There was a letter read on 9 to Noon today from (I think) John Barnett, head of South Pacific Pictures. It was very interesting, and if anyone can get hold of a copy it would be well worth posting.
It seems that professional actors in this country do very well indeed (90k average salary), and only ever negotiate their contracts on pay (not conditions). Plus, it seems that the actor’s union was after a large pot of money that Peter Jackson had put aside for union fees or some such thing – essentially Actor’s Equity did what it did to put that money into their union’s coffers.
But that’s from memory. Sadly the audio isn’t on the web site.
Something should go here, maybe later. 