Posts by giovanni tiso
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Just for the record, the first Kubrick film in which Warner Brothers had a hand was A Clockwork Orange. 2001 was an MGM joint. (Although the video is distributed by WB these days I imagine.)
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PAS had a rather lively and useful discussion on the merits (and otherwise) of Avatar
O-THER-WISE! O-THER-WISE!
With the announcement of the Avatar sequels going to Weta it's all but guaranteed that four of the worst films of the coming decade will be made right here, in our fair country. One's heart fills with pride.
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Still. I'll be up for hours yet, having fun getting the gst done before Sunday.
Er, Rob... it was due yesterday.
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Well then, it must be about to collapse, what can I tell you? People have been predicting it since Hello, Dolly, it's bound to come true sooner or later.
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These industries have matured commercially. Jesus,I didn't make this up, it's common knowledge.
Common knowledge amongst whom? Also, you do realise that there is a global and catastrophic economic crisis, yes? How many sectors do you know that are thriving? Entertainment does better than most.
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This is what's happened in the US where "permatemps" have sued for employee status and benefits after the fact; big companies still have permatemps, but in order to avoid being stung, they simply kick people onto the dole queue for 3-6 months every year.
I am unconvinced this would represent an improvement in the lives of many folk in the film sector.
Again: it doesn't make the case that employers shouldn't be allowed to treat workers like that any less moral.
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Yes, but the contractor is happy to tell the government they aren't an employee every few months when they claim a GST rebate on their lunch meetings, or DVDs, or the end-of-year payments reclaiming a chunk of the mortgage or rent from income tax.
You know what - I'd like an actor who declares his DVDs as a business expense to get audited and see what happens. Has this notion ever been tested? It's as if I declared all the books in Italian that I buy just because I'm a translator.
But the point obviously is that there may be contractors who are happy to be regarded as such and some who aren't. The fact that it is advantegeous for some doesn't mean that it is for all. And the principle remains that if you are treated in all respects like an employee, but are named a contractor just so your employer can reduce its liabilities, then you should be able to at least argue your case in court or through a union. Surely.
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Why should Peter Jackson, whose career is a project to project existence, be at risk from a contractor from taking him to court to be re-classified as an employee, simply because Jackson was successful at securing one project after another, and loyal enough to keep re-hiring the contractor from one project to another?
Mmhhh... because he's the employer, and the contractor is the employee? So long as you think that they should share in the risk equally, more than they already do, then I'd like to see the profits distributed a little differently.
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You seem to be tolerating Scott Hamilton's trolls pretty well too. That's above and beyond.
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We're tying ourselves to an industry where we're entirely reliant on the benevolence of overseas funders and the lack of competition from other countries, some of whom will always be cheaper than us.
We're relying entirely on our building capacity whilst remaining competitive. And we'll always have the locations. The situation in Italy is not vastly dissimilar - even when our national cinema is in the doldrums there are a lot of foreign productions that come to us for our locations but also for the quality of our facilities (cinecittà) and the skills of our technicians and designers, even if wages and costs aren't low. It will continue to happen for as long as the industry has enough to offer.