Manufactured crises at the Hobbit costs $15million more in corporate welfare
John Key has just announced the Hobbit will stay, but has agreed to pass new labour legislation for Warners and he has caved into giving them the larger tax rebate they wanted! An extra $15 million in corporate welfare on top of the $60 million in corporate welfare we were already giving them.
It's hilarious that John Key is handing out more corporate welfare while slashing domestic welfare and the mainstream media union bashed rather than challenge the underlying assumptions behind this right from the beginning.
It was never about the actors unions, and this will back fire on the Government now, it was sold to the public as all the fault of the actors unions when the reality was that was a divide and rule tactic by Warners that just saved them $15 million, NZer's will feel they've been conned and played like chumps.
It was all so predictable.
posted by Bomber @ 7:29 pm
7 comments
7 Comments:
Oh bullshit bomber and you know it. This was never an issue until the AUSTRALIAN union issues a global boycott of the hobbit. Millions of dollars had been spent on pre-production - it was a go - until the Australians dropped the N bomb.
John Key stepped in, dealt with the concerns of Warners (and I hope he extends the clarification of the contractor v employee matter to all industries), and showed what a capable leader he is.
He just won the election.
Please Bomber, this Corporate Welfare cry is a sham. Think of all the residuals that the 'contractors' will have no right to. That's where the real money is.
The $15 million is nothing to Warner Brothers or to the Government. $1.8 Billion to bail out our rich white christian mates, pfft, fuck yes! The real value was always with Weta and the 'Human Capital' already invested in the region.
I'll bet that Sir Peter is going to feel a bit silly when he realises what just happened. He probably just overreacted after the LOTR royalties scam. Seemed to be carrying a lot of stress in the jaw during his interviews too.
What exactly were those dirty Australian Maggots actually demanding of these good honest folk from Hollywood?
So Warner Bros went from -We are only concerned about any future protests/actions jeopardizing our production-
to -We insist that the NZ taxpayer pay EXTRA for us filming where we were always going to.
What justifies this charge/fee?
Whats extras do NZ get for this extra cost?
The deal was done, they were all set to film here yet Warner haggled an extra 10000000 dollars out of the Kiwi taxpayer because they were made to have doubts?
A Doubt fee.
Fucks sake.
Is not quite as bad as you make out, as mainly it means the government is just going to get a smaller slice of the tax pie. But it will be a slice! Better than none at all.
So now you know what happens on the casting couch. Pull your pants up Mary it's all over.
LMAO Scott - only people who bought into and believed it was all the actors union fault would believe your post, you are sadly part of the problem Scott, NZ just got chumped for $15m (USD) by the oldest divide and rule tactic in the book and you bought it like a simpleton.
It's your ability to be manipulated by Warners and the National Party spin machine that has been proven here, certainly not Keys chances in 2011.
"This was never an issue until the AUSTRALIAN union issues a global boycott of the hobbit."
Ahhhh, the Australian "bogeyman".
Yet, closer ties with Australia such as CER and rationalising legislation between the two countries - is a good idea.
It's ok for our four major trading banks to be Australian-owned - but by the gods, the Heavens shall crack and burst upon us if our trade unions happen to work together...
Of course this was all an almighty 'jack up'. And New Zealanders, being such a generally naive bunch, fell for it, Hobbit, Newline, and stinker.
Since when did we, as a nation, really care tuppence for jobs being "exported" to places like China, India, Fiji, Vietnam, etc? When did we become collectively upset if Head Offices were relocated to Melbourne or Sydney? And when - for god's sakes - did we march in the streets, upset and angry that manufacturing, IT, or call-centre jobs had been lost to Shanghai, Mumbai, or Manila?
Short answer: practically never.
Our economy has been systematically gutted since the late 1980s, and New Zealanders reacted with a practiced indifference that bordered on catatonic.
Yet, we became collectively hysterical that a couple of movie 'might' be moved offshore???????
Would anyone like a top-up in their cup of hysteria?
Because, really, this was naked hysteria unseen since the 1981 Springbok Tour (I'm too young to recall the 1951 Waterfront lockout).
And besides which; if anyone had really thought through the practicalities of moving "The Hobbit" to another country, they might've realised that it was highly unlikely.
Ireland, UK, Australia, and Canada all have strong Actor's Equity unions even stronger than our own.
So what would be the point???
And moving to Slovakia or Hungary would entail incredible logistical problems with language difficulties. Every single department head; team leader; etc, would've required a translater.
Need to hire extra porta-loos? Where's Ingrid? We need her to make the phone call for us.
Need extra hair styling product? Where's Igor? We need him to make the phone call for us.
It was simply never a 'goer'.
But then, Sir Peter and the Wide Boys from Warner Bros knew all that.
We just did as we were told.
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