After moving from one production house to the other, one major problem that has come to realization is that film producers have difficulty in getting suitable locations to shoot movies but for some time now there have been three major locations that film producers mostly use in shooting.
In a chat with peter Ahiakpor who is popularly known as Don p, He told us that he loves African movies and after getting to know Abdul Salam Mumuni,Socrat safo and frank Rajah, he decided to start giving out his house to film producers to be used as location for their movies, but after many years, he is rethinking giving his house to them because the film makers don’t keep the place neat at all.
peter Ahiakpor is a financial engineer, a consultant for a number of African presidents, he owns a number of choice properties in the Ghanaian capital city and is also the owner of explosive Gardens restaurant located around Achimota Hills, He said he loves interior decoration so changes the decoration in his mansion at Achimota Hills and repaints it every three months, we got to know that it is difficult sometimes for some producers, after a scene has been shot in his house, to determine the specific place where that particular scenes was shot.
He also continued that he knows a time will come that the producers will lose the other two locations mentioned earlier because they do not take good care of the houses. “I always advise the movie makers that, anytime they move to people’s houses to shoot a scene, they should take a picture of how the place looks like, and make sure they leave the place with the same picture. I will say the producers are not neat. Just look at how they have messed up this place after shooting yesterday. So why do you think house owners will give their houses out to them? He asked.
As to the type of people he welcomes in his house Don p answered that for the producers he has stated that he is now rethinking giving out his house to them again, But for movie stars, he will not like to see Yvonne nelson in his house because she does not respect. “There are more she has done, but I won’t give any hint of that soon” he added. He also advised the film producers to get a place on their own to use in shooting their movies, as it is done in Hollywood.
In addition to all these, we also tried our best to move to hospitals around Spintex, Hotels, warehouses, and restaurants etc. which are used as locations where most of the film producers have used in shooting their movies. The response that came from the owners was that they are not giving them out any more, because whenever they give it out they regret it. One hospital supervisor said, apart from not being neat, they do not also work with time which delays a lot of activities.
In a separate interview with Socrat Safo, the P.R.O of film producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG), he said that it is not the film producers who are not neat but he will blame the crew members, especially production managers and location managers because they are in charge of the production and the location, they have to make sure they tidy up the place after using it.
He also added that he has received various complaints from Don P and he knows it will be a great harm to the industry if he takes that decision even though he reserves the right to do things that will make him happy.
Socrat Safo also responded that getting a place to shoot all their movies will not solve all the problems. “if we build one place and shoot all our movies, it will be a nice idea but it is the same movie fans who will complain that Ghanaian movies are becoming boring, I know Kwaw Ansah has built a personal location around trade fair and other producers are trying to do same but you know variety is also good” he said
Commenting on the site that was given to the film producers by William Akufo to be used to build locations for their movies, he noted that the producers have not paid much attention to his proposal because of some technical issues which will not be good for public consumption but that property is his personal property so if the condition is not good, why should they go in for it? He asked.
He also added that the industry attracting set designers will also help solve part of the problems but the issue is that the set designers always sit at home and criticize their movies. But when they are being asked to show their expertise, they hardly avail themselves. “Even in America, independent producers do not build studios. They use people’s estates” Don P is married to Ghanaian actress Soraya Mensah who gave birth to a baby girl last month.
