Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Anatomy of a Shambles

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  • Geoff Lealand,

    Pfft, my auntie does that, and she lives in Hawera.

    Double Pfft. I was raised and educated in Hawera and bleach was never part of this. Peroxide was, however.

    Interesting parallel discussions here--rinsing dishes and The Hobbit. I wonder what the connection is.

    Screen & Media Studies, U… • Since Oct 2007 • 2562 posts Report Reply

  • Che Tibby,

    I've reduced fears about at least one thing here that could give us all the shits.

    i should stipulate that my reading didn't suggest any "cling to the wall to prevent lift-off" shits. just... more active.

    ben, let us know how you fair after eating three meals off crockery and cutlery still soaked in surfactants.

    but light on details, please.

    in real news, can't they just ditch the big names and make this with unknowns? the names in LOTR were actually pretty shitty. hugo weaving for example? great. big. w. t. f.

    the back of an envelope • Since Nov 2006 • 2042 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel,

    Painters and dockers...

    ...and it saddens me that those people who made those brilliant backdrop were paid less than the minimum wage

    I must have missed this fact, where and when did it come out that the LOTR backdrop painters were being paid less than minimum wage (was that around $12 an hour back then?).
    Can someone confirm this?
    Or is it just more hysterical allegations...
    ...this whole affair seems full of uncorroborated,
    but emotionally useful "facts"....

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • David Hood,

    here--rinsing dishes and The Hobbit. I wonder what the connection is.

    both have an unpleasant aftertaste.

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report Reply

  • andin,

    raglan • Since Mar 2007 • 1891 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    Well, well. Divide and rule, eh? A angry mob of technicians march on the union HQ. A bunch of self-centred and self-interested actors want to split from Actors Equity. Solidarity is clearly something that happened in Poland.

    Yes, I think it could be quite galling that all the solidarity is happening outside these particular unions, by people who seem to be able to organize themselves and are happy to do so. Kind of inverts the natural order.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    ben, let us know how you fair after eating three meals off crockery and cutlery still soaked in surfactants.

    I'll cut to the chase, and soak my toast in dishwashing liquid, because that's really just like what happens when I eat off a clean, dry plate.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Anyway, I'm tapped. Possibly a sink joke.

    Russell, although it wasn't so late, perhaps you meant "drained" rather than "tapped"? Followed by "Possibly a stink joke".

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Ben, can I ask - did you taste the dishwash before or after you tasted the spoon? (This has lots to do with hobbits, folks, so bear with me.)

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Someone in the household heard a woman who'd had an extra's role in LOTR (so a full-time actor, huh?) given several minutes on NatRad to extol her total devotion to Sir PJ, *who said "What right has that woman who has a full-time job in Outrageous Fortune to jeopardize, etc, etc....?"

    *(I'm unable to verify if it was indeed the same person)

    Last night, Mark Sainsbury asking for viewer (really well-informed, as above) feedback on the whole subject, via Facebook.

    Can we all please please calm down!

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Amy Gale,

    Double Pfft. I was raised and educated in Hawera and bleach was never part of this. Peroxide was, however.

    By my best guess, she was a year ahead of you at Hawera High School. Maybe they changed the cup-washing curriculum?

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report Reply

  • Tom Semmens,

    Tom, your habitual contempt for those who do not share your views has never been as evident as it is now.

    Contempt for those who don't share my views? Looked in a mirror lately? The dripping, politically correct sanctimony of PA is a standing joke outside your own little echo chamber.

    Sevilla, Espana • Since Nov 2006 • 2217 posts Report Reply

  • BenWilson,

    I tasted the spoon first, couldn't detect anything, then tasted a full spoon of the dishwash, noticed the bitter aftertaste about 10 seconds later, spat it out, rinsed my mouth out until the taste was gone, then tried the other spoon I'd washed without rinsing. Couldn't detect anything even vaguely similar to the spoonful of wash. It just tasted like spoon.

    Of course I don't usually thoroughly lick my cutlery and crockery before using them, so even if there was a taste I could attune myself to, in practice it would need to be separated out from large volumes of actual food or drink. I'm gonna go with Myth-Busted.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 10657 posts Report Reply

  • Jacqui Dunn,

    Ah, so you tasted a full spoon of dishwash? Arrggghhhhh! It's a wonder you could taste anything after that! Your taste buds would still be in shock.

    But thanks for doing it, so we didn't need to. (I'll still rinse my dishes though.)

    Deepest, darkest Avondale… • Since Jul 2010 • 585 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Contempt for those who don't share my views? Looked in a mirror lately? The dripping, politically correct sanctimony of PA is a standing joke outside your own little echo chamber.

    Well, I've seen your own sneering comments about the community here in various other places, if that's what you mean.

    But thanks for bearing out my point.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Someone in the household heard a woman who'd had an extra's role in LOTR (so a full-time actor, huh?) given several minutes on NatRad to extol her total devotion to Sir PJ

    It wasn't even LOTR. She's been a non-speaking extra on The Frighteners. Who thought she was a relevant voice?

    Although it's probable that most actors are inclined to keep their own counsel at the moment.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • David Hood,

    ...is a standing joke...

    “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

    Sounds like someone is moving from stage two to three. Victory is within sight.

    Dunedin • Since May 2007 • 1445 posts Report Reply

  • rodgerd,

    Someone in the household heard a woman who'd had an extra's role in LOTR (so a full-time actor, huh?) given several minutes on NatRad to extol her total devotion to Sir PJ, *who said "What right has that woman who has a full-time job in Outrageous Fortune to jeopardize, etc, etc....?"

    It's hardly unreasonable, if Russell's earlier comments about OF's pay rates are accurate, to ask whether someone pulling down the better part of a quarter million a year (from $48 million in taxpayer subsidies, and counting) is in any position to be throwing rocks at far less well-off technical staff for their concern at being thrown under the bus in a moronic shambles of a campaign where the only 'win' appears to be in the minds of people who want to punish Jackson for having the temerity to be wealthy and successful.

    (That Jackson, eh? What has he ever done for us! I mean, apart from the jobs, and the money, and the international recognition, and the tourism, and the skills development, what has Peter Jackson ever done for us, eh?)

    A angry mob of technicians march on the union HQ. A bunch of self-centred and self-interested actors want to split from Actors Equity

    Technicians who are being shafted by an Australian-run actors campaign. Perhaps the AE could try showing some solidarity with their film-making colleagues. And if Wellington film actors feel that a bunch of well-off Auckland TV actors are incompetant to represent their interests, I fail to see how that reflects poorly on them, rather than on the union.

    ACC is going to cover them if they get injured

    ACC covers contractors. It's hard to take anything else you say seriously, Brendon, when you don't even appear to understand some fairly fundamental points of self-employment in NZ.

    Its also telling that most who think PJ is being unreasonable or greedy dont actually hail from Wellington.

    Particularly given the different AE voting rules in Auckland and Wellington. It's rather tempting to draw the conclusion that a bunch of Auckland TV actors, who seem to be the face of AE, are happy to throw the Wellington film industry under the bus to make a point; that would probably impute a greater level of competance and organisation that they have, as Russell notes, shown to date, though.

    Also, given the length at which nudity was discussed by AE talking heads, alongside pay rates for international productions, I'm surprised action hasn't been taken against Sparticus. I'd love to see the question put to Ms Ward-Leland.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 512 posts Report Reply

  • philipmatthews,

    The "mexicans with cellphones" comments also angers me and is very outdated. The mexican film industry is extremely strong and I have worked with a number of highly skilled mexican film crew members. Guillermo del Toro is Mexican, as is Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

    Out of interest -- when was the last time one of the above directed a film shot in Mexico?

    Christchurch • Since Nov 2007 • 656 posts Report Reply

  • Alan Perrott,

    I hope Helen Kelly is able to release the email correspondance btwn the union and studio over the ban lifting notification very soon.

    someone is spinning greviously here.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 438 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    It's hardly unreasonable, if Russell's earlier comments about OF's pay rates are accurate,

    The $200,000 pa pay for the OF lead actors was cited in Star-Times story from last year, quoting industry sources. But no one seems to have said it's not true.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic,

    More from Pattrick Smellie...

    What am I missing about The Hobbit dispute? Every way I look at it, there seems to be a reasonable deal on the table for actors, has been for weeks, and the only thing stopping it getting made here is a global power struggle between international studios and the Anglo-Saxon world's actors' unions.

    The New Zealand film industry is a bit player in this, yet it could be the casualty.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Carol Stewart,

    It just seems to look worse and worse for NZAE. Warners are squarely blaming them:

    It was not until last night that we received confirmation of the retraction from SAG, NZ Equity and AFTRA through press reports," Ms McDonough said.

    While we have been attempting to receive an unconditional retraction of the improper 'Do Not Work Orders' for almost a month, NZ Equity/MEAA continued to demand, as a condition of the retractions, that we participate in union negotiations with the independent contractor performers, which negotiations are illegal in the opinion of the New Zealand Attorney General.

    "We have refused to do so, and will continue to refuse to do so."

    I thought John Campbell let Robyn M and Tandi Wright off the hook a bit easily last night - they kept saying that they were only trying to have a civilised discussion about terms and conditions and what was so unreasonable about that? If the actors believe it is about coffee breaks then they are wayyy out of their depth. Global boycott, uncertainty, costly delays etc.

    Wellington • Since Jul 2008 • 830 posts Report Reply

  • Jonathan King,

    Then there's this ...

    New movie announced

    Since Sep 2010 • 185 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Also, given the length at which nudity was discussed by AE talking heads, alongside pay rates for international productions, I'm surprised action hasn't been taken against Sparticus. I'd love to see the question put to Ms Ward-Leland.

    Actually, that's a good point. If it's nudity clauses you're after, aren't you targeting the wrong production?

    But here's one thing I've noticed: people somehow getting the idea that Lucy Lawless is also involved in the Equity action (and cursing her name).

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

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