Posts by Jonathan King
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Its game over. AE have got nothing left to fight with now.
I have actually come to the conclusion that their current strategy is have The Hobbit go elsewhere to Show How Serious They Are.
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“Nothing in the Act prohibits us from having some meaningful engagement with the producers ..."
So what is prohibiting you from engagement "with the producers" then? Not returning SPADA's calls for one ...
The Union accepts that these could only be recommended prices - nothing more.
HANG ON! Wasn't the 'problem' that the Pink Book was only a recommendation, and they wanted something that could be 'enforced'. If we're back to recommendations, then what is wrong with the Pink Book framework?
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Nor was the fact that the National-led Government, by refusing to lift the level of state support for New Zealand's film and television industry to match that of the Czech Republic's or Serbia's, was much more likely to drive The Hobbit's production offshore than Equity.
Remember folks: The Hobbit is looking for a home because there is a No Work order on NZ. Now, as the old joke goes, they're just negotiating the price.
Equity/MEAA are still stinging about the term 'bully'. Seriously, some new ones just entered my head this evening: terrorism; suicide bombers.
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Interesting post from a Wellington actor -- "one of the eleven naysayers" -- who was at the Wellington meeting:
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Unless something happened today, no, Spada's offer to talk remains unrequited.
Nothing happened today. Nada. Zip.
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I hear stonewalling from Equity has continued for a fourth day since SPADA said, OK, let's talk.
I agree, their only course of action left is to be the 'good guys' and call off the No Work order. Else they're sure as shit gonna be the bad guys.
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AFAIK there have been no discussions between MEAA and SPADA yet - so I suspect the actors' issues are far from resolved.
Surely as each day goes by, with the ticking clock on The Hobbit growing louder, Peter Jackson et al seen to be doing something to resolve it, people flocking to add their names to this petition ... the actors must be losing ground with their intransigence.
If nothing happens for a week and this thing goes pop -- the actors aren't walking away having won anything.
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Is it just me, or have the mainstream media got the 'Hobbit rights issues almost resolved' and 'Hobbit actors issue nearly resolved (or not)' completely mixed up with each other? Which means they keep saying "progress", "resolution close" when there may be with one but in fact no movement on another.
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Unless dozens of people including the crown law office telling them it's effectively illegal to do so has started to change their mind.
Heh. I thought this bit in the Screen Hub story was interesting:
As a US source close to the production said to Screen Hub last week, “Whose legal advice are the studios going to listen to – Equity's or the [NZ] government's? Are the producers really going to negotiate a collective deal with actors when your government is telling them it's illegal?”
Wherever and whenever the production goes ahead the producers will deal with government departments and agencies on all sorts of issues. In NZ, permission is required for overseas actors and crew to work here, permits are required for location shooting, tax and GST returns need to be filed.
When it's all over, the producers will want to collect their LBSPG cheque from the government for the 15% of qualifying local expenditure, not be embroiled in a court battle for breaking the law.
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Ah, now we're getting somewhere: they want Australia Day off.