Posts by Peter Cox
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It's only minimal tax in-so-far as what you can claim to be expenses related to having to do your job. You have to way that up with the benefits of holiday pay, etc.
Oh, I meant 'weigh' obviously. Embarrassing...
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I'm preparing for my future career as an independent screenwriter.
Here's where you join ;) We give you a genuine 'I'm a real writer' card. The ladies love it. Gentlemen too, depending on your preferences.
...and we do other stuff too, of course, such as running a Writer's Awards! http://www.nzwg.org.nz/news/a-celebration-swanz-tickets-on-sale-now/
Oscar Kightley MCing Jubilee Hall, Parnell, 10 November. Woo-hoo!
EDIT: Oh s**t I spammed publicaddress. Am I in trouble, Russell?
EDIT: ...and yeah... we're in the process of redeveloping the website before anyone says...
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And if you are working, what are you all doing on here eh? Eh?
I'm currently attempting to delude myself into thinking this is work, sadly enough. It's not going very well.
PS Simon, sorry! I shouldn't have spoken for you, least of all to call you a producer, with the accompanying rotten tomatoes likely to be thrown in your direction and all that...
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Maybe these people would also be happier as self-employed contractors, paying minimal tax and keeping their specialist skills up-to-date on their own time?
It's only minimal tax in-so-far as what you can claim to be expenses related to having to do your job. You have to way that up with the benefits of holiday pay, etc.
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What would actually solve it is a special circumstance legislation for people in atypical independent contractor status that has a series of special rules for them, including the ability for a union to be able to collectively bargain on their behalf.
In effect, there should be a type of third employment status that accurately reflects the true and real employment situation that workers in this industry find themselves in, with a unique set of conditions that balance the rights of employer and employee/contractor.
In a way, it's failure of the NZ film industry union lobby - including SPADA, myself, AE and others - for not identifying and lobbying for that effectively enough earlier. That should have happened as soon as the Bryson case was concluded.
It's possible to look at this whole mess and conclude that's what needs to happen. I think the industry will now be getting together and doing something exactly like that.
This new law is exactly what it is - a band-aid stop gap for the moment, and reacting to the moment. I'm hoping, though, this is the start of some real, considered legislation without the accompanying hysteria from both sides that has surrounded this.
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Well, better to have Brownlee inside the tent pissing out....
Agreed, but I suspect The Standard/Chris Trotter crowd wouldn't see it that way.
I have no idea whether the general CTU membership thinks anything like that. I'd imagine they'd be more pragmatic. I guess it's like suggesting the EMA are as big a jackasses as the people who comment on Kiwiblog.
...oh wait...
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Peter Conway was a star on that interview. But I suspect maybe he went a little too far with the old Brownlee thanking. I would imagine some of his members may have - shortsightedly, I think - not been thrilled about that. They should be bloody grateful for that interview though. It's been the saviour of the CTU in the public eye as far as I'm concerned.
And, just in case for the tiniest moment we forgot who the REAL ASSHOLES are:
See, now THAT makes me want to pick up a picket sign, and keep the Writer's Guild CTU dues up to date...
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But thankfully, sane voices - Peter Cox for one - wanting to wait for confirmation about things.
Oh no! Just after I had a bit of a rant!
But thanks Jacqui. I hope you'll forgive my last somewhat heated post as a general level of disgust for the way certain ideologues have tried to turn a great community of friends into 'baddies and goodies' for the sake of their own ideological stupidity/class warfare rubbish, putting them good people against each other and damaging them both.
When you have people who are clearly from 'The Standard' or 'Kiwiblog' posting on 'theatreview', then you know something has gone horribly wrong.
I'm looking forward to never having to deal with them again.
The film industry, including the actors, and the members/unions who actually have something real at stake from the survival of this industry, will sort this out thanks very much. We're having a conversation now, and I'm looking forward to the idiots buggering right the hell out of it.
(which I'm sure they will as soon as they find some other 'cause' to vent their spleen's onto. Do any of these people actually DO anything by the way?)
And thanks, Deep Red, for the videos :)
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The debate here while often not to my taste, has indeed been reasonably civilized albeit very well represented with producers.
I think you'll find that the grand total of posts from producers out of 2-3000 or so is probably less than 10.
I'm a screenwriter, Jonathan is a director (also Michael D), in case you were confused about us. The only producers I know who've commented have been Simon Bennett.
And I'm sick of this 'us vs producers' mentality that people seem to trot out, as if to say 'any argument a producer makes must be wrong because they're a producer', or anyone who agrees with a producer must be a scab.
That's not the way our industry works and I'm sick of this bullshit company/union ideological crap being thrust upon it, and having pricks like Trotter/Laws/Facebook/TheStandard/Kiwiblog assholes wade in with their mindless ideological crap. Pretty sure the actors are too by now.
If that makes me a scab/company union type, then I'd suggest anyone who thinks so, please say it to my face, and see what happens...
Deal with the substance rather than who's saying it.
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I find it utterly repulsive to be honest. Never more so than after having just gone through this mess. This kind of 'strength in unity no matter the truth, so just shut up and keep your eye on the goal' leads to all sorts of horrific historical nastiness, which I'd probably sound histrionic to mention, but I'm sure people can guess what I'm talking about.
It's exactly that kind of mentality that lead to this strike order going down with consulting with the workers that were being effected, and they almost suffered terribly for it.
I'm not about to say Scott's suggestions or Simon Whipp's actions are in the same league as the nastiness we've seen in National Socialism or Stalinism, because obviously that would make me a complete fool. But the ideals of 'strength in collectivity' being more important 'the truth', whether it be nationality, religion, or class, is the root of all those movements. It's how otherwise average, sensible people found themselves doing horrific things on a mass scale, and any sensible person should thoroughly detest it for the kind of intellectual and moral rotting that it inevitably leads to in a culture (whether it be a nation, trade union, political party, art gallery, or a section of the blogosphere) that accepts it.
I guess that's also (without thinking about it much) can't help but despise the 'national identity' model for defining the value of an art work.
Strength in unity will always be weaker than strength in truth, in the long run.
Okay, a little histrionic :/
Been a long month, and I'm very tired...