Ever Feel Like You're Being Used?

If the last couple of years have demonstrated anything for techos, it’s that you need to stand up for yourselves. It’s difficult in an association comprising such a wide diversity of occupations, but you really need to back yourselves and, to use that old union phrase “be strong”.

There are a few reasons why I say this. A few instances where I feel you have allowed yourselves to be used for other peoples’ purposes and have not worked out what is best for your own interests.

First, you were prevailed upon by Richard Taylor to march through the streets of Wellington in protest at the actors’ industrial action on The Hobbit, at a time when the key players, including the government, all knew that the dispute had been settled. And the only reason that information was not made public was because Peter Jackson did not like the wording of the press release announcing it.

Then, to thank you for your support, The Hobbit production company persuaded the government to pass an urgent change to our employment law specifically to take away from you a fundamental legal right you had had since the birth of your industry. Hey thanks guys, no problem.

And to complete the trifecta, we all subsequently discovered, due to the publication of an email from Peter Jackson to Gerry Brownlee, that the actors’ dispute had never had any bearing on the Warner Bros’ decision about where to film in any case. Triple whammy!

But wait there’s more. After a very worrying time for many of you, who were engaged to provide services to the Bollywood film Players, you then had to watch John Key bumbling his way around the set of that very film in Mumbai promising to do what he could to “make it easier” for productions like that to come here. And – as if he had no idea that immigration was a hot topic in our industry, and that Players Film Ltd had reportedly brought Indian nationals into the country without following the proper immigration process – he went on to say “there’s a number of things, we might help with immigration, speed up the process there…” Does this man not have advisers?

One thing that struck me when I got involved in the Players dispute was the climate of secrecy surrounding it. A number of people had very serious concerns across a range of aspects (including not being paid), but no one wanted to talk about it or make a fuss. This is a peculiarly NZ attitude I think. It reminds me of an anecdote told by Michael J Fox when he lived out here for the filming of The Frighteners. He relayed how one lunchtime on the set he was standing talking to a couple of people and eating his lunch. He’d been in that same position for five or so minutes when someone hesitantly tapped him on the arm and very apologetically explained that he was standing with his foot in their plate of food, and would he mind moving it so they could finish their lunch. He could not believe the person had not just yelled at him as soon as he put his foot there – “hey get your fucking foot off my plate!” Which is how, he said, it would have gone down in America.

So I think that’s part of it, but I also get the feeling that people have a perception that if you dispute something in the screen industry you will be seen as a troublemaker and will not get work in the future. If this is the case it’s precisely the wrong attitude for a number of reasons. First, of course, how can you fix something that is wrong if you don’t take issue with it? And if you consistently roll over rather than take action to remedy wrongs people will just continue to take advantage of that. Sure, people that are always complaining over trivial things are not going to be persuasive. But in my experience, people that stand up for themselves and fight for what they think is right, are ultimately respected.

Aside from anything else, it’s not a psychologically healthy way to work. It conveys a victim mentality. I think there are some aspects of our industry that work to produce this affect. Work can be hard to come by sometimes, and obviously you need to feed the family. The industry is very hierarchical (although from what I have heard, a lot less hierarchical than the Indian film industry. At least you don’t live in slums I guess…).

The egalitarianism that we pride ourselves on can be used against us. We are consistently told how accommodating and flexible our film crews are, and how this is one of our great selling-points, compared to the overly-regulated conditions in other countries. That’s all very well, but don’t believe too much of the hype. You are talented, resourceful, and creative. That’s why TV and film producers want to hire you. You don’t have to be docile to go with it.