So the true cost of Robin Hood was substantially more than the cost mooted in the press (although the film company mention that this was not the final budget), but Sharon Waxman from Hollywood has a breakdown of the figures. Let me put some of these figures into perspective for you.1 It cost almost $8m to buy the rights and write the screenplay - this, remember, for a movie about Robin Hood.
2 They paid the extras almost $4.5m - which having been the recipient of about $500 of that I can understand how that occurred. They had LOTS of extra's, lots of horses and were not scared of paying overtime
3 The costume budget was £14m. To compare that with another movie I worked on recently (Acts of Godfrey) I spoke to the costume lady there and she was costuming the whole feature length movie for £2500 ($4000).
4 $5m on picture vehicles and animals. Being a period film there were very few picture vehicles (other than a couple of boats) but there were lots of horses. Each horse also needed a groom and facilities to keep it near the set. This explains the high cost of that.
5 $3m just on cameras. I presume that's hire of the cameras and associated kit. In the scene I was in director Ridley Scott was filming with 5 cameras at one point. I understand these rent out at around £7000 (£10000) per week. The shoot was three months.....
All in all there's a lot of money for a movie which I hope to see over this weekend. More when I do
I read that Tesco stores are consolidating their hold on the UK grocery scene with over 30% of the market. I'm pretty sure that this us what leads to a stranglehold and anti customer practices. However rivals such as Sainsbury's and Waitrose are snapping at their heels. This should keep them in line.
At my sisters the other day we were talking about her son Harry who turns five this week. "Tell your uncle what you did last Saturday" she said. He shook his head. "We were watching Britains Got Talent and there was a guy on their who was swallowing coins and regurgitating them--"
"Stop right there!" I said. "I'm way ahead of you".
They await the reappearance of said coin with interest.
To the young lady in the floral dress who gets on my train every morning: what can you possibly have to talk about on the phone every day for so long? I'm beginning to think you've had that headset surgically attached to the side of your head.
I read that British Airways staff are looking to hold a number of strikes over the coming month. These coincide with the school mid-term break and the start of the World Cup Tournament. No doubt the strikes will cause inconvenience to thousands of passengers, are timed to be at their most destructive and will result in the airline making significant operating losses this quarter. Now let me look and see what's the reason the union is striking? Oh yes, it's because the airline is cutting staff to reduce costs. So the union thinks that the way to get the airline to rethink their cost cutting is to force it to lose even more money. Smart thinking Unite. Should BA pay for the shortfall in expenses by raiding your pension fund? Bet you'de object to that too wouldn't you?
