Posts Tagged ‘the hobbit’

Bending over for Warner Brothers

Written By: - Date published: 11:30 am, October 26th, 2010 - 30 comments

Otago Law Professor Paul Roth says possible law changes by the Key Government to provide more tax-payer funded charity to corporate giants Warner Bros Entertainment is ‘Third-World’ lawmaking and a ‘race to the bottom’ in an attempt to compete against developing nations with little or no labour rights. Roth says if we ‘lie back and prostitute ourselves […]

Key the real target of Hobbit producers’ game

Written By: - Date published: 2:01 pm, October 24th, 2010 - 75 comments

The Hobbit ‘crisis’ is all about money. It’s about the producers of this long-troubled production, who are in financial difficulty, wanting to minimise their up-front costs. The mark in the con is the only one with cash to offer on the scale they need – the Prime Minister. He’s the one with the most to lose and the most ability to pay.

Some clarity on the Hobbit dispute

Written By: - Date published: 8:58 pm, October 23rd, 2010 - 105 comments

After days of trying to read the media and rumour mill tea-leaves on the Hobbit it was time to do some fact checking.

It turns out this has been a hard lesson in how the international film industry works.

Government manoeuvres on the Hobbit

Written By: - Date published: 12:37 pm, October 23rd, 2010 - 84 comments

Fran O’Sullivan reckons the Government will offer tax-breaks to keep the Hobbit in NZ.

But it also looks like they’ll try to keep claim it’s about the (settled) dispute.

If that’s the case there’s some truly gymnastic spin to look forward to this week.

Caption Contest

Written By: - Date published: 8:46 pm, October 22nd, 2010 - 60 comments

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

New Line Cinema

Hobbit producers caught in a lie?

Written By: - Date published: 7:03 pm, October 22nd, 2010 - 134 comments

Emails have surfaced showing the Hobbit dispute was settled early this late last week.

So why did Jackson go on the offensive on Thursday?

Is he not talking to Warners or is there more in play in this than the actors dispute?

The Hobbit ‘crisis’: cui bono?

Written By: - Date published: 10:00 am, October 22nd, 2010 - 171 comments

Does anyone believe that a $660 million project moves countries over the ‘threat’ of a few actors wanting better standards? Would Jackson really betray NZ when Weta is based here, the casting is underway, and Hobbiton is built? Cui bono, this talk of ‘crisis’: how much will the Government fork over to appease the threat of foreign capital flight?

A quick note on the Hobbit and labour stability

Written By: - Date published: 8:07 am, October 22nd, 2010 - 84 comments

If labour stability is the big issue with keeping the Hobbit here the answer is very simple.

Employ workers as employees, not contractors.

A couple of points about the Hobbit dispute

Written By: - Date published: 9:26 pm, October 4th, 2010 - 62 comments

Actors Equity have the Aussie actors’ minimum standards up on their site and they look pretty minimal.

So what’s all the fuss about and why is John Key suddenly interested in getting involved in an industrial dispute?

After all he’s previously claimed it’s “not appropriate” for the government to intervene in other disputes.

A brief point on union meetings

Written By: - Date published: 1:11 pm, October 1st, 2010 - 46 comments

Peter Jackson’s in the paper today whining about being denied entry to a union meeting.

There’s a really simple reason for that – union meetings are for union members, not for employers.