The President, Mr. Steve Asare Hackman and the executives of the Film Producers Association of Ghana (FIPAG) have in a press release on Monday March 10 2014 indicated that as part of protecting the budding movie scene in Ghana reinforced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with its sister association from Nigeria in 2008.
In the said MOU, it was agreed between the Ghanaian producers, Nigerian Producers and the Actors’ Guilds from both countries, that in order to protect the interest of our citizens and their work, the following shall be the procedure and charges for any filmmaker who crosses boundaries to work in other’s country.
That:
1. Any non-Ghanaian producer, embarking on a production in Ghana and shall first pick a production permit form from any of the FIPAG offices (either in Accra or Kumasi), and pay a sum of $10,000 only (or its cedis equivalent). All these after s/he has been able to secure a Ghanaian working permit, before production would be allowed to commence.
2. Any non- Ghanaian actor, invited by a Ghanaian producer or coming in with a foreign producer shall also first seek a working permit, present an introduction letter from his/her country’s actors’ guild, and also pay a sum of $1,500, (or its cedis equivalent) to the FIPAG offices either in Kumasi or Accra.
The actor shall also present the work permit, introductory letter and receipt of payment from FIPAG, to the Ghana actors’ guild, to follow the procedure or directive of the Ghana Actors Guild before s/he shall commence work.
3. Any foreign film crew with the intention to work in Ghana, shall also pay $300 (or its cedis equivalent) each to FIPAG and $500 (or its cedis equivalent) each to the Ghana Crew Association, after securing work permit and presenting introduction letter from his or her countries crew associations.
4. Any Ghanaian producer, co-producing with a non-Ghanaian company or producer or vice versa, shall also pick a production permit form from FIPAG offices, presenting their evidence of work permit, and a sum of $ 5000 (or its cedis equivalent) to the office before work will be allowed to commence. The other foreign workers for the said production shall also follow the already enumerated procedure before starting work.
Such productions shall have more than 50% of crew being Ghanaians.
The association and its executives have however warned various stakeholders to adhere to the directives so as to prevent any confrontations with their task force and the Ghana police.
