Seasoned actress
Kunickaa Sadanand, who returned to television last year with controversial reality show,
Bigg Boss 19, spoke about the issue of delayed payments for new TV actors.
Speaking exclusively to IANS, the 'Bigg Boss 19' contestant revealed that the issue has been going on ever since the boom in the television industry. Kunickaa also mentioned that payments are often delayed by 45 to 90 days.
Explaining the reason behind the delay, she said payments get delayed because the money first comes from advertisers to the channels, and then goes to the producers.
She told IANS, “Such issues have been going on for many years. Since the boom in the television industry, payments to producers have often been delayed by 45–90 days by channels. Channels themselves receive advertising payments late. This is because it is a corporate system. Bringing change in this structure is a bit difficult. The money first comes from advertisers to the channels, then from channels to producers, so delays naturally occur in the process...”
Kunickaa then went on to suggest a solution, saying, "So the artist should negotiate their fees a little higher than what they believe they should be getting. However, there is an issue with that as well, as if you ask for even Rs 5OO more, they will take another artist."
She added, "But there should be a buffer system in everyone's life, which is not possible all the time. So this is a very serious problem. Big production houses such as Balaji have massive amounts in reserve, so we can expect them to make payment on time."
However, this isn’t the first time someone from the TV industry has spoken about payment delays. Earlier,
Varun Badola and Arjun Bijlani had also raised the issue.
Watch
Archana Puran Singh exposes film set reality; long work shifts spark outrage