Prominent Egyptian actress Elham Shahin has notified the three production companies that belong to the Egyptian Media Production Company that she has set three million Egyptian pounds (equivalent to 500 US dollars) as her wage for starring in any television drama and will not accept any amount less than that. The head of the production considered the amount set by the actress as an obstacle that will lessen the production of television dramas.
According to the Qatar based daily, Al Raya, Elham had demanded this wage when she was offered the leading role in the upcoming television drama “Raya and Iskeena”, but the media city refused her demand and so found a substitute. Production companies fear that other stars will begin to demand extremely high wages, which cannot be met.
Elham stressed that she will not abide by the previous salary scale and will not accept less than the 3 million for acting in a television drama. Elham stressed that she deserves such a high wage because of her great achievements in the acting world.
On a different note, despite the fact that Elham had reached an agreement with writer Majida Khair Allah to play the leading role in her new film “Reesh Na’am” “Ostrich’s Feathers”, she was in shock when she heard that Egyptian actress Yusra has been nominated for the leading role in the film. Elham, who had held extensive work sessions with Majida, could not understand why she was stripped of the role.
Elham revealed that a while back she had received the script for the film and she was very excited about playing the leading role, especially since she felt the role suited her. Elham began holding work sessions with the writer and the producer of the film and became anxious to begin shooting the scenes.
The shock came to Elham when the director, Khaled Yousef, suddenly nominated Yusra for the role stripping her of it for no apparent reason. Elham stressed she is not angry at Yusra, because the decision was not hers, adding that she is not willing to lose her friendship with Yusra over a role in a film.
