Further insight into the misunderstanding between thrupiecefilm and the Welsh Tourist Board was provided today as the normally tight-lipped production studio took the unprecedented step of releasing a transcript of part of a crucial conversation between top executives of the two parties prior to the film's final commissioning.
Close analysis of the document - sent to the offices of professorthrupiece.com reveals that unidentified representatives of the film company and two negotiators from the tourist board [known only as "the two Blodwyns"] were clearly at cross purposes; both misunderstanding each other as they agreed on the broad outlines of the whales/Wales promotion strategy. The Memo, sent from Head of Promotional Productions - Töppe Sellars - to thrupiecefilm's Wales Chief Mrs Angharad J Threadbone on 15th December, suggests how the original misunderstanding occurred but reveals little about how it was allowed to remain unchecked further down the commissioning process.
Independent contract negotiation specialist Reede-Annie Smallprint says that the document proves, if nothing else, that signing off on a project should always be on the basis of written documentation agreed by all parties and that the "the green light" should never be given on the basis of telephone conversations alone. "You have to see the colour of their ink as well as the whites of their eyes", she says. "Over the telephone, it's difficult to interpret intonation, especially when talking to Welsh people who tend to go on and on in that sing-song way until you can't bear to hear any more and just shut off, as it happens, tidy, for a fact, eisteddfod, Llangollen."
That Document in Full
pdf HERE
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