Film distributors also held talks with Film Chamber committee to discuss core issues like revenue percentage, OTT window and production costs.
Published Aug 04, 2022 | 10:09 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 08, 2022 | 12:58 PM
MAA president Manchu Vishnu and Dil Raju during the talks held in Hyderabad over the ongoing crisis in Tollywood. (Twitter/iVishnuManchu)
The Active Telugu Film Producers’ Guild, on 3 August, held discussions with the Movie Artists Association (MAA) on the ongoing crisis in Tollywood. The meeting venue was held at producer Dil Raju’s office instead of Annapurna Seven Acres.
The guild has been holding talks with various associations after the shootings of all Telugu films were suspended with effect from 1 August.
During the meeting, MAA president Manchu Vishu proposed that mostly MAA members should be roped in for the upcoming Telugu films.
He suggested that outsiders (artists from other industries) should be inducted into MAA before signing them for a project.
He stressed the need to support local artists (character and junior) in every way possible and submitted the list of MAA members to Dil Raju.
Vishnu also assured necessary support from actors in finding workable solutions to the problems.
Started meeting our TFI producers on behalf of MAA, requesting them to hire mostly MAA members and also to encourage newcomers to become a part of the MAA family. pic.twitter.com/1AjvqU436J
— Vishnu Manchu (@iVishnuManchu) August 4, 2022
Both the MAA and guild discussed the remuneration of actors, expenses of personal assistants, increased cost of production, wastage during filmmaking, losses incurred in recent, wage issues of cine workers, etc.
Meanwhile, the guild formed sub-committees with four members to look into the OTT issues and 14 members to look into the cost of production and related problems.
The members of these sub-committees are learnt to have been holding talks with every actor in the Telugu film industry, in person, and seeking their support in resolving the crisis.
It may be noted here that the Telugu Film Producers’ Council already formed a committee with 33 members to discuss the existing problems in Tollywood.
MAA general secretary Raghu Babu, Jeevitha Rajasekhar and Shiva Balaji attended the talks on behalf of the actors.
Naga Vamsi (Sithara Entertainments), Naveen Yerneni (Mythri Movie Makers), Bapineedu, Mythri Ravi and Vivek Kuchibhotla represented the guild.
The Telugu film distributors met the Telugu Film Chamber committee in Hyderabad on 7 August to discuss the cost of production, wages of artists, OTT, VPF charges and revenue percentage.
On the occasion, they reportedly demanded for outright 100 per cent risk-free profits or 100 per cent recoverable advance (with 5-20 per cent commission). They also said “no” to non-recoverable advance (with 20 per cent commission).
The distributors will hold talks with the panel again on 16 August, as most of the core issues remained unresolved.
Anusree Satyanarayana, Bharath Chowdary, Hari and Veeri Naidu represented the distributors.
Meanwhile, at a press meet held on 4 August, Telugu Film Producers’ Council president C Kalyan said that they will find a solution to all the existing problems in 7-10 days.
Active Film Producer’s Guild president Dil Raju informed that four committees were formed to look into the issues of theatrical rent/sharing, employee wages, OTT window and cost-cutting optimisations.
