Open Letter from MEAA

In response to the open letter from the SPAA - MEAA have released their own open letter:

________________________
19 August 2009

Geoff Brown
Executive Director
Screen Producers Association of Australia
34 Fitzroy Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010 Australia

Dear Geoff,

Open Letter to SPAA regarding the Offshore Commercials Agreement

On Friday 14 August, Equity visited your office to ask you to sit down and negotiate the Offshore Commercials Agreement – the agreement you recently ripped up and walked away from.

Rather than sit down and talk you decided to pull your blinds down and turn your lights off.

Indeed, rather than talk to Australian performers you apparently preferred to engage a law firm to hire a private investigator and videotape Equity coming to your office.

All we are asking for is the opportunity to sit down and negotiate an Offshore Commercials Agreement that works for both TVC producers and for performers.

Performers do not want to strike – we want an agreement!

Everything in the Offshore Agreement is negotiable.

So Geoff: JUST TALK TO US!

You know my number.

Yours sincerely,



Simon Whipp
National Director