Last week it was reported a two billion dollar offer from Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar was rejected by MGM. But now an article in Businessweek says the offer is being reconsidered by creditors.
Additionally, Sahara has chosen an investment bank in the United States to provide representation, according to Sahara spokeswoman Marcy DePina. She also stated that “part of the quick rejection had to do with Sahara submitting documentation of its assets in rupees”
You can read the entire article here.
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Since the news broke this weekend of actor unions putting pressure on the producers of “The Hobbit” regarding wages and working conditions of non-union actors, hundreds of stories, and re-hashes of stories, have hit the internet. It’s enough to boggle the mind! So, we thought we’d provide a recap of what’s happened so far, complete with a number of useful links. Bear in mind that the ‘facts’ presented in one story may conflict with the ‘facts’ presented in other stories. Our goal here is not to take sides, to separate the fact from the fiction, nor to link to 100% of the related articles. Rather, our goal is to give our readers some basic resources as a starting point for their own research. Keep checking TheOneRing.net for the most recent updates!
(Thanks to many of our readers and message board members for their diligent work locating many of the articles linked below. Special thanks to Kristen Thompson at the Frodo Franchise blog for sharing her extra-diligent research with us. Be sure to keep sending updates as you find them to spymaster@theonering.net!)
(Note: dates are based on U.S. time zones)
Sep. 24 – SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) and other actor unions worldwide (including the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance of Australia) issue statements to their members regarding non-union actors who may be hired to work on “The Hobbit.” Statements range from encouraging support for non-union actors to urging an all-out boycott of the production. NZ Actor’s Equity urges supporters to attend a meeting in Auckland on Sep 27. Links: Offical SAG Alert ; UK Equity Alert ; MEAA Hobbit Fact Sheet ; NZ Actor’s Equity Articles ; TVNZ interview
Sep. 25 – the story breaks on the internet. Links: TheOneRing.net ; Variety
Sep. 26 – Peter Jackson issues a response. Links: TheOneRing.net
Sep. 27 – official response from the studios. Links: Deadline Hollywood
Sep. 28 – statement released from NZ Actor’s Equity meeting. Links: NZ Actor’s Equity Articles ; YouTube Video interviews of NZ Actors re: NZ Actor’s Equity Meeting
Other useful links: NZ Employment Law: Contractors vs. Employees ; NZ Dept. of Labour definition of an Employee ; Ruling on Bryson vs. Three Foot Six ; Karl Urban backs Union Stance ; Movie Studios Look at Other Options for The Hobbit ; TVNZ – The Plot Thickens ; SPADA on Hobbit Battle ; Gordon Campbell on Trade Unions vs. The Hobbit ; More from PJ on stuff.co.nz ; stuff.co.nz on Unions having No Legal Standing
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New Line, Warner Bros. and MGM have issued a combined statement regarding the current ‘Hobbit’ headlines:
New Line, Warner Bros. Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures are concerned by the recent allegations of unfair treatment of actors in New Zealand and instructions from the performers’ guilds to their membership to withhold services from the producers of “The Hobbit” in New Zealand. We are proud to have good relations with all of those performers’ guilds and value their contribution to the motion pictures produced in their respective jurisdictions throughout the world. But we believe that in this case the allegations are baseless and unfair to Peter Jackson and his team in Wellington who have been tireless supporters of the New Zealand motion picture community.
Continue reading “Studios hit back at actors over ‘Hobbit’”
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Peter Jackson has issued a swift and decisive statement in answer to recent suggestions by the IFA and affiliated actor’s unions that their members turn down parts in “The Hobbit” movie unless all New Zealand actors are allowed to bargain with the movie-makers collectively. Peter made the interesting point that this may be against current New Zealand law:
“NZ law prohibits engaging in collective bargaining with any labour organisation representing performers who are independent contractors, as film actors clearly are. The NZ Commerce Act claims it would be unlawful to engage with an Australian Union on these matters.”
More worrisome for Hobbit fans is his assertion that this may delay the making of “The Hobbit” even further and/or force the production to move to eastern Europe:
..”the “demands” of MEAA cannot be agreed to, or even considered – by law – and therefore the only options that remain involve closing the Hobbit down, or more likely shifting the production to Europe. It could so easily happen. I’ve been told that Disney are no longer bring movies to Australia because of their frustration with the MEAA.”
The MEAA is the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, or the actors union in Australia. The IFA and New Zealand Actors guild solicited the help of the Aussie organization in 2006 to help the unionization process of New Zealand actors. Keep reading to see the entire statement and be sure to join the discussion on our message boards.
Continue reading “Peter Jackson Takes the Gloves Off”
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A leaked memo last week informed us that an MGM buyout wouldn’t go through. MGM is on target for a planned bankruptcy and association with Spyglass that will likely allow two ‘Hobbit’ movies to go forward. Today we have info directly from the once potential buyer reported by the Associated Press which says:
Indian conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar says that its offer to buy out the creditors of struggling Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. for more than $2 billion has been rejected.
Subrata Roy Sahara, the company’s chairman, had a conference call with creditors on Tuesday. The company said late Thursday that the offer was rejected within hours.
A spokesman for Houlihan Lokey, an investment bank that is advising MGM’s creditors, declined to comment. You can read the rest right here.
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Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings soundtrack has taken the top spot on UK’s Classic FM’s top 100 movie music chart. Thanks to Ringer Diztek for sending us the link. For the full list, jump over to Classic FM. [Top 100 MovieMusic] [LOTR Top Spot]
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