From stuff.co.nz: Peter Jackson along with fellow Oscar winner Jamie Selkirk stepped down from Sir Richard Taylor’s Miramar workshop on December 31, Companies Office documents show. The change comes ahead of new legislation which would make directors personally liable for health and safety, which the Institute of Directors said demonstrated that directors needed to be across all aspects of the business. Jackson and Selkirk both still own about one third of Weta Workshop.
Weta Workshop senior communications manager Erik Hay confirmed the law change was behind the move for Jackson and Selkirk. “The reason was centred around the law change, which will require them to be more involved on a daily basis. As a manufacturing business, it’s important they are. Peter felt he was not and decided to step out of the piece. They will still retain shares in the company.” Read more…
Oscar-winning special effects guru Joe Letteri has been made a partner at Weta Digital. Letteri, an American, joins Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Selkirk as an equal partner and shareholder in the internationally successful Wellington company. He has been a senior visual effects supervisor for Weta Digital, which provides computer-generated effects, since 2001, and will continue in that role. Before that, he worked at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic for 10 years, and he was a visual effects co-supervisor for the 1997 Star Wars Special Edition. He has played a key role in attracting productions to New Zealand, including James Cameron’s new film Avatar, for which Weta is providing the visual effects.