By Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
Ghanaian actress and film producer Selassie Ibrahim has criticised local television stations for contributing to the decline of the movie industry by failing to properly value, promote, and purchase Ghanaian films.
She argued that many movies have become predictable, with viewers able to tell how they will end from the opening scenes, which undermines audience interest and repeat viewership.
Despite this, she maintained that Ghanaian filmmakers are capable of telling detailed, powerful stories but must improve script quality, production values, and narrative originality to meet modern audience expectations.
Speaking on the GTV’s Breakfast Show on Thursday, December 11, 2025, she lamented the structural challenges stifling the country’s movie industry, pointing to weak distribution, low output, and poor business structures as key reasons Ghanaian films struggle to compete with Nigerian productions and reach platforms like Netflix and YouTube. She insisted that despite her personal efforts and investments, the ecosystem in Ghana remains unprofitable compared to Nigeria, where the same content can attract millions of views within hours on YouTube.
Selassie Ibrahim also noted that Nigerian creators routinely secure one to three million views on YouTube within a few hours, while similar Ghanaian content struggles to gain traction unless it heavily features Nigerians to tap into their larger digital audience. She argued that this highlights a deeper distribution crisis rather than a lack of talent or stories in Ghana.
She stressed that without a strong and deliberate distribution channel, including digital platforms and broadcasters willing to push local content, Ghanaian producers will continue to invest in work that does not generate sustainable returns.
Detailing recent interventions, the filmmaker cited a collaboration between her award scheme, REFFA, and Rock Studios to identify and fund promising film scripts rooted in Ghanaian stories and contexts for production and airing on platforms such as DStv. According to her, the initiative will select a limited number of strong scripts and fully fund them, giving emerging writers and producers a pathway to professional exposure and continental distribution.
She emphasised that selected scripts must be well-written, locally grounded, and commercially viable, as the aim is to build content that can stand competitively beyond Ghana while still reflecting authentic Ghanaian experiences.
On funding, she acknowledged that several Ghanaian producers have compelling stories but lack the capital to execute them properly, often resulting in low-budget, haphazard productions that cannot compete regionally or globally. She welcomed the government’s move to allocate a film fund, describing it as a modest but important first step that must be backed by infrastructure, marketing support, and clear distribution pipelines.
Selassie Ibrahim recounted that in seeking Netflix distribution, she was told Ghana does not produce enough content, reinforcing the perception that the country’s output volume and consistency remain too low to justify broader platform deals.
“I was told to my face that we don’t have a lot of content in Ghana and that we haven’t subscribed to their platform,” she recounted.
Selassie Ibrahim insisted that with the right structures, Ghana could produce films capable of matching anything on Netflix.
Responding to criticism that she spends most of her time working in Nigeria, Selassie Ibrahim said living and working there does not make her Nigerian and that she has already contributed significantly to Ghana’s industry but must also treat her craft as a business. She explained that while she is passionate about Ghana, the financial realities mean she cannot operate as a charitable organisation.
