A New Zealand actors union has lifted a labor boycott that threatened to disrupt production of Peter Jackson's recently greenlit film "The Hobbit."
The New Zealand Actors' Equity, which had announced it would boycott the production over what it felt were unfair labor terms, said Thursday (New Zealand time) that it had reached an interim agreement with the producers to lift the boycott and keep the production on schedule.
Read a statement released by Kiwi labor officials: "In an effort to restore the confidence of the international and domestic film financing and production communities, and to ensure a peaceful stable period ... we negotiated an interim agreement until 31 March 2011 when it is expected that the (labor negotiations) will be concluded."
The question now is whether the move will be enough to satisfy Jackson.
Ending the boycott, he told the New Zealand Press, "does nothing to help the film stay in New Zealand ... The damage inflicted on our film industry by (the actors unions) is long since done."
The film, with Jackson finally at the helm, got the go-ahead last week from U.S. studio backers Warner/New Line and MGM to start production in February.
Backed by U.S. labor unions, the New Zealand groups were seeking terms similar to those commanded by the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of TV and Radio Artists.
At one point, even New Zealand Prime Minister John Key offered to have government officials mediate dispute.
And the heat got turned up on local labor officials on Tuesday (or Wednesday, if you're Down Under). That's when 1,500 local film workers marched on the facilities of Wellington, N.Z., visual effects shop WETA Digital, pleading with union officials to end their boycott.
Following the agreement, however, both SAG and AFTRA issued conditional statements, saying their members were free to work on "The Hobbit."
"In light of (the interim agreement), the Screen Actors Guild will be alerting its members that they are now free to accept engagements, under (SAG) contract terms and conditions, on 'The Hobbit,'" read SAG's missive to the press.
Here's the full press release:
Last week SPADA held a meeting with representatives of NZ Actors’ Equity (Equity). Helen Kelly from the CTU also attended and the meeting was chaired by Hon Gerry Brownlee.
There was an acceptance by the parties that the targeting of individual productions by the union had not been a successful strategy and that henceforth the parties would discuss matters with each other in the first instance.
At the meeting SPADA and Equity agreed they would enter a period of discussion and good faith negotiation on the Pink Book. While all matters of form and content relating to the engagement of actors in the screen industry will be discussed, you should be aware that this is no more than what would normally happen in such discussions and that these are the discussions we were trying to have with the union around 18 months ago.
