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The New Zealand parliament has passed emergency legislation ensuring that the 2 back-to-back Hobbit films get made in the country. The legislation bypassed usual parliamentary committees, prompting New Zealand MPs to call it a “day of shame.” One held up a redesigned national flag with the Warner Bros logo in one corner. “What is the government going to do next – give in to any multinational that asks for a labour standard to be diluted in return for some form of investment?” asked opposition MP Charles Chauvel. The amendment was passed by a 65-50 vote. The government’s decision to rush through amended employment laws – stopping below-the-line workers from being treated as full-time employees, with all the rights which go with being a salary man — has divided local opinion. The above political cartoon is from a New Zealand newpaper. Meanwhile, some actors union officials though have received death threats after threatening a boycott. Prime Minister John Key has defended his government’s tax deal that secured The Hobbit movies as being far less generous than the opposition’s Lord of the Rings deal. The Hobbit tax deal is understood to be worth $57 million to Warner Bros across 2 movies. Key suggested that the previous Labour government’s Lord of the Rings deal was worth $225 million across all 3 movies. Warner Bros as well as producer/director Peter Jackson had been threatening to move the production to England or Western Europe.
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This is probably the first time a studio has effectively dictated its terms to a government and got its way. Its disgusting. If Peter Jackson and the NZ government had any moral fiber at all they would have told WB where to stick it. This is a major victory for soulless multinational corporations and a bitter blow to the humble workers who just get stepped on.
If I’m not mistaken, Peter Jackson was on the side of Warner Brothers.
Certainly not the first time.
Hell, look at Canada, they gave away production, distribution, and theatre ownership to the US film Studios back in the early part of the 20th century, all for the mention of Canadian place names in future American films.
Canada is classified as part of the American domestic box office to this day. (roughly 10% to 14%)
Some Canadians feel that for the unfettered and guaranteed access to their market, a commensurate amount of film production should take place in Canada.
Pierre Burton wrote a book about it. “Hollywood’s Canada”
Ok, going around labor laws I can see as being controversial, but tax breaks are nothing new, and 57 mil on a 500 mil production is not a lot. Various states in the US have better tax incentives than that. In Michigan you can get up to 42% back in certain expenditures.
Obviously a Hobbit made in Michigan would be…perhaps more CGI heavy.
The UP of Michigan would be perfect for Mirkwood.
Your cartoon editorial does not point out that jobs have been saved in New Zealand and that the money pumped into the local economy have NZ. Your boss’s pro union stance does not have help your website’s credibility (based on coverage of the US writer’s strike).
Whether you agree with this decision or not, one thing remains clear: Keeping the Hobbit films in NZ is clearly a shared interest for everyone. The people of NZ, the economy, the workers, WB, the fans, and Peter Jackson, who wouldn’t have been happy about the films being made somewhere he wasn’t comfortable, therefore compromising quality, most likely.
Ahhh, the same Peter Jackson that that sued for royalty money on the “RINGS” films.
Isn’t this a New Zealand vs Australia trip, with Australian labor leaders getting into the mix, similar to occasional US vs Canada cultural stomping?
HBO needs to make a miniseries about this controversy STAT
Jarvis Cocker as the NEW Peter Jackson in this behind the scenes potboiler!
According to GlobalDefence.net, New Zealand has 4,450 soldiers, 8 light battle tanks, 105 light armored vehicles, 56 armored transporters, 8 artillery pieces; 3,500 airmen, 6 anti-submarine and 5 Hercules transport aircraft; 1,980 sailors, 3 frigates and 4 fast inshore patrol boats. What chance would they have against Warner Bros? Total surrender is the only sensible option.
I thought this was all about opposing the Australian union’s demands? Isn’t this what Peter Jackson blasted as being the reason why NZ was in jeopardy of losing the Hobbit? Now we have Warner Brothers getting the New Zealand government to trample over already existing labor laws (laws in their own country, not laws according to this “villainous” union)? Shame on them and shame on Peter Jackson for not standing up for the below-the-line workers (he is one of the very few directors who most likely has the power to do so).
So to summarize the story, a bunch of kids were negotiating a game location. The first kid said you can play in my backyard as long as you bring your balls and fifty bucks. The second kid said eff you, I’ll bring 35 bucks and you’ll kick back ten, else I’ll drag my balls across someone else’s backyard. The first kid said deal, his kid brother called it a national day of shame, and the rest of the world moved on to another news story. Are we done now?
three cheers for runaway production backlash!
Welcome to the global economy.
Labor laws and sticking it to Warners or…employment for citizens and money for NZ? Hm…yeah, real tough decision.
Yeah, those actors in NZ should be grateful they have jobs at all. The audacity of fighting to be considered proper employees after all the work they’ve Already done. They’re almost as bad as the people who have to work in East-Asian sweatshops!
So here’s a question. These laws are and were the New Zealand government laws regarding treatment and status of employees. They have now been changed, turning one group of employees to a lower caste then they were. How was this change structured? Is this somehow tied to only one production or is this for every production shot in New Zealand? Now if they made it a one shot deal, there is nothing to stop any large production, including home grown productions, from demanding that same deal, since the government has just declared the rights of one group of employees for sale. If it isn’t, this means that one group of employees have taken a huge cut FOREVER to get a one time activity boost for The Hobbit that will be done and over in about a year with no guarantees this will lead to more production in the future.
Sorry it really is two questions. If you were one of those employees who were just made second class by your country would you be so down with and dismissive regarding the process AND the decision?
Well said Pat. I’d add, without commenting on the specifics of this one case, that there is a constant mantra from conservatives that government needs to get out of the way of business and let the market work. Well as much as most corporations hate it, in some places organized labor IS a force in the market that needs to be dealt with. Frankly the only place government had in this discussion is as an honest broker at the bargaining table, not performing an legislative end run around the process. Keeping government out of business means ensuring a level playing field for all participants, not kowtowing to monied interests and in this case in particular foreign interests. At the end of the day the people with the most to lose were the union members themselves and they were obviously willing to roll the dice and take their chances. The NZ govt. has an obligation to respect the choices of their constituency and let the WB do the same.
That said I’m fucking pumped to see Martin Freeman as Bilbo
Best. Casting. Ever.
Amateur hour. NZ MPs belong on City Assemblies in municipalities of no more than 500 constituents, which is essentially what they are anyway.
Striking a deal for $7.5 million in savings per film, becomes theoretically a wash tax-wise for NZ (I still believe the Govt. will earn out), provides thousands of jobs and bolsters a multi-billion dollar business for the country. That formula = a good deal. And the only reason they got it is because the celebrity director is a native.
If PJ did’t care, NZ wouldn’t have the film and no actors in that country would be working on anything bigger than Australian MOWs. In fact, they wouldn’t even have that because the Aussie unions would’ve c-blocked them.
They don’t deserve the film or the benefits. They’re spoiled, clueless brats.
I don’t blame NZ for trying to get as much money as it can, since the scenery of New Zealand was such an important part of LOTR. However, complaining about “exploitation” is just silly; there are employees in factories in China and elsewhere that are actually exploited, this is just a bunch of no-name actors from NZ complaining that they didn’t get every perk they wanted, they should be glad they got a job in the first place. This isn’t NZ’s day of shame, it’s the first time that anyone has paid attention to NZ since the LOTR films finished up in ’03.
You don’t think it matters if NZ actors cannot win union rights to workers in Chinese sweatshops? Consider, if you are a worker on a Foxconn assembly line making Ipods for western teenagers 12 hours a day, six days a week and you hear that high falutin’ actors have trouble in New Zealand of all places getting a union, what is the impact on your morale? Not good, is my guess.
I think the Chinese in sweatshops would gladly run around and pretend to be hobbits, werewolves, or anything else for whatever WB would pay them. Like I said, I don’t blame anyone for trying to make as much as they can, but it’s annoying to me when a bunch of idiot actors talk about being “exploited”, or that this is NZ’s “day of shame” because they sensibly agreed with WB. Also, since when are WB and Disney the same company? The cartoonist should have used looney tunes characters.
I think because most people don’t understand the Kiwi way of things that they misunderstand the choice the government made. New Zealand is a small population and they’re a pick myself up, bootstrap people. I lived there for a time and most of the male population build their own house as a proclamation of manhood, stature, and accomplishment.
It’s a different mentality to ours, they wouldn’t be looking for protection of certain workers, they’re looking to just make it how they always have, by working hard and hopefully making a decent living. Which they did with the last franchise and will with this new franchise.
Another crucial item for their decision is they don’t want Australians telling them what to do!
Yes, the Labor idiots would rather the people of New Zealand live off sheep than have these jobs come in.
You people don’t have the first clue what you’re talking about.
Film industry workers in NZ have ALWAYS been independent contractors, not employees, the new law changes absolutely nothing. It is the status quo all the way. There was one specific case where a court made a very controversial ruling in which they found a disgruntled independent contractor to be an employee, which set a precedent of concern.
NO rights have stripped from workers with the passage of this new law, it changes absolutely nothing in the industry, it simply reinforces the existing nature of the industry here. The law prevents independent contractors from seeking status as employees after the fact in legal proceedings, usually when they have been fired, serving as protection against the precedent set by one court ruling in one case. Perhaps before offering up opinions on this matter, you should all first find out the facts so you don’t sound like ignorant jackasses.
The new legislation was aimed to beat back a recent court case holding a below the line worker to be an employee NOT an IC.
What is missing from all the analysis is Warner Bros. Commitment to promote NZ as a film/vacation destination clips and tv promos worth 10s of millions in free advertising that the depressed government tourist board could not afford in these tough economic times. It will bring additional production and tourism to NZ.
Australian film union officials are not impressed with the deal simply because it does not benifit their Australian union members in the future, only the insignificant number of NZ members. Sour grapes from bloated thugs used to getting their own way.
I agree with loop, though less stridently.
The new law in essence says that if a film industry worker signs up as an independent contractor, then they’re an independent contractor. If they sign up as an employee, then they’re an employee.
There’s a bonus with the certainty – Inland Revenue will surely now not be able to “look-through” the contract and determine that an independent contractor is an employee, which makes their tax claims safe.
The Hobbit emails are now being released through the Press and Official Information Act.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/4487807/Unions-blacklist-almost-hobbled-movies-Jackson
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/movies/news/article.cfm?c_id=200&objectid=10695662
It’s going political!