Talent manager and media entrepreneur Toyosi Etim-Effiong has urged Nollywood actors to explore film profit-sharing agreements as a way to earn additional income beyond their initial acting fees.
Etim-Effiong said professionally negotiated deals could allow actors to receive extra payments when their films perform well commercially, creating more opportunities for sustainable earnings in Nigeria’s film industry.
She made the remarks during an interview with PUNCH Online after a session on the Creative Economy Stage at Moonshot 2026 by TechCabal in Lagos on Thursday.
The session, titled ‘Africa’s Creative Economy: The Numbers and the Next Bet’, brought together discussions on the business opportunities and challenges facing Africa’s creative sector.
Toyosi Etim-Effiong Advocates Profit-Sharing Deals for Nollywood Actors
The founder and Chief Executive Officer of That Good Media explained that some industry professionals were already negotiating agreements that could earn actors additional payments based on a film’s commercial performance.
However, she noted that such arrangements were not yet widespread in Nollywood and called for them to become a more regular feature of the industry.
“It is a proper and a solid manager that will negotiate back-end deals for films, such that, okay, if a film makes over a billion naira in the market, I get X amount extra on top of what I’ve been paid,” she said.
Etim-Effiong added that although a few people were already adopting the practice, the industry needed to make such agreements more commonplace.
Profit-sharing arrangements can provide actors with an opportunity to benefit financially from a film’s success, depending on the terms of their contracts and how revenue is calculated.
Such agreements could also encourage more detailed negotiations between actors, talent managers, producers and other stakeholders over how earnings are distributed.
Nollywood Can Learn From Nigeria’s Music Industry
Etim-Effiong compared the potential development of film profit-sharing arrangements with the growth of royalty structures in Nigeria’s music industry.
According to her, the music industry did not always have the systems that enable artists to earn royalties from their work. She said individuals who pushed for more standardised practices helped create opportunities for musicians to receive additional income.
“The music industry wasn’t always like this. It was people who took it upon themselves to make a proper global standardised industry from this music industry that now got singers to start getting royalties,” she said.
Her comments highlighted the need for Nollywood to develop stronger commercial structures that enable actors to benefit from the financial performance and continued exploitation of their work.
While acting fees remain an important source of income for performers, negotiated profit-sharing or other performance-based arrangements could provide additional earning opportunities where the terms are clearly defined and enforceable.
Talent Managers Play Key Role in Building Sustainable Careers
The media entrepreneur also stressed the importance of professional talent management in helping actors, musicians, cinematographers and other creatives turn their skills into sustainable businesses.
She observed that considerable attention had been devoted to training creative professionals, but less emphasis had been placed on developing the managers and other industry professionals responsible for negotiating commercial opportunities on their behalf.
“We have so many talents, we’ve paid so much attention in training the actors and the singers and the videographers and cinematographers, but nobody is training the professionals who will convert what they are doing to actual money,” she said.
According to Etim-Effiong, effective talent managers can help creatives identify career opportunities, negotiate favourable agreements, secure professional representation and develop long-term business strategies.
She argued that strengthening the talent management ecosystem would help ensure that the skills and creativity of Nigerian entertainers translate into more sustainable financial returns.
Etim-Effiong is also the founder and director of TGM Academy, an institution dedicated to training talent managers.
She said the goal was to ensure that actors, singers, content creators and other creative professionals across Nigeria had representatives capable of helping them build sustainable careers.
“We want actors, singers, creators, creatives all across Nigeria to have people who represent them and people who are able to create sustainable careers from their creativity,” she said.
Etim-Effiong Advises Talent Managers to Limit Their Rosters
Beyond negotiating contracts, Etim-Effiong discussed the responsibilities and workload involved in managing creative careers.
She said one talent manager could represent both an actor and a musician, provided the manager had the capacity to meet the demands of each client.
However, she advised talent managers to handle no more than three talents at a time, depending on their workload and the individual needs of those they represent.
“When you take up a talent as a manager, it’s like you are working with a start-up. It’s like a business,” she said.
Her comments underscored the level of planning, coordination and commercial decision-making required to manage a creative professional effectively.
The approach, she suggested, should involve treating each talent’s career as a business that requires attention, strategic development and professional representation.
Moonshot 2026 Highlights Opportunities in Africa’s Creative Economy
The remarks were made at Moonshot 2026, an event organised by TechCabal that brought together stakeholders from Africa’s technology and creative industries.
The event provided a platform for discussions on innovation, investment and emerging business opportunities across the continent.
Etim-Effiong’s comments added to ongoing conversations about the commercial development of Nigeria’s entertainment industry, particularly the need for better representation, stronger contract negotiations and more sustainable income opportunities for creatives.
As Nollywood continues to explore ways to strengthen its business structures, professionally negotiated profit-sharing arrangements could offer some actors an additional route to earnings beyond their upfront fees.
However, the effectiveness of such deals would depend on the specific contractual terms, the transparency of revenue reporting and the ability of talent managers to negotiate agreements that protect their clients’ interests.