Greed

In 1977 a very talented actor by the name of Cliff Robertson discovered that his name had been forged on a $10,000.00 check and it had been carried out by Columbia Studio head David Begelman. In his search for justice Mr. Robertson found himself blacklisted and unable to work by the Hollywood elite for having had the audacity to challenge them. In the last few months another extremely talented man by the name of Peter Jackson is finding that Hollywood still has no morals.

Bob Shayne from New Line Cinema recently made a very public personal attack on Mr. Jackson and made sure that he knew that directing The Hobbit wasn't going to happen in he had anything to do about it. This is the man who made 2.9 BILLION dollars for the company with his Lord of the Rings films. Mr. Jackson has been trying for a couple of years to get New Line to fulfill their contractual obligation to him. A partial audit of the books for the first film turned up financial irregularities and Mr. Jackson is asking that all three films be audited in the name of fairness to make sure that all the money due to him was paid. New Line Cinema refuses.

With their refusal to allow a fair audit of the books New Line Cinema is looking more and more like they have something major to hide. More then one journalist who covers entertainment is asking if New Line cooked the books in a major manner. If they had nothing to hide then surely they would open the books and explain the irregularities that came out with the little partial audit. Do they owe not only Peter more money but a lot of other people? Has Hollywood learned nothing since 1977. Evidently not.

I have observed that their are certain people in the entertainment business that have allowed the shallow adulation and power that comes from their profession to go straight to their over inflated egos. They throw morality out the window. They set themselves above the rest of us mere humans. It is a funny thing though real life has a way of redressing the balance. Their are people who are not afraid to speak out and aren't afraid of the consequences because in the end morality will triumph. The egotists will find that they don't have the support they think they do. The opposition will become increasing vocal and confrontational. They won't go away.

Peter Jackson has the full support of those of us who are his fans. New Line CInema will find that the fans are not going to support their movies the way we did with Lord of the Rings because of their treatment of PJ. Trust me we are going to hit them where it really hurts, their pocketbooks.