Continued from last post…
He did. Without making any promises, he was, he said, being completely honest with us and told us that after a big and very long meeting with the production crew this morning, his concerns had been resolved and that he thought the balance was about right. And that we should all try to watch Donatus the director’s award-winning film, The Bug Trainer. I got the distinct feeling that the TV people had just been a bit, well, cack-handed with us.
Okay – that’s fine. Zilvinas got down to brass tacks. He wanted to amend the contract, until we were happy, there and then. The producer Tadas had arrived and between around 20 of us, we managed to sort out our issues. On the question of “unconditional” obedience to the production team plus being fined for not doing so, Nathaniel came up with a solution that was elegant beyond belief. He suggested that the real problem for us was a concern that our professional integrity could be undermined. Could we include a clause that allowed us to leave at any time, if any of us felt that that was the case?
Tadus was happy with this, as long as the previous clause about unconditional obedience was left in – after all, from their point of view, that’s about not wasting valuable crew’n’kit time.
This was a massive – MASSIVE relief. So we done it and dusted it and he agreed that Brooklyn Tom could have an electronic version to email to a lawyer in the States, if we could have it back on the table in the morning, signed, ready for the press conference on Tuesday.
It felt like we were finally on board, that the conflict had been doused and that all our concerns about the motives of the TV people had been worked out.
So to beer, smoke, talking about ANYTHING other than contracts and art – two words I figured I never wanted to hear again. We’re all cool, we’re all, we think, on board. We go to eat, we’re planning a film club, we’re all happy and laughing and eating soup.
Then Zilvinas leaves to finally catch up with his kids, and guess what.
Continued on next post…
