to earn our living. We
have a right to demand for that.
We have had enough of quacks using
threats like blacklisting you in the
entertainment sector when you are
simply asking for your right.
The #PaymodelsKE hashtag is part
of a larger conversation that we as
creatives in Kenya need to have. But
there are basics that we must agree
on, such as;
• Deposit before work is done/
advance payment.
• Duration of time before completion
of payment. (Paying people after 3
months is still ridiculous)
• Penalties for default in payment
schedules.
• All these stipulated in binding
contracts.
These are some brilliant ideas that
can bring sense to our entertainment
sector and tame rogue individuals
out to make a shilling out of people’s
talent, and name those taking
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advantage of artists, having their
licenses suspended.
Kenyan artists are welcome to
talk about setting other support
industry standards like minimum pay
acceptable, ganging up and refusing
to settle for less that someone else
has rejected, knowing your worth
and working with your rate card,
learning to say no and walking away,
demanding better remuneration from
some of our clients whose accountants
are always out in diaspora when
your cheque needs to be signed,
understanding the legal frameworks,
learning how to bill properly, among
other nitty-gritty issues on how to
avoid being conned.
And come to think about it, there are
those creatives who cross over to the
other side of becoming corporate
clients and behaving as more badly as
they were treated, and so on.
This theft in the art sector should die a
natural death.
- The writer is a Kenyan actor &
commercial model