NZ Actors Guild Fails To Break "The Hobbit"

The New Zealand Actors' Equity, which announced it would boycott the production of "The Hobbit", has reached an 'interim agreement' with producers to lift the boycott and keep the production on schedule.

"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."

However, "Hobbit" director producer Peter Jackson said this latest ploy with no guarantees of further disruptions, "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", including a mysterious fire that destroyed parts of Jackson's SFX house, Weta Workshop.

"There was an acceptance by the parties that the targeting of individual productions by the union had not been a successful strategy," said producers rep 'SPADA' (The Screen Production and Development Association of New Zealand). "This recent period of industrial unrest has been damaging for New Zealand's reputation as a shooting location..."

Warners now appears keen on shooting the film @ Leavesden Film Studios near London, UK where the "Harry Potter" movies were filmed, in addition to "The Dark Knight" and "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace".

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