WELLINGTON – Friday, 1 October 2010 An Australian trade union, the MEAA, has generated a world wide actor boycott on The Hobbit, to bolster their demand that producers on the film enter into collective bargaining with the NZ Equity/MEAA. The MEAA has now admitted that their collective bargaining proposal is in fact, illegal, under New Zealand law. In Sir Peter Jackson’s opinion “The Hobbit is being punished with a boycott which is endangering thousands of NZ jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars of foreign income, for no good reason.”
The attack on The Hobbit by NZ Actors Equity and the MEAA has resulted in a very public dispute, between NZ Equity and the producers of The Hobbit. The actors are claiming they are underpaid and do not enjoy the same working conditons as their overseas counterparts. This accusation that has been levelled specifically at The Hobbit, but Sir Peter Jackson says it has no basis in fact. Continue reading “Media Release – Peter Jackson Speaks on Actor Boycott of “The Hobbit””
Bilbo has called in the builders as preparations for the latest JRR Tolkien blockbuster continues. Just weeks after sheep were spotted making the most of the old Lord Of The Rings’ set, the New Zealand location has been revived for the two-part Hobbit prequel. New Hobbit holes are being dug, while the old ones are being spruced up ready for the start of filming later this year. The set, which will portray the Hobbit village of Hobbiton, will remain as a permanent tourist attraction and theme park near the Waikato town of Matamata. Continue reading “Shire is fit for Hobbitation again: Old Lord Of The Rings set revamped ready for latest Tolkien blockbuster”
While in Seattle earlier this month I had the chance to attend the ‘Second Breakfast’ event held by the folks at Warner Bros and Snowbling Studios. They played another demo of their new game ‘The War in the North’, displayed some amazing concept art and had a large number of the developer team available for interviews. Here is my chat with one of the designers.
Eowyn Rohan sends this in: Greetings Shirelings! The time has come. A Long-Expected Party II: There and Back Again, is officially one year away! Many meetings have passed between the organizers already, and a great number of things have been planned. There is still more to come, however; but the biggest thing we need is YOU!
Attendees of the first ALEP have raved many times over about the event, and we plan to make things even better – not bigger – this time around! The location will be the same: The restored Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill, located southwest of Lexington, Kentucky. The dates will be from September 28th to October 2nd, 2011. Bed space at the Village is filling up quickly, so – if you have thought about coming to our little Party – please don’t hesitate any longer, register today!
Following on from a most successful weekend in May this year (and the sun shone beautifully on Birmingham), planning for next years weekend is underway and will be held on Saturday and Sunday May 21st and 22nd. It will be at the usual venue of Sarehole Mill Recreation Ground within The Shire Country Park, in and around the area that Tolkien and his brother Hilary explored as children.
Sarehole is a lovely rural area, with more trees than in Tolkien’s day and we are basing the weekend around Tolkien’s love of trees and the forests and characters of Middle-earth. As the plans for the weekend develop we will keep you informed. In the meantime pencil in the dates shown above and we look forward to your being at this free event celebrating the life and work of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions (CTU) says it is furious at Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Chris Finlayson for “taking sides” in the debate over The Hobbit. Mr Finlayson said yesterday that the Government had sought legal advice from the Crown Law Office confirming that The Hobbit producers had the law on their side in refusing to enter into a union-negotiated agreement with performers who were independent contractors. CTU president Helen Kelly said that advice was biased towards Jackson and as a lawyer, Mr Finlayson would know that. “That’s like saying, ‘I can’t talk to you because this conversation would be illegal,'” Ms Kelly said. Just because there would be contractors working on the project that did not rule out having a union contract, she said. More..
