It is announced today, 27 October 2010, that the new Peter Jackson production of The Hobbit, the two-part prequel to his Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, will after all be produced in New Zealand. The announcement follows weeks of speculation and industrial action, culminating in a visit to New Zealand by Warner Brothers executives for talks with government and other stakeholders.
On Tuesday New Zealanders took to the streets to demonstrate their support for the project, due to begin filming in February 2011 whatever the choice of studio facilities. The London Harry Potter studio is vacant following the wrap of the final episode in June, and began to be mooted as an alternative when Australian and NZ actors' union boycotts sparked a heated debate.
A statement in support of the project remaining in New Zealand was read out to the demonstrators on behalf of NZ born Jackson. It read: "New Zealand is where "The Hobbit" films should be made. The creative DNA is here. This is where Middle Earth was born, and this is where it should stay." (American Public Media)
Industrial Action Fails for New Zealand Filmmakers
The original protests held by a NZ actors' union and supported by powerful UK and USA industry unions hinged around a specific feature of New Zealand employment law that could impact expensively on production costs for this and future movie projects. Employment law specialist Jane Latimer told Derek Cheng at the New Zealand Herald that a new law would have to be introduced to ensure film workers hired as contractors would retain that as their legal status.
"It would almost have to be The Hobbit Amendment Act. It would have to be a special amendment to the law just for this case. Then that is a guarantee," Ms Latimer said.
It seems that laws to protect contract workers from long-term negative effects in the local employment environment will have to be revised, since their current benefits were successfully invoked by craft workers in the Wellington film and television industry. A ruling in 2005 declared a movie model-maker's contract to be long-term, whatever the employer had intended, a possibility which has far-reaching financial implications for such a complex yet economically fragile industry.
Tax Benefits Further Inducement for Warner Bros.
After talks with Warner Bothers' representatives yesterday, New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, agreed that the decision rested largely on legal clarification that contracts signed could not later be overturned by the courts. Hence 'The Hobbit Ammendment' will need to be enacted.
The Minister also awarded an extra $25 million in tax benefits to the movie companies involved in the project as an additional inducement to keep not only the Wellington film industry healthy but boost the multi-billion dollar tourist spin-off continuing from The Lord of the Rings.
The Hobbit part one begins filming February 2011 for exhibition in December 2012, with part two due for exhibition in December 2013.
Valerie Williamson - Dr. Val Williamson is a freelance journalist and academic specialising in historical and popular culture topics.
