Posts by Peter Cox
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
-
Just on a slightly different tangent (sorry Simon), and I realise I'm being extremely optimistic about getting a response here, but does anyone who knows about this sort of thing tell me if these provisions in the Trade Union Act 1908 are relevant here??:
Criminal provisions
3 Trade union not criminal
The purposes of any trade union shall not, by reason merely
that they are in restraint of trade, be deemed to be unlawful so
as to render any member of such trade union liable to criminal
prosecution for conspiracy or otherwise.4 Trade union not unlawful
The purposes of any trade union shall not, by reason merely
that they are in restraint of trade, be unlawful so as to render
void or voidable any agreement or trust.Excuse my amateur lawyering (I'm having trouble getting my head around the basic language even) but it seems to suggest that the Commerce Act (in terms of price fixing laws) should not be allowed to intrude on an agreement between a union and and another employer, whether it be SPADA, The Hobbit, MGM or whatever? Or has the whole Trade Union Act (or even just that part, really) become irrelevant because of provisions in the ECA and the ERA?
-
Sorry, I'm doing this again, but the ondemand version of the The Court Report has just come out (dealing with the Legal aspects of the hobbit)
I'd recommend everyone involved have a look, and maybe also have a listen to Rod Oram's interview on RNZ last week (which I just came across):
http://tvnz.co.nz/the-court-report/court-report-s2010-e12-video-3824930
Listening to The Court Report, I'm reminded of a point Rod Oram and Simon Bennett makes, that really the issue is the strength of the Pink Book, and the responsibility of everyone in the industry, including SPADA and the other guilds (including the NZWG, for example) in making it work for the actors. This level of resentment should never have never built to the level it has to begin with.
-
In all fairness though, Mad Max has more problems going for it than the unionisation of the Australian film industry...
-
As the kind of movie that doesn't require any kind of 1st-world heritage, i.e. cutting-edge technology or hordes of caucasian spear-carriers, the Happy Feet X franchise could easily have the bulk of its production moved pretty much anywhere.
Hint: happy feet 2 does not require any actors...
-
Okay, so I know it's kind of sad of me to turn this into a forum of one, but just wanted to say Rod Oram is my new personal hero.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/4215769/NZ-film-stuck-in-muddle-earth
-
PS dang, I see looking back Michael clearly called the SAG vs Studios cause for all this a full three hours before I mentioned it. Good work Mike. That's exactly what it is. Both PJ and Actor's Equity are really just entangled in that game.
Best guess I have for the outcome is that the SAG will negotiate with the studios for SAG deal for the local actors, maybe letting MEAA pretend they did it as a face saving exercise. Whether the hobbit winds up in NZ is another story altogether.
All that Actor's Equity/MEAA have ever been expected to do is come in and stall for time, which is exactly what's been happening. Just a pity they haven't been more straight forward with the fact that this was, quite literally, a boycott, and their actual demands in their media appearances, or let out accidental slips that they wanted to bring the hobbit contract into domestic production - which clearly couldn't afford it, and this probably would have wound up a lot less divisive than it has been.
-
Equity still not talking to SPADA, apparently.
Doesn't surprise me even slightly. It's pretty clear that this is going to be them holding out to get a deal with the studios to me. Spada was never on the cards. To be honest I doubt that the 'just a cup of tea' meeting with Peter Jackson was ever on the cards either, excepting to push for full SAG residual rates, and PJ knows it. They have the studios over a barrell, and would never accept anything less and the boycott would continue on. Everything else is just posturing. Whether the studio will ultimately choose to take the hobbit to another country and pay those full SAG rates is anyone's guess though. I would imagine it just purely comes down to whatever's cheapest. I'm by no means certain it'll be NZ, and I suspect PJ is no longer quite so keen to fight for it to stay here.
I hope it does stay here obviously, but I guess we shall see...
-
http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/Peter-Jacksons-The-Hobbit-will-film-in-Ireland-104481474.html
Well, that's the first official confirmation they're seriously looking. How seriously, is anyone's guess of course. But still...
-
Wasn't it Aragorn's Rangers who turned up originally? My guess is they just replaced him with the Elves because those are characters we'd already met before rather than a whole new group.