Actors' Equity <Hobbit> meeting in Auckland cancelled
An Actors' Equity meeting to be held in Auckland tonight has been canned over fears technicians and other workers in the film would picket.
An Actors' Equity meeting to be held in Auckland tonight has been canned over fears technicians and other workers in the film would picket.
A filmmaker and actor who worked on LOTR and Avatar says union demands to standardise pay rates could cripple dozens of NZ films.
The Hobbit is slipping away from New Zealand despite the best efforts of its producers, the film's co-writer Philippa Boyens says.
Sir Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh's statement on The Hobbit and a release from the Council of Trade Unions in response.
The loss of The Hobbit film overseas is a "potential tragedy for the New Zealand film industry", Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage Chris Finlayson said this morning.
The producers of The Hobbit say production is being moved off-shore after industrial action 'undermined Warner Bro's confidence in NZ'.
Weta Workshop's boss Sir Richard Taylor last night said the New Zealand film industry was "at some level of peril".
Two Hobbit films, expected to cost about $669m to make, are in danger of being moved away from NZ because of "the actions of a very limited few", says Weta Workshop's Sir Richard Taylor.
Hospitality providers - even people renting out their home - could risk a $150,000 fine for using forbidden words in their RWC advertising.
Australian MP Eric Abetz is accusing the actors' union advocating a boycott of the film The Hobbit of threatening thousands of jobs on both sides of the Tasman.
Two senior ministers have made themselves available to mediate in the industrial dispute surrounding The Hobbit after meeting with Fran Walsh and Sir Peter Jackson today.