Unions are now getting involved with the as of yet un-green lit Hobbit movie. Union reps from SAG, Canadian Actors Equity, US Actors Equity, The Media Arts Alliance of Australia and Equity in the UK have informed their members NOT to accept work on the film. According to Variety the problem is that producers are refusing to lock in rights and payments in certain categories in particular like cancellation fees, working conditions and residual payments!
Yesterday, Peter Jackson responded to the problems by saying "Personally speaking, I'm not anti-union in the slightest. I'm a very proud and loyal member of three Hollywood unions - the Directors Guild, the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild. I support the Screen Actors Guild.” And then Jackson went onto say ““There is a twisted logic to seeing NZ humiliated on the world stage, by losing the Hobbit to Eastern Europe," he said. "Warners would take a financial hit that would cause other studios to steer clear of New Zealand. Seriously, if the Hobbit goes east (Eastern Europe in fact) - look forward to a long dry big budget movie drought in this country."
Serious words indeed!! There is so much spotlight being put on the troubles of The Hobbit at this stage that it already has a lot of hype surrounding it, and not in a good way!
