Posts by Jonathan King
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the industry has had bumper years for the last 3. Likewise the movie industry.
Planning is good, but don't base it on false assumptions.The 'movie industry' may be having bumper years, but generally the film business is in deep, deep shit.
'The industry' keeps its revenues up by making fewer and fewer bigger and bigger films (like, I dunno, The Hobbit or Avatar) and pays another hundred mill or so to instruct everyone on the planet to go and see them on the same weekend. In 3D. For an extra $3.00.
Only Hollywood studios can afford to make films like this and, most importantly, have the networks to release them on the same weekend around the world.
But for every other level of filmmaking beneath that news is very bad indeed. DVD is collapsing, there are $1 rentals in America (and versions of same here -- 6 for $10), no-one else can get into multiplexes, TV networks will pay f'all, other countries only want Hollywood films or their own. And, yeah, I hear people make them available for free online. (Disclosure: Despite being someone who makes stuff that is pirated I am NOT in favour of the copyright fascism)
And people are just losing interest -- there's YouTube, a million channels on TV, the Internets, games, phones etc etc
But there is no question that, like the music biz, revenue through traditional channels for filmmakers is dropping, dropping, dropping ... But, unlike music, films haven't yet cracked the alternative -- they can't play live, sell T-shirts ... or make it in your bedroom.
It still costs a fortune to make most movies ... but the revenue we can get for them is steadily heading for down.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why actors* are worth less than ever before, not more.
And why those Hollywood studios will do what ever it takes to get the best deal they can to make those mega-movies.
*And directors, writers, producers, grips, gaffers, cinematographers etc etc
EDIT: Sorry, hadn't refreshed and seen you'd all talked about this some more while I thought about my post! -
Your precious little film is going to be made here ...
I think you'll find, Brendon, it is two of the Very Biggest Films Ever Made.
And if you think wages are going down in the film biz, you should have seen what they would have done when almost everyone in the industry was out of work and producers could name their price. It's when there's a big 'show' in town, when everyone is busy that the workers name their price.
But, like I said, you don't know shit about the film business.
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And page 50, too. Seems fitting to let this discussion slip away now ... :-)
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Press conference at 7.20.
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Matt Dravitzki says, on Facebook (5 secs ago):
"Standby ..."
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However, from page 1 of The Hobbit
Hang on, wait ... There's a book of this out already? Well I never ...
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I'm still waiting for them to do the basics and at least provide a list of real-world examples to back up their claims about the Pink Book not being adhered to.
Well, they say in their letter of yesterday:
"In the past the conditions set out in the Pink Book have been completely disregarded by producers."
You'd think "completely disregarded" would be pretty easy to give examples of.
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I'm keeping track of the "who's been telling fibs". Warners got caught lying about when they were told that the boycott was lifted. NZAE seems to have been caught lying about "talking to the production for months". 1-1, several still to come?
Do Warner Bros, an American entertainment mega-conglomerate, have a moral obligation to tell the NZ public about their dealings? I don't know.
Do NZ Equity / MEAA / CTU have a moral obligation to be telling the NZ public the truth? Somehow, and maybe it's unfair, I feel that they do have more of one.
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Peter Jackson has spoken up about the key piece of spin that Equity / MEAA have been hammering rigidly:
"I was not being asked to meet, I was copied on a request by the union to enter into collective bargaining with the US Directors of Warner Brothers production company, 3 Foot 7 Limited."
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"It was the first time a meeting was ever requested and it was clear from the letter, they had already voted to blacklist us, before even asking for one conversation with me. I am sick and tired of hearing Equity say 'All we ever wanted was a meeting,' because it's disingenuous – they fail to add that from the outset, they had a gun to our head."
Good on him. It's actually embarrassing -- for them -- that they'll keep saying that with a straight face.
EDIT: Right, like Peter said above.
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Interesting email from Equity to members.
Seeking a meeting with an employer to discuss employees’ contracts is a fair and reasonable request. This is all that was asked on the producers of The Hobbit ...
Those cheeky monkeys!
You almost do start to feel for the actors who seem genuinely bewildered a 'request for a meeting' caused all this ruckus -- when they are clearly being given ... well, 'not the full picture' by their leadership.
The phrase that I'm finding is really starting to grate with its rigid repetition is "hold off" on signing. No boycott, ban, blacklist or prohibition ... just a cheery, 'half a mo old luv, just hang fire for a seccie there while we grab a chinwag'.
Sigh. Exhausting.