Peter Jackson on the campaign against The Hobbit

"The MEAA's campaign against The Hobbit has nothing to do with the way Wingnut Films has treated actors and everything to do with using The Hobbit to bring publicity to the MEAA's cause.

"They do not seem to care about the damage they have done to our film or for that matter, to the New Zealand film industry in general. This is about nothing more than leveraging our movie for political gain.

“This situation is bordering on farce because The Hobbit has been falsely accused of being a "non-union" production - by NZ Equity, who themselves have been struck off the register of Incorporated Societies, having lost their union status. It would be laughable, if there weren't so much at stake. But there is nothing funny about people losing their jobs and the crippling effect that losing The Hobbit is going to have on our film industry.

"For years our company WingNut Films has hired actors on terms and conditions that are among the best and most generous in New Zealand.

“We have always treated cast and crew with kindness and respect, because it is the right thing to do, not because it is enshrined in an industry code of practice. I am a firm supporter of unions but when a tiny minority is empowered to endanger the livelihoods of so many people, something is very wrong.

"If an NZ actor is contracted to appear for 'run of picture' in a small supporting role, they would attract at a fee of around NZ $5000 per week. Looking at the current published rates of the Screen Actor's Guild of America (which is the gold standard to which NZ Equity aspires), the SAG weekly minimum for the same role and time commitment is NZ $3,800 per week. Therefore Wingnut Films pays NZ actors approx $1,200 per week more than his (or her) US counterpart.

"The studio were insisting we cast a US actor in the role, but I went into bat for Karl - who had no marquee value in the US market at that time, because I believed he was the best person for the role.

“Back then, we would typically pay an actor in a role of that size $1600 a day or $10,000 per week. Again, this rate is higher than the SAG minimum.

"This is the first time ever NZ actors have had residuals, and we are proud that it's being introduced on our movie. The level of residuals is better than a similar scheme in Canada, and is much the same as the UK residual scheme. It is not quite as much as the SAG rate.

"People are claiming this is the reason the film is moving off shore. It's completely absurd. Eastern Europe is only being considered because a minority group of the NZ acting community have invoked union action that has blacklisted our film, making it impossible to shoot in New Zealand. It is not an issue in any other country.

"It is very naive to think that we have much say in what happens from this point on. Warners gave us an opportunity to set the film up in New Zealand and we have been unable to do that successfully. Warners are cash flowing these films to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars and they will now decide how, and eventually where, this money is spent.

"The MEAA needs to stop playing games and to sit down at the negotiating table with SPADA. This needs to be resolved and quickly for everyone's sake."

ENDS

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