I'm a strong believer in Unions and workers rights in general. Many of the rights we have as working people today are thanks to the sterling efforts of Unionists around the globe who fought for better conditions and better pay. We have a great deal to thank them for.
However, I also believe in having a decent strategy when you're fighting for change, and I think it's vital to pick your battles carefully.
Choosing to use the nuclear option at a very early stage by attempting to hold a multi-million dollar corporation to ransom when you have no aces in your hand is a risky strategy at best - and at worst (as we have seem with the whole Hobbit debacle) it can come back and bite you in the ass - hard.
It can also put the jobs of many of your fellow workers in jeopardy - and if you're on the side of the working stiff, as the Equity actors claim to be - surely that should also include the film crew, the pre- and post-production teams, the extras, the support staff and everyone else involved in or affected by the trickle-down effect of shooting (or not shooting) a $500 million movie in New Zealand?
Tomorrow the Warner Brothers executives will be here to hold emergency talks about the future of The Hobbit in New Zealand. They will be deciding on whether to spend their money here, whether to employ our incredibly talented and experienced film crews here, and ultimately they will be deciding whether or not we will be able to keep our unique title of "Middle-earth".
Do I wish that they didn't have that level of power over so many Kiwis' livelihoods? Yes of course - but the fact is, they do - and I'm hoping that a strong turnouts at the nationwide Rally of Hope to support filming of "The Hobbit" in New Zealand will serve to show Warner Brothers how much the people of New Zealand support Peter Jackson's wish to film The Hobbit here, and how hard we'll work to make sure that it happens.
I hope you'll join me.
Facebook Group here - Rally to support filming of "The Hobbit" in New Zealand:
RALLIES FOR ALL NEW ZEALANDERS, Industry & public on Labour Day Monday, 12.30 for 1pm-2pm!
These POSITIVE rallies of support are timed to coincide with the visit of Warner Bros. movie executives to discuss moving The Hobbit away from NZ. We're going to show them that we like them, we want The Hobbit filmed here and we SUPPORT Sir Peter.
These rallies will also emphasize the points other groups like film techs intend to make in the national media to influence Warners.
They are NOT protests against certain groups.
Invite ALL of your friends!!!
"Is the movie going to come or go? We don't know. Warners are coming here next Monday and we've got to fight like hell,"
Sir Peter Jackson.
Here are my placards:
LOTR Oscars: 17
Premiere of ROTK: 120,000 people
Awesome NZ locations: 268,021 km2
Skilled & experienced crew: thousands
Keeping The Hobbit in NZ: priceless
New Zealand
is
Middle-earth
...these are cool too - people from all over the world are sending in video messages of support - if you can't make it to one of the rallies, you can do the same. More info on how to contribute a video here - Calling for Video Support! and view all the videos here - videosforclip's Channel.
Excellent series of questions and answers from actor Yvette Reid here - A NZ actor emailed me asking some questions about the Hobbit situation, here are my answers
The most recent Hobbit thread on Public Address - Hard News: Anatomy of a Shambles
Hope to see you at the Rally of Hope!
Technorati tags: The Hobbit, Warner Brothers, Rally of Hope, New Zealand, movie, YouTube, Facebook, Public Address, Yvette Reid, Tolkein, WebWeaver's World, webweaver.
2 comments:
This your sign Ali?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/marywareham/5112382427/in/set-72157625110231617/
Sadly no. That one is very beautiful and hand-painted. Mine is not nearly as beautiful and computer-generated.
Ah well :)
It was a GREAT rally! Incredibly positive, and heaps of people (TV said 2,000, NZ Herald said 3,000). I'm so glad I went.
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