These guys charged $150 for a Lord of the Rings & Hans Zimmer symphonic experience, but actually provided a shitty orchestra that played sound-a-like knock-offs. Then when people started wanting their money back they claim everybody loved it and that the NZ government is somehow crippling culture and arts. What a bunch of dicks.
The company blamed the New Zealand Government for “crippling culture and arts” by not granting their performers visas in time for the tour.
An Immigration NZ spokesperson confirmed Star Entertainment Gmbh filed requests for 47 people eligible for entry as they were from visa waiver countries, along with five visitor visas on May 9 – just three days before its first concert on May 12.
“We gave them less than 3 days and they didn’t grant us 47 entry visas and 5 visitor visa in time, it’s their fault”
Weird. Now I’m interested to know more about the economics of supposedly flying 47 people in for a small handful of concerts, after venue hire and ticketing and accommodation and advertising and production costs.
Well, production costs don’t seem to have been very significant.
Productions like Les Mis at the same types of venues had comparable ticket costs, albeit for longer runs, and from my understanding most of the cast (not sure about crew and others) were locals and largely worked for free.
from my understanding most of the cast (not sure about crew and others) were locals and largely worked for free.
Why? Was it run by a non-profit or something?
Source was that I know at least a couple of people in it, but supposedly it’s not that uncommon. People audition and donate time voluntarily because they really want to act in something like that, but maybe someone here who’s been involved could comment with more authority.
I assume there’s not a lot of margin with all the other costs, though. If you were going to pay the whole cast for all their many months of practice/rehearsal time it’d be very expensive.
Yeah but something just rubs me the wrong way about a for-profit performance being largely run on donated time. If it’s nonprofit then I have no issue with it.
The Screen Actors Guild has rules meaning Hollywood movies have to pay everyone (with specific minimums) because otherwise the whole industry would be people working for free in the hope of becoming the next Brad Pitt.
I felt the same when I first heard but, because it seemed surprising compared with the amount I’d paid for a couple of tickets, but I should really highlight that what I’m saying is hearsay. NZ already has lots of amateur theatre, and lots of people are in it because they enjoy it rather than because they’re hoping for a full time paid job. I think it’d be interesting to learn more about where the money goes and what people involved in productions like this think of it.
I think it’d be interesting to learn more about where the money goes and what people involved in productions like this think of it.
I agree, I shouldn’t make assumptions.
I felt the same when I first heard, because it seemed surprising compared with the amount I’d paid for a couple of tickets, but I’m no longer as sure about it. I really have to stress that what I’m saying is hearsay. NZ already has lots of amateur theatre, and lots of people are in it because they enjoy it rather than because they’re pinning any hopes on a full time paid job.
With some quick googling, Les Mis was put on (in Wellington recently at least) by the Capital Theatre Trust and G&T Productions. The first of those, at least, looks like a non-profit and is also putting on Wicked later this year, for which the audition pack also advises that all roles are available on an unpaid basis. If you are a non-profit then I guess you structure things to pay for stuff that people aren’t already keen to do for free (except the awesomeness of being part of a big flashy stage production in a major theatre in front of thousands of people), and set the ticket prices based on that. I think it’d be interesting to learn more about what people involved in productions like this think of it, if anyone in that situation is lurking.
Oops - sorry Lemmy seemed to’ve locked up when I wrote the first comment and I thought it hadn’t gone through, so I wrote it again and expanded it.
This story is completely insane.
Were these the same guys that brought over the “monster truck” rally?
