Posts by Petra
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And how come Paul Holmes is an "award-winning journalist"? He doesn't write all that well, and he's certainly not investigative...
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I think they just figured there was zero chance of it going offshore.
Yup. That, too.
I think it'll stay here. Too much has been invested already.
But an opportunity to play out an endgame presented itself, and so will be played out by those who have the most to gain in spinning it out a bit - Warner's and Key.
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let's convert our rest homes into primary production facilities. We'll catch up with Australia in no time, while supplying the world with dog tucker.
Soylent Green...
Brendon, you do realise that there are also some pretty amazing, high paying, creative work in the film industry, don't you? It's not all slave labour. -
IMHO the most sensible thing the unions could have done is take part ownership of today's rally and join the rest of the workers. AE members should have been there and made a point to be there, but shut up about the recent past and just simply said: 'let's keep the hobbit in nz'/keep NZ strong, and nothing else. Everyone, including the unions, CTU rep should have been there in contrite support, and saying: unions can be good things for keeping nz strong, let's work together for everyone. Philippa Boyens was the NZWG Executive Director for years FFS. She's not anti-union. Enlist her, get her onboard with helping the union image, by pulling your socks up and showing some maturity even if it means biting your lip a bit. Keep it positive. And for all that is sane: whether you believe it or not, don't frgging attack Peter Jackson; which means forget the 'all we wanted is a meeting he could have solved it with that but he didn't' line.
If the debate is about positive national identity, put the unions on the positive side of that debate instead of f**king Gery Brownlee/John Key.
Hint: attacking John Key for taking advantage of the situation will not do it.
But yeah, as Gio says, resist the temptation to pull this revisionist spin conspiracy BS. Saying 'all we wanted was a meeting'/'it was never boycott' is not a great move when there's letters out there in the public sphere that quite clearly say the opposite.qft
Yes! Hear, hear!
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"About 40" supporters turned out in CHCH...
I was in Matama...ahhhh, Hobbiton today. About 10 people showed up. Had a beer with a Hobbit and a Warlock from Tauranga. The Hobbit had been an extra in the first film, and was friends with a swordsmith, another metal working craftsman (forgot what he said, there) and a couple of the seamstresses. He said that everyone was very happy with the way they were treated, how PJ made a point of chatting with them all, how they were well paid and well catered for, and how good the daily food baskets they would get each day were (fresh trout, tuna, salad, etc). Reckoned he'd never had it so good.
As for poor Gollum, though - he was pretty badly vandalised last night. Lost his eyes, nose, ears and chin. WTF is wrong with some people. :(
It seems to me that even if AE had valid issues that needed addressing, they should have targeted maybe Spartacus, not The Hobbit, as it appears PJ is already a fair - magnanimous, even - employer.
Which leads me to wonder if, in their naivety, they targeted PJ because he was not only a big name, but also a name that was devoted to NZ and the NZ Film industry. But because of legalities making it impossible for him to come to their party, it all went sour - thus creating a opportunity and a situation that Warner's could exploit financially, and the government could exploit politically.
But I'm just speculating, of course...
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The idea that Equity bears no responsibility for the consequences of its actions is breathtaking.
Indeed. The fact that they are unintended consequences does not absolve Equity at all.
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I hear what you're saying, Beejay, but in the end astuteness went the way of Viagra delayed ejaculate, with spoiled seed. And it still made an awful mess - one that may (will?) see employment law changed to the further detriment of all New Zealanders, and may still seriously damage the entire film industry here.
Even if the film does get made here in the end, there will be few real winners - except maybe Warner's and the National Government.
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Song for the AE:
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...I paraphrased 'boycott' there, I was focusing more on the 'collective agreement' part. They don't use the precise term boycott. They say:
'[the FIA] urges each of its affiliates to adopt instructions to their members that no member of any FIA affiliate will agree to act in the theatrical film The Hobbit'.
I just paraphrased that as boycott/strike as most people I think probably would.I don't understand what the difference is between "no member...will agree to act" and the single word "boycott", in this instance.
According to tfd.com, boycott means "to abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion".
So how was it not a boycott?
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Robyn Malcolm on Close Up: "There was no boycott."
"We lifted it on Sunday"
"Lifted what?"
"Well, the ... the conversation ... suggestion that ... um ..."