October 07, (THEWILL) – Filmmaker and actor Saidi Balogun has revealed how he lost about N24 million to piracy in 2011. Movie piracy involves the illegal distribution of films without the permission or license of the content creators. The Oyo-born actor disclosed that he invested the money in his movie ‘You or I’ but earned only N800,000 due to piracy. The 57-year-old said: “Then I was in Germany, and I did this movie ‘You or I’ with all Caucasian actors, spending more than N24 million. The movie got pirated. I received a call very early in the morning, and when I called back, nobody was talking. So, I flew back to Nigeria the following day and went straight to our house on Lagos Island, where I saw the pirated copy.
“That movie was supposed to be released in a week or two, but it had flooded everywhere. I lost a lot of money— a lot. Can you imagine producing a movie worth N24 million in 2011 and losing everything? The highest amount I made was N800k. My mummy kept telling me I should keep doing it so that I would get there. For a week, she was always beside me.
“I had plans for the money. I could do many things and achieve my dreams and visions, but it didn’t happen. I was the first to produce a two-cast movie in the history of Africa, but it was pirated and not well-marketed. Then ‘You or I’ faced the same fate, and I was like, what is going on? Those were the most difficult times I can ever remember. I can never forget them—so many difficult times.
“In 2016, before my 50th birthday, I had no house, nothing. After losing N24 million on the movie, I had no house because I had to pay my rent from the return on the investment. I made N800k in four months. Meanwhile, I owed a company 2 million, so I had nothing—no house, everything was empty.”
