The Hobbit Case Study

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Introduction

Over the years, the nature of work in New Zealand has seen many changes. One of these changes is the increasing amount of non-standard employment across many industries. These non-standard employment arrangements include temporary, casual and labour hire workers, independent and dependent contractors (Burton, 2011).

For many years the divergence between independent contractors and employees has been cause for much dispute. There have been many cases regarding this relationship. For instance, a key case in regards to this paper is that of Bryson v Three Foot Six [2005] 3 NZLR 721, which showed the ambiguity of the contractual agreement. In 2010, these contractual matters were evident in the dispute surrounding the Hobbit production. …show more content…

Therefore, they would solely rely on one company for work. These contractors receive no guaranteed work, and the work and hours they receive are limited (Tyson, 2011).

Overview of Majors

Warner Brothers and Sir Peter Jackson intended to film The Hobbit productions in New Zealand, as was the Lord of the Rings trilogy (Tyson, 2011). In light of the Bryson vs Three Foot Six Ltd (2005) case, Warner Brothers believed the New Zealand employment relations environment was unpredictable (Wilkinson, 2011) and that there would be adverse consequences to the contractual status of actors due to the case (Walker & Tipples, 2013). Therefore, they were unsure about commencing filming in New Zealand.

Before the amendment there was a large amount of ambiguity regarding a person’s employment status, in which the courts had the power to decide the definition of the relationship, either being a Contract for Service or Contract of Service (Wilkinson, 2013). Due to this ambiguity and the increased costs associated with these issues, Warner Brothers wanted confirmation that all workers on The Hobbit would be contractors and unable to claim …show more content…

In order to combat these financial issues a new success was required. This law change assisted with this success as they benefited from extra subsidies (Tyson, 2011). Also, because of their size and influence, Warner Brothers had substantial leverage in regards to the law change. Sir Peter Jackson’s reputation and power provided direct access to senior levels of New Zealand Government (Haworth, 2011). They also had the power to move the production offshore and to source replacement actors if New Zealand Government did not intervene. It could be claimed Warner Brothers main concern was about themselves and they had little concern about the rights of

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