����������������������������������������������������� role, and his replacement Putla Sehlapelo became the �������������������������������������������������������� no letter of intent required. The cast & crew spent the ���������������������������������������������������� had appeared.“ It was a close thing, but we made the broadcast deadline, and in the end Phutla( who wasn’ t ����������������������������������������������������������
This contract situation was one of the reasons for the infamous protest during the soap’ s release. A protest spurred on by an actor who did not sign a contract or even appear in the show.
���������������������������������������������������� ������� ���� ����� ���� ���� ����� ���� ���� ������ ������ failed to appear in court, and the hearing only took one day.” There were accusations of ������ ��������� ���� ���������� ���� the exploitation of actors regarding the wages they paid, but it’ s hard to justify that claim when the claimant is the one who refused to sign the contract and was offered a monthly salary that is more than the reported annual salary of some platinum mine workers.“ The judge was willing to be sympathetic to Tony’ s cause, but the action was dismissed when they simply couldn’ t present a convincing case.”
“ I believe that Tony was essentially trying to coerce us into changing the No Residual clause in the contracts. He knew that the more scenes we shot with him, the less likely it was that we’ d make the broadcast deadline without him in the series. If he made it to broadcast, he would have had the power to change the contract. We had to pull the plug when we did, or ������ ������ ����� ����� ������� ��� ������� �������� delaying the broadcast date, or signing his contract with a clause that was against their stated policy.”
Either way it was going to be costly, and the producers’ heads were on the chopping block!
“ I didn’ t like the underhanded way Tony and his ������ ���������� ���� ������ ����� ����� ������� ����� ����� ����� ������ ��� �������� ��� ���������� �������
24 | WGSA MAG June 2013
Tony was trying to coerce us into changing the No Residual clause
well before we started shooting. I must add that I ����� �������� ����� ������ ������� ���� ����������� ���� only to actors, but also to writers … but that was not the right way to go about changing the status quo.”
WGSA is presently setting up a task team to work with M-Net on finding a solution for residual payments that is acceptable to both parties.- Ed
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Richard originally signed on for only 18 months, about three months into shooting, but by April 2011 he had become more attached to the project than he had originally thought possible. But unfortunately a culture of rampant miscommunication and division within the cast and crew was slowly growing like a silent cancer, threatening to tear the production apart.
“ So the generator goes down ��� ����� ���� ��� ��� ������ ����� �� ���� kilometres from the set on location. ����������������������������������������������������� running as soon as they can and notify me later. After all, it’ s all in a day’ s work on a location shoot. Then an hour later, Bronwyn gives me a call from the city to tell me the generator is down and the Director has called her to say they’ re losing time. I think“ What! Again? �� �� ���� ��� ��� ����� ����� ���� ����� ��� ����� ��� ���� ����� ����������� ��� �������� ����� ���� ���������� ���� ����� ������ ���� �������� ���� ���� ����� ���� ��������� �������
The division of roles on the production between the two producers unfortunately created an unhealthy production environment. During the development phases, they had created one vision and the differences of opinion between the two producers nurtured a balanced creative atmosphere, but once the show was up