New Line/Warner Bros. have agreed to keep the filming of The Hobbit films in New Zealand after the government agreed to give the movie’s backers an extra $34 million of tax payers money, plus an undertaking to *rush through changes to labour legislation ‘under urgency ‘ to clarify the position of contractors working on film…
See, what did we say? – The Hobbit fracas was all about the dollars. You don’t bring 10 studio executives over from the US, and host them at considerable expense, to talk about NZ employment law and practices. The bust up with the Unions was just being used for additional leverage, so shame on those…
Today’s meeting between New Line/Warner and the NZ government has ended inconclusively, with studio executives asking for larger incentives (tax breaks) and changes to labour laws to keep The Hobbit movies in NZ (link) In Britain, for films with a core expenditure of more than £20 million, the film production company can claim a payable…
NZ Prime Minister, John Key, has today told the press that he won’t (ed. can’t?) be getting into a bidding war to keep The Hobbit production in New Zealand just because other countries have been rumoured to be offering the film’s backers more in tax incentives: “I’ve made it quite clear that if it comes…
E2NZ.org 