Posts by Jonathan King
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Not even a modestly good one?
Nup. NZ Films in profit? Very, very few. Clue: Boy* = not even close.
*No disrespect to a terrific and astoundingly successful film! -
>Budgets are going DOWN. No two ways about it.
Its the potential massive return on the back end (if the film is any good, and of course populous film makers think their projects are worthy of massive acclaim) that will always suck people in.
I was talking about NZ films. Massive return on back end? Uh-uh.
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1 - budgets have to go up a bit to accommodate those demands. But less films get made.
Budgets are going DOWN. No two ways about it.
Going overseas is not "ALWAYS an option" for everyone: significant factors - like family for example - can constrain...
True, true. But, if the going gets tough enough...
Breaking in as a screenwriter "over there" is super, super hard. By my reckoning the number to have made it stands at: 1. Andrew Niccol.
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Minimum wage nothing, ANY wage would be a start ... At the end of the day though, domestic funding is minuscule ...
So why is that just 'the way it is' for one, crucial, sector of our film industry when, at the same time, another sector -- I dunno ... actors, say -- are taking militant action about being paid more, "raising wages and conditions" etc etc?
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All I do is sit in my (tax deductible) cosy room and type ... Admittedly, not terribly many of us get paid for doing so though...
Peter, there is a very interesting and pertinent conversation (that I've been thinking a lot about) to be had regarding film writers: when do they get anything like minimum wage, sick pay, holiday pay, job security, cancelation fees etc etc ... Let alone how writers in this country will make a living on their 2-3% of budget when budgets drop as they are to $1-3,000,000, let alone Escalator's $250k.
Or is it just "your choice" to be a writer?
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The conditions she worked in were the result of the nature of the work being done-no contract, collective or otherwise, could change the fact that flming in snow on the side of a remote mountain is cold, hard work ...
Thanks, Andre, your whole post was much like I was going to say. Filmmaking is NOT for everyone -- it can be physically VERY hard work, day after day and, as you say, no union improving 'conditions' is going to change that. And, I would point out, that (on a NZ film, at least) the boss -- i.e. the director -- is standing on the very same cold, windy, muddy hillside that everyone of the troops is. And before anyone shouts 'trailer' at me, I would offer that I didn't have one on either of the films I've made. Only the actors did.
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Clearly, you know nothing about the need to foster industry that provides high wage, high skill, jobs, and its the only way that this country is going to catch up with australia or win OECD pissing
You would be exactly right about that. But I know a lot about how NZ film will never be able to suddenly turn around and pay a lot more money or offer some fantasy world version of 'job security' you seem have in mind.
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people here, on Labour Day, of all days march in support of an industry that relies on low wages and job insecurity and against those who wish to challenge them.
Brendon, you clearly know nothing about the film business (if I hear you say 'queuing up at Jackson's backlot for work' one more time ...) so why don't you sit this conversation out?
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From AFTRA notice above:
... the international performer unions of FIA withdraw their respective member advisories prohibiting members from accepting employment on the theatrical motion picture "The Hobbit."
Robyn Malcolm on Close Up on Friday:
"We didn't threaten a boycott ... We sent a respectful letter, saying we would like to have a conversation with you ... There was no mention of banning people from the Hobbit."
I mean, really. Really?
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There's no way to spin this thing.
That message obviously hasn't got to Helen Kelly. From Q&A:
Helen Kelly: "I got involved in this dispute, and within a week, we had a process for settlement, and it's now fully resolved."
Riiiight ... So the actors have no more grievances to discuss, then? That'll free SPADA up ...