NZ likely to lose Hobbit
Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have said that lifting the blacklist on The Hobbit does nothing to help the film stay in New Zealand because the damage is done, and even they will continue to fight for it, Warner Bros. representatives will visit the country next week to make arrangements to move it overseas.
Jackson warned that this conflict will have a domino effect on New Zealand’s industry, with international investors and studios losing confidence over the country’s perceived ‘unstable employment environment’.
This is the full statement:
The lifting of the blacklist on The Hobbit does nothing to help the films stay in New Zealand. The damage inflicted on our film industry by NZ Equity/MEAA is long since done.
Next week Warners are coming down to NZ to make arrangements to move the production off-shore. It appears we now cannot make films in our own country – even when substantial financing is available.
The spectacle of NZ Actors’ Equity suddenly cancelling their Wellington meeting, because film workers wanted to express to them their concern at losing The Hobbit, exemplifies the pure gutlessness of this small, self-centred group. They don’t appear to care about the repurcussions of their actions on others, nor are they prepared to take responsibility for decisions made in their name. NZ Equity constantly refer to ‘good faith’ discussions but they have never acted in good faith towards our film.
Four weeks ago NZ Equity, represented by the Australian trade union, the MEAA, urged several international actor’s unions to gang up on our production in an attempt to bully us into illegal collective bargaining.
MEAA’s representative, Simon Whipp, admitted in a recent interview with the Hollywood Reporter, that it was his intention to use The Hobbit as a way to ‘unionise other productions’ in the New Zealand film industry – presumably whether we want it or not. This unilateral decision, made by an off shore union, we assume with Equity’s blessing, is the reason why our film industry is now in dire jeopardy.
NZ Equity’s unjustified industrial action against The Hobbit has undermined Warner Bro’s confidence in New Zealand as a stable employment environment, and they are now, quite rightly, very concerned about the security of their $500m investment. Unfortunately lifting the blacklist does nothing to help the situation. This will be the start of a domino effect, as word of NZ’s unstable employment environment, registers with film investors and studios, world-wide.
Nobody denies Equity’s right to represent their group of actors, but incredibly, this industrial action was taken without consultiation with their own membership. These clumsy, heavy-handed tactics have put at risk the livelihoods of thousands of workers and jeapardized a potential investment of a billion plus dollars into the NZ economy.
Seemingly overnight, NZ Actors’ Equity shredded the reputation of a burgeoning industry, which has been over forty years in the making.
Remarks on television by Helen Kelly of the CTU, demonstrated a total lack of understanding of the film industry. Nothing she had to say about The Hobbit and film financing was remotely factual. Why she has suddenly become the NZ Equity spokesperson is unclear, it appears to be a case of the blind being lead by the even-more-blind.
We will continue the fight to keep the film in NZ, but ultimately this decision belongs to Warner Bro’s. We are however, hugely heartened by the incredible show of support from Wellington actors, technicians and crew. It is a reflection of the terrific pride NZ film workers have in their industry and their very real fear of losing their jobs.
In interview with National Radio this morning, Walsh and co-writer Philippa Boyens said the loss of the film would be an “absolute tragedy”.
“We can literally feel it slipping through our hands,” said Boyens. “We’ve had it. We’ve thought as hard as we can. We are in situation where we are fighting to save it. Unfortunately it feels to us like this conversation is already done. We don’t know how far we have to go to retrieve the situation.”
Walsh added that delays caused by this conflict have already cost the studio millions of dollars.
I am a born Kiwi, who has lived in Australia for all his working life and to me this news of Warner perhaps pulling the plug is alarming. I have noted over time that NZ has built an enviable reputation in film making and I have looked with some pride on the films and even the quality of actors coming out of New Zealand.
Oddly enough I had written a manuscript based around factual events, which has been turned into a cinema screenplay by Ian David, which has now gained funding and support from within the film industry in Australia. As this nears production, NZ has been considered for some production works and some filming. I would be disappointed if the NZ industry was not to play a role in production due to industrial action.
I have lived through 4 years of seeing a story work its way through the mire of treatments, polishes, legal hurdles, options and more legal hurdles. Will my people want to see further delays at the chosen production venue. Probably not.
Hope it gets sorted.
Kind Regards,
Merv Harris
http://twitter.com/strawmenfilm
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NZ to lose Hobbit films?
Serves them right for dealing with MEAA, who are good at screwing things up.
Want a US actor in your film so it has a chance of International Sales?
Forget it.
MEAA put up as many roadblocks as they can and have derailed many, many films.
It’s a shame actors in Australia can’t see what damage this union is doing to our industry…
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I guess they fucked up the Industry enough in Australia, they have moved onto other countries now to spread their special brand of …. bullying.
Years ago the word ‘union’ meant something, now its about being a pack of wolves and descending on anyone with a different ethos or business model.
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Its just insane…Peter Jackson made three great films with the Lord of the Rings and now for some stupid petty reason they think their film isn’t safe? The Union..pull your head in…Australia fix your own backyard before you go messing up somebody else’s..Warner Brothers be pragmatic and have some faith
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