Abel Mutua and Phil Rethink Actor Royalties as Streaming Reshapes Kenya’s Film Industry

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenyan filmmakers Abel Mutua and Philip Karanja, popularly known as Phil Director, are rethinking how actors are paid as the changing economics of streaming and digital entertainment put pressure on traditional royalty models.

The conversation has put their production company, Phil-It Productions, at the centre of a wider debate about how Kenyan actors and other creatives can earn sustainable incomes from their work.

Karanja, who co-owns Phil-It Productions with Mutua, says the company has historically tried to do things differently by paying actors royalties. However, he now believes the model may not remain financially sustainable as the way films are distributed continues to change.

The revelation is significant because some actors have previously pointed to Phil-It as an example of a local production company that successfully implemented royalty payments.

Actress Nyokabi Gethaiga, for instance, said she received royalty cheques from Phil-It after working on A Grand Little Lie. She described the experience as proof that it was possible for Kenyan productions to share subsequent earnings with actors.

But Karanja argues that the business environment that once made residual payments possible is changing rapidly.

Why Phil says royalties are becoming difficult

According to Karanja, the traditional film business allowed a production to generate revenue repeatedly through different distribution channels.

A film could first be shown in cinemas, then sold on DVDs, licensed to television stations and eventually distributed to other territories.

Each new platform created another opportunity for revenue and, consequently, another basis for residual payments to actors.

Streaming has changed that model.

Karanja explained that when a film is licensed to a global streaming platform, it can become available to audiences around the world through a single deal, reducing the number of separate revenue streams that previously supported royalties.

YouTube has added another complication because viewers can access vast amounts of content for free, making it harder for producers to build a predictable residual-income system.

For Phil-It, that means the company has to reconsider how it structures payments to actors while trying to remain commercially viable.

From actors to producers

The issue is particularly personal for Mutua and Karanja because the two started their careers as actors.

The pair became household names through Tahidi High, where Mutua played Freddie while Karanja was also part of the cast. They later moved behind the scenes and established Phil-It Productions, building careers as writers, directors and producers.

Their experience as actors influenced how they approached their own production company.

Karanja has said that because he and Mutua understood the challenges facing performers, they wanted to create a better system for creatives working on their productions.

That philosophy helped Phil-It develop a reputation for experimenting with alternative ways of financing and distributing Kenyan films.

Their own struggle with the business

The pair's success did not come easily.

After establishing Phil-It, Mutua and Karanja spent years pitching projects to broadcasters while financing pilot productions from their own pockets.

Some pilots cost between KSh300,000 and KSh500,000, with several failing to secure broadcasting deals. Their early struggles left them facing significant financial losses before they eventually found a more sustainable business model.

Their breakthrough eventually came through projects such as Sue Na Jonnie, A Grand Little Lie and Click Click Bang.

The duo also embraced direct distribution, reducing their reliance on traditional broadcasters and allowing them to connect directly with audiences.

A new question for Kenyan actors

The debate over royalties now raises a difficult question for Kenya's creative industry: if residual payments are disappearing, how should actors be compensated when their work continues generating value?

Karanja's answer is that creatives should increasingly seek ownership of intellectual property rather than depending entirely on royalties.

That approach could fundamentally change the relationship between performers and production companies.

Instead of being paid only for appearing in a film, actors could potentially negotiate ownership, profit-sharing arrangements or other forms of participation in the intellectual property they help create.

But that requires a stronger understanding of contracts, copyright and intellectual-property rights among creatives.

Abel Mutua's changing entertainment empire

The royalty debate comes as Mutua continues to expand his influence beyond traditional film and television.

The former Tahidi High actor has become one of Kenya's most prominent digital storytellers through his YouTube channel, where he has built a large audience around storytelling formats including Young and Stupid and Headline Hitters.

In June 2026, Mutua crossed the one-million YouTube subscriber mark, earning the platform's Gold Creator Award milestone. His wife and manager, Judy Nyawira, celebrated the achievement, while Phil also reacted to his longtime friend's success.

The milestone demonstrates just how dramatically the entertainment business has shifted.

A filmmaker no longer necessarily needs a television network or traditional distributor to build a mass audience. Digital platforms can provide creators with direct access to millions of viewers.

However, the same platforms are also forcing creators to rethink how revenue is shared among the people involved in producing content.

A debate bigger than Phil-It

The discussion involving Mutua and Karanja is therefore bigger than one production company.

It reflects a global transformation in the entertainment industry, where streaming has disrupted the older system of theatrical releases, television syndication, physical sales and reruns.

For Kenyan actors, the challenge is how to ensure that they do not lose out as the industry moves towards new distribution models.

Phil-It's decision to rethink royalties could become an important case study for the local film industry.

The company has demonstrated that alternative models can work. But its current position also shows that even producers committed to sharing revenue with actors are confronting the economic realities of digital entertainment.

For Mutua and Phil, the next chapter may therefore not simply be about making more films.

It could be about answering a much bigger question: who owns the value created by Kenyan stories—and who gets paid when those stories continue finding audiences years after they are made?