[the_old_crowd] Re: Transfiguration here we come

[Richard]

At 10:30 21/03/2007 , Barry Arrowsmith wrote:

>The courts can over-rule any employment contract made by a
>16/17 year old (up until they reach 21) if they think it's not in the
>best interests of the young person. Can apply to other types of
>contract, too.

18, actually, not 21. The only areas in which the age of 21 rather than 18 
remains in terms of the concept of "majority" in English (& Welsh) law is 
standing for election to a public post, applying for most categories of 
firearms licence and owning a public house (i.e. selling alcohol, although 
you only need to be 18 to serve it).

Although Emma won't be 18 until next April, given the fact that she's been 
doing this Potter lark since she was 10 and is apparently intelligent and 
astute, any court (i.e. judge) would probably assume that she knows what 
she wants and would consider her own wishes above those of anyone around 
her. Should she decide to sign a contract, clear and absolute evidence of 
some form of arm-twisting would have to be produced to have it nullified 
(exactly as it would in the case of an adult).

>Next question - who decides what 'best interest' is or isn't.
>Gawd knows.

<etc, etc>

A small factoid to add to the mix....

Emma's mother is a lawyer, specialising in commercial contracts, in 
particular with regard to the world of entertainment. I know someone who 
used to work with her (from before Emma was given the part until about 
CoS's completion). It seems that Emma's mother was happier than she was to 
have got the part and she was the driving force behind Emma's acting career.

So whilst Emma's mum is very well placed to know exactly what Emma and the 
production team can and can't do with regard to her employment, it's not 
impossible that she is pulling strings for her own reasons.

In other words, if Emma really doesn't want to continue playing Hermione, 
nobody can force her. But if this latest story is just PR to get her a pay 
raise, she's in a fairly strong position for it to be credible and for her 
to get what she wants.

As it happens, from my recollection of HBP (which I didn't really enjoy and 
haven't re-read since it came out), I don't think Hermione had a huge 
amount of page-time anyway so there is no real reason why Emma shouldn't be 
able to fit in an appearance around whatever else she's up to. Considering 
both Dan and Rupert have been involved in other acting projects since they 
started working on HP while she has done absolutely nothing (is that by 
choice or lack of offers?) there could be an element of sour grapes in all 
of this as well.