Henrietta Mbawah Against Collins Archie Pearce

DISCLAIMER: Kindly note that imageSALONE is just a medium whereby the parties involved herein can pass on their voices. Therefore, we are not the judges of whatever transpired but present to you the voices of all involved thereby leaving you our audience to be the judges. Note that all messages are unaltered, therefore you’ll experience some typo errors.

Both Henrietta Mbawah aka Etta and Collins Archie-Pearce are very big filmmakers in the Sierra Leone movie industry scene. The two used to collaborate before this time. Recently, they were involved in a project which was produced by Collins. A few days after the set, Etta busted out on Facebook and made comments about her payment, that Collins have to pay her the remaining sum of the $1,900 they arranged for.

Her post on Facebook enticed bloggers to start writing and probing about what went wrong. imageSALONE reached out to the producer who agreed to speak to us. According to Collins, he said they did not have such an agreement.

Collins Archie Pearce’s statement to imageSALONE

”Yes. I contacted Etta to act for me on my movie UNPREDICTABLE ENEMY. In fact, I frankly told all the actors that were involved that I would not pay any of them more than $200. The only person that could not agree was Desmond B. Finney because he was not comfortable with the price and he had to put forward very mature excuses. I and Etta bargained on phone and she agreed to be paid the $200. I have already paid her %50 of the said amount.

Etta signed a nondisclosure contract and the actor’s agreement. The nondisclosure agreement means she has no right to post any footage from my film without my consent. She went ahead and posted footage of my movie with the voice on them, especially from the court scene. When you watch her Facebook post you can hear all that the actors say.

The Facebook page link is here.

The court scene depicts the storyline of my movie and I did not give her the consent to do so. Everyone that posted anything related to the film would either mute the voice-over or put music over it so that people cannot tell what the actors say. I reached out to her and requested that she should put it down. ”

WhatsApp messages –

1 Message – Collins:

Good afternoon Etta.

I’ve just realised that you’ve posted videos of various scenes of my films with audio on your Facebook story without my permission/consent. Furthermore, you previously posted videos of part of the court scene with audio on your Facebook timeline (with over 200 shares on various groups), thereby leaking out part of the film to the public.

This has constituted a breach of the Non-disclosure agreement which you read and signed.

I will advise you strongly to seek legal advice with regards to your action/ breaches and the repercussions.

Can I request that you take them down with immediate effect, please?

Regards,

Collins Archie-Pearce”

2. Message – Etta:

”Don’t know why you have to send me this seriously don’t think there was anything wrong with it and by the if even if you find it offensive I don’t think this is the right way to go with it as if you and I are enemies too bad you always end your relationship with people in a bad way.”

3. Message – Collins:

Seriously?

You published scenes of my film with the audio of the scenes and to make matters worse, you even published the court scene letting everyone know what happened in the film and also the ending of the film and you see nothing wrong with that?

No one would post footages of my film with audio of the storyline without facing the consequences of their actions.

Any post of my film or behind the scene would be still pictures or music playing to cover the dialogue if it’s a video. For your information, if I choose to post any video material of my film with audio, I would have deleted all the sections that would give out my storyline away.

Please be informed that because you have blatantly defied my request to take them down, I would be taking the next step in accordance with the law.

As from now on, I wouldn’t be responding to any of your messages and I might be forwarding any message that I deemed to be necessary as evidence to my lawyer.

Bye.”

3. Message -Etta

”You need to come out clean and just say what you have against me because your message sounds like it’s coming from an enemy man you and other people have been posting short videos of the movie and no one not even you have condemned it so why all this pls am not putting it down.”

End of WhatsApp msg…

…continues Collins to imageSALONE:

”Etta is luckily I have paid have %50 of the agreed amount. I wanted to take her to court for posting the footage of my film but my wife spoke to me that I should let it go. I’m going to let the footage issue go but if I present my film to Nextflix and Netflix rejects it, I’m going to take Etta to court. She agreed to be paid $200 and decided to use her own costumes. The only person that asked for costumes was Ramadan because he complained that the costumes I went with from the UK were very big in size for him and therefore I had to give him money so he could get himself costumes. Etta misbehaved on my set causing me to change my production manager. She had confrontations with almost everyone on set. She was almost always complaining about everything. All catering services were supposed to be done by my production manager. All of a sudden, Etta brought someone to cater. Apart from our previous arrangement, she asked me for an extra Le 80,000 for transportation costs. I had to pay the said amount the following day. She also went ahead complaining about late food on set went she was the one that arranged with the caterer.”

”This is a screenshot of the agreed payments of all actors on the film project which was sent to the Production Manager on 30th April 2022 (a week after the start of the production).
This reveals that Etta’s payment for her services is $200 (not $2,000 as alleged). That’s the beauty of WhatApp, as it shows both the date and time when a post is being sent to a recipient.
I repeat, no actor was paid more than the 3 million leones. How could Etta get paid over 20 million leones?
In one of her voice notes, she mentioned that the amount she normally charges for such a role is 10 million, how then can we agree to pay her twice the usual amount she charges and over 300,000 on top? Even a child can deduce that she was trying to extort money from me which is a crime.”

”Etta breached the actor’s agreement thereby not completing her scenes. She was allocated over sixty scenes. She walked off my set leaving behind 10 scenes which I had to readjust and cut down some scenes just so my storyline could be maintained. Just because she asked her to put down all the footage she uploaded on her Facebook page, she rained heavy abusive language on me and my mother. Below is the footage of one of the major scenes that she posted”,

Etta left my set and we couldn’t shoot for seven days. I had to spend extra money on the camera fare. She cost me time and money. I am going to sue Etta in court if Netflix rejects my film because of the footage she posted on her Facebook page.”

Collings Archie-Pear ended. According to him, their arrangement over money was on the phone which Etta as well confirmed. We reached out to get Etta for an interview about what was going on. There are some things she confirmed.

We reached out to Henrietta Mbawah to hear her own side of the story. According to her, she was informed by Collins Archie-Pearce on the 22^nd of March 2022 via WhatsApp that she has been selected to act in ‘’ Unpredictable Enemies,’’

4. Message – Collins.

‘’Hi Etta and hope you’re doing fine.

Please be informed that I should be going to Sierra Leone in a few weeks’ time to shoot a blockbuster film, which I am aiming to sell the right to Netflix to be aired on their platform.

I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected as one of the cast members to feature in the film.

I have created a WhatsApp group with regard to the forthcoming film project…“Unpredictable Enemies”.

As you’ve been selected as part of the cast members, can you please join the group at your earliest convenience by clicking on the link below, as we’ll be doing all the project discussions via that medium?”

”That is his message,” she said. Before going further, she pulled out a huge script of 193 pages and showed it out.

Etta’s Statemet to imageSALONE

”Collins reached out to me that I should play the Diva role in his movie. I told him that I’m a Diva in real life, so roles as such are too easy for me. I need roles that are challenging. I asked him to give me a role that could take me out of my comfort zone. He told me about playing the lead female character. He explained that he had already told Christiana Kamara about the role. So, I told him that Christiana is a very close person to me and I wouldn’t want anything to come between us for the sake of your movie. He said no. I did not promise her that she would take this role. I agreed and asked him to send me the script which he promised to do later. Collins is supposed to pay me my remaining sum of $1900. We negotiated on the phone and he agreed to pay me $2,000.”

imageSALONE: How much was the actual price?

Etta: ”We negotiated for $2000. We agreed that he should pay me $200 during the shooting in order for me to get fuel for my vehicle to move around and pay the remaining $1800 after the shooting. I told him that I could not take less than Le10,000 for such a script. The $2,000 includes my payment and costumes. I had up to hundred scenes to shoot and the character I plaid is a reach person. I had to buy all the clothes I used. I accepted to take the first amount because he begged me that he had spent a lot of money to renovate his home in the UK. He even said his car also cost him a lot of money so he’ll pay me the remaining later”

imageSALONE: Did you sign any contract?

Etta: He did not provide any contract with the stipulated amount. I did not sign any contract that talked about money. Yes, I signed the actor’s agreement. But I actually did not pay attention to details. The contract was sent to the WhatsApp group later. Some guy by the name of Saquee picked it up that the contract only protected the executive producer but he downplayed the whole situation when I asked him about it. Unfortunately, I signed the agreement before ever the issue came up.”

ImageSALONE: Did you use abusive language on him and his mother?

Etta: ‘’Yes. I did. I did because he was the first person that called me a harlot and it is only a harlot’s child that knows who a harlot is. You cannot use abusive language on me a go scoot free. I did use bad language but he too did use worst languages on me and I could not hold back.’’

imageSALONE: Did you boycott his set?

Etta: ‘’I did not boycott. I was absent on set for two days because got sick and that was all because of the attitude of his production manager (second production manager). I’m a diabetic patient and I should go empty belly for too long. I was on an empty belly for almost the whole day. I came back home, only to get sores in my gum.

I fell ill. That day, I called one of his boys to come and see me. The boy met me on drip right in my bed. I recovered two days later. It was not deliberate but his actions on the phone even aggravated my mother. I had to ask for a video call. He saw me in bed on a drip and he had to apologise to my mother because my mother got very furious about his reaction. He thundered and shouted on the phone when I said I could not make it to the set because I was ill.’’

imageSALONE: Did you complain about things on set?

Etta: ”I complained about certain things that we not going right. He did not have a professional facial makeup artist on set. I only wanted to help the project to be done in a professional way because it was a big project. I got itches all over my face the first day I used their makeup. Everyone’s body reacts differently especially when it comes to beauty care. There are certain beauty products, like the one they brought disturbed my whole face. I could not go on set and get ill afterwards. That’s not what I signed for. I wanted the best for his project. I went ahead and used my own because the lady became so rude and the next day she just walked up to me that they should make up for me when I had already complained about the same products they were using. All the issues with his set started when he sacked the first production manager and brought in the second production manager. She would shout on people as if they were her kids. She would call off the shot amidst shooting. I even had to ask for a meeting but later told him that we should go on, that i just wanted to get done with his set and get my peace back”

imageSALONE: Did you force to bring your own caterer?

Etta: You can go ahead and ask Aluspa (Alusine Kamara). He said that he could not handle it because he was not used to caterers here and he resides far away in Bo. He asked me to provide a caterer.

imageSALONE: Did you ask for an extra Le 80,000 for transportation?

Etta: I asked him to pay Le 40,000 to and fro transportation and even as that, he started paying the second day. He said in the UK, they don’t pay transportation costs when they ask for delivery. I told him that in Sierra Leone, that’s the culture. You pay the transportation cost when you ask for delivery. Imagine he said he’d only provide 18 parks of food. I had to convince him to round it up to 18 parks because there were many of us on set. He decided to pay for the food per park. You don’t expect people to be on set on empty belly. I spent my personal money up to Le 600,00, just so people on set could feel good. I helped him to negotiate for lodging, supported him to get free ride from Lungi sea coach. Because of me, he and Ken Erics travelled via first class flight. How can I cheat or extort him, as he claims.”

imageSALONE: Did you quarrel with anybody on set or any team member?

Etta: ”The only person I can remember being confronted with was the lady who played the Diva role. She was shouting while the shoot was on and I couldn’t stand to see her disrupt the set. Collins is a liar. His production manager had issues with almost everybody, especially because I had to raise flay on some issues that were not going on right. It all started when the production manager deleted the director of the movie from the WhatsApp group. People became mad at her attitude. The production manager is like a helper to every member on set but this lady did not know her role. To say I quarrelled with people on set, you can ask other casts, the director, and even the crewmen.”

imageSALONE: Did you post the footage of the movie?

Etta: ”Yes. I posted the footage he sent to me himself. He asked me to promote the movie. The only behind the scenes that I posted were from the court scene. I was not the only one that had posted behind the scenes footage but why is it that he never complained about anybody else but me? He acted to me as if we were enemies.”

”He sent all this footage to me and ask that I should promote the movie. If he had asked me in a very polite way, I would have deleted everything but he sounded so rude to me.”

imagesSALONE: We noticed you have deleted your first post on Facebook about this issue.

Etta: ”I did not delete it. I only archived it. I will release it if he fails to pay me my money. And if he releases the film without paying me, I will take him to court.”

imageSALONE: Did leave scenes that you did not shoot?

Etta: ”Yes. But that was not deliberate. They would usually invite me to go on set a day ahead of any time I had would have to go on set. There came a time when they did not call me and I didn’t border to reach out either based on the manner and attitude that the production manager used to put up. How can you have a production manager that doesn’t know her role? She could behave in any kind of way without anybody telling her the fact on her face. I decided to shoot.”

OUR COMMENT/OBSERVATION

We reached out to Aluspa and he confirmed that he was the one that ask Etta to provide a caterer. He also confirmed that Etta complained about the makeup. However, Aluspa had to drop off after the first day of shooting and return to Bo. Also, we have got voice note evidence where both parties used very awkward language against each other but we cannot post any here because of our policy. The director’s voice note confirms a meeting that Etta requested because of the happenings on set. Please leave your comment so we can hear your take.