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Lord Jeffrey Archer should write the next 007 James Bond movie, Vic Armstrong should direct, the theme music should be done by Birmingham band ‘Editors’ and Aruna Shields should be the Bond girl.

Jonathan Stuart-Brown for SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY.

Enjoy the picture of British actress Aruna Shields who got on her 150 mph motorbike to become a top star in Bollywood and also a star in France this summer.  She at least will conquer Hollywood next year.  Other British based talent such as ‘Editors’  rock band and  novelist Lord Archer are becoming ever more popular in their field.  Lord Archer has just landed a massive film deal as well.

Vic Armstrong  of course just goes from strength to strength as the world’s top action  scene director.

http://www.vicarmstrong.com/show-reel/

There is no point in posting daily depressing posts about how The Culture Secretary  Jeremy Hunt and Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey are being so misadvised, ill-served, outwitted and out manipulated by  the civil servants  in The  Department of Culture, Media and Sport  with John Whittaker pulling the strings from The Isle of Man. David Cameron should now just axe the entire department and save the jobs of nurses, police, firemen and disabled care workers.

It does not matter whether Ed Vaizey goes with the BFI (whom we have no problem with as regards handing out any Lottery earmarked monies for London based film making), The BBC, Channel 4 or Film London. The key is the regions as London as a film force is finished within 18 months as the property owners of 6 year old Pinewood Shepperton plc are going to sell it off to realise property values. This is a 6 year old property company which owns no props, no costumes, no equipment, and has almost no staff. The company exists in The UK because until this year Hollywood big budget productions NEEDED its big sound stages and  would rent them. purely because of this there were 280 freelance companies which do have costumes, make up, camera equipment etc who would rent space at Pinewood and Shepperton Studios.  As this is all going within two years, then all the total tissue of lies over the need for tax credits and any Lottery subsidies put in  movies attracting inward investment just exposes out utterly out of their depth Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey are.  You can be sure they will not be sitting down with the owners of the plc, nor the owners after the forthcoming takeover. They are sitting down with the soon to be axed management who will be saying it is all great in The UK, while at the same time finalising opening in China alongside Malaysia, Canada and Germany. The film jobs are leaving the UK by 2012. The treasonous UK Film Council, dancing to John Whittaker’s tune, was trying to get the UK tax credit to apply to and subsidise Hollywood productions in Malaysia and China.

In any event, The Culture Department seem utterly determined to keep the corrupt, the inept and the disastrous regional film quangos and inherit ticking time bomb scandals from the previous government.  When the police close them down one by one, can David Cameron and Nick Clegg bear in mind the ministers who needlessly decided to grab the scandals from the previous government rather than just make a fresh start. They could  easily save money here while bringing in billions and billions of pounds of inward investment to the regions each year and  over two hundred thousand film jobs. But alas Jeremy Hunt and Ed Vaizey  have lost their nerve and are cosying up to the corrupt regional film quangos.  They have not heeded the closure of Screen East last week following a routine embezzlement – routine the arts quango world.  The Culture Secretary has not grasped that theft among arts and film quangos is so normal and habitual that they do not even consider it theft, fraud, embezzlent. They just need a very steady supply of taxpayer multi-millions, no scrutiny, no pressure to provide adequate accounts (or as Jon Williams might say ‘any accounts’) and clueless Ministers and Civil Servants. Alas they look like the perfect recipe is again on offer from The Department of Culture who have been told and told and told by very many around the country. 

They also need a national and local media which without challenge just print their fraudulent PR (which they are good at providing) and false stats (which they excel in).

We had The BBC  News announce Pinewood Studios is very much open for business. Well for two years, at most, in The UK. The BBC News did not mention Elstree Studios was 80% sold off after making ‘Star Wars’ to be a supermarket. Pinewood and Shepperton are going the same way very soon. 

It is incredible that Lord Jeffrey Archer has been to prison and many film quango and other arts quango  bosses have not.  Lord Archer has at least got very many skills – not least he is a genius novelist and writer of plots – and he has actually invested his own money into many creative ventures at an early stage e.g. The Tellytubbies. Film quangos purloin taxpayer money, gorge on it for personal lifestyles and family and friends, and PR companies to wine for more. They spend their time deterring inward investment from Hollywood and other major financiers which would both expose and quickly  render themselves irrelevant.  Who needs film quangos when you have £200 million budget movies with Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise being made in your town on private sector sound stages and with Hollywood finance and distribution ? So these must be stopped at all cost by the bureaucrats and alas dim and dumb Culture Department civil servants advise ‘it must be thus’.

Anyway Lord Archer should write the plot and screenplay for the new 007 movie. 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/trading-on-a-scoundrels-bad-reputation/article1709041/

He has signed a deal for the rights to make film or television versions of 10 novels with Jeffrey Steiner, a former head of the Toronto Economic Development Corp.  which spearheaded the creation of a new film studio on Canada’  waterfront  which is now called Pinewood Toronto. It is taking thousands of film jobs from The UK, and with Pinewood Malaysia and Pinewood Shanghai set to take the lot.

We wish these countries well, but our brief is defending and increasing UK based film jobs.

Anyway  there will be a film or TV version of  1986’s A Matter of Honour  to rival the movie blockbusters made from Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series. Indeed with minimum work and an update, this would make a genius 007 movie plot. It has a magnificent premise on a par with ‘Goldfinger’. It can be a real antidote to ‘Quantum of Solace’ which had the ‘Beverly Hills Cop 2′ factor. This is that the franchaise was so strong, the box office was guaranteed but the offering was so off-putting that the fanbase will more than halve before they turn up like sheep to the next instalment. They need superb marketing and/or superb word of mouth. So they need a superb movie. Jeffrey Archer and Vic Armstrong restores the faith a lot.

Vic Armstrong.  Just watch the showreel. BAFTA and OSCAR winner Vic Armstrong will ensure the action, the dialogue and the plot is the best ever.

http://www.vicarmstrong.com/show-reel/

Next they need a superb soundtrack to feed into the marketing and remain iconic for forty years such as ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Diamonds Are Forever’. This had the best female voice of her generation, Shirley Bassey.  So who has the best voice in the world at the moment ?

It has to be Tom Smith of ‘Editors’ who happily have now started to write the kind of material which can make a magnificent 007 soundtrack. Editors tunes  ’Papillon’ and ‘No Sound But The Wind’  are moving toward a 007 sound track and smash hit song. 
The musicality, versatility, musical literacy of Birmingham based band ‘Editors’  and their desire for artistic challenge can deliver the essential 007 hit which has been absent since  at least the 1985  and Duran Duran’s ‘View To A Kill’.  But in fact the real timeless 007  hit song has been much longer in coming . It is time for ‘Editors’ to write it and market the movie through its genius. It also would guarantee that ’Editors’ finally get a worthy pop video to go with their magnificent musical education, prowess and epic live gigs.

http://www.editorsofficial.com/ 

Next they need the hot chick in several markets. The new Angelina Jolie at her sexiest and most athletic is Aruna Shields who is becoming a smash in Bollywood and France, despite being from London. She is off to Hollywood next year.

 

Of course when will they make another 007. Only ourselves and the peerless  Furious D seem to understand the issues and the solutions.

http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/search/label/MGM-United%20Artists

We only understand them because we read The Furious D and recommend all 007 fans do as well.

http://dknowsall.blogspot.com/2010/07/hollywood-babble-on-on-551-more-signs.html

There is a whisper that Richard Branson is  considering an intervention. He was always up for movie producing but his experience in not being able to get distribution for  ’1984′ with John Hurt and Richard Burton put him off. He found out that even he could not easily take on the dishonest US cartels vis a vis distribution. Hollywood will pay actors, writers, directors, crew fantastic money. But they will not deal honestly, justly or fairly with investors in movies. If the movie makes a billion in The US and two billion elsewhere, they tell investors it made a loss and they can whistle for a profit share.  But for this material you need to read the genius writer Jonathan Gems and Jon Williams. Naturally Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Creative Industries Minister ED Vaizey will meet neither. The stupid thing is that they are decent, well-meaning ministers, just on the clear evidence of the past month totally out of their depth in this department. It is one only for very shrewd people who know the arts and film quango world in Britain is dishonest, sly, greedy and has nothing to do with film, arts, patriotism or public service.

http://www.pleasedsheep.com/forums/topic/9080-jonathan-gems-on-the-abolition-of-the-ukfc/

www.jw48.wordpress.com

If Branson can get honest distribution for 007, then he has deep pockets, huge capacity to borrow – even $4 billion which is needed to buy MGM and the 007,  The Hobbit, and vast back catalogues.  As Furious D keeps flagging up, MGM has distribution. This is the real power in Hollywood. Any rich fool can produce a movie. Only a distributor can get it in the shops (called cinemas) so the public can buy it.

Meanwhile  Steiner’s company, New Franchise Media Inc.,  created with fellow investor Mark Romoff and former Warner Bros. Canada executive Dianne Schwalm will develop the scripts for Lord Archer’s books and seek partners to produce the film or TV shows.

Lord Archer said:  “Anyone who can get a major new film studio built, especially without any government subsidy, is just the type of chap that can navigate through the madness of Hollywood and bring together the finest talent from Canada, the U.K. and the U.S.A. to make these projects into commercial successes”.

In all seriousness very many people at SAVE THE BRITISH FILM INDUSTRY strongly support Lord Archer being made Film Supremo in The UK.  He is far more honest than the usual UK Film Council and regional film quango chiefs. He has vast energy and a high work ethic. He hates bureaucracy and would love to get a viable industry which spurns state subsidy (which belongs to police, nurses, firemen, the poor, disabled, weak, vulnerable  etc ). He wants to redeem himself and his reputation and would work night and day to get sound stages built across The UK and state of the art sets. He would get beautiful inspiring sets where there is only ugliness, hopelessness and decay. He would help put inspiration and passion where there is despair. Besides which he does not need to embezzle monies or cheat on expenses. He has very little to beat among the  regional film quango chiefs and once again we call for a full police investigation  of every regional film quango following the Screen East arrest last week.

He would not have been silent as The UK Film Council was and is, as the 6 year old property company Pinewood Shepperton plc WHICH TRIES TO FOOL THE GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC THAT IT IS THE 75 YEAR OLD COMPANIES WHICH PRECEDED IT, started to move all its film jobs outside The UK and lined up the British based sites for sell off for billions. He would not have been silent nor complicit as Pinewood Shepperton plc tried to get another 1400 houses (and around another billion) in a scam to break up the greenbelt land round London so that this can expand concreting all in its path to Oxford and Bournemouth.

As most readers and supporters will know, Pinewood Shepperton plc will soon be in the hands of an honest man. This will be a refreshing change. Richard Bernstein of Crystal Amber plc will soon make a takeover bid from his near 28% shareholding. He will axe Michael Grade and Dunleavy from the management.  John Whittaker, or as his staff call him ‘the devil’ will for once be thwarted in his 40 year asset stripping career.  Of course the slow witted Department of Culture is going to meet the outgoing management of Pinewood Shepperton plc (not the soon to be announced new owners) and the outgoing UK Film Council and the corrupt regional film quango bosses. They will decide how to get the film industry going, or rather brainwash The Minister that it must be a south-east only club built on Hollywood billions invested in films on the south-east sound stages. The outgoing bunch will not mention to the Minister that the 34 sound stages which attract in the Hollywood billions will be sold off in two years time WHEN he may still be the Minister and certainly David Cameron and Nick Clegg will still be in office to face the music. They could and should call in the Culture Secretary and Creative Industries Minister for a very severe warning.  The sound stages at Pinewood and Shepperton must not be sold off, and more sound stages must be built round The UK, and the corrupt discredited regional film quangos axed.  Yeah right – more chance of Lord Archer being appointed as Culture Secretary ( ironically a man who understands art, painting, Opera, popular music as a former music promoter, literature, films and TV).

Increasingly the word is that Shepperton will be sold off within 18 months just like property developers sold off 80% of Elstree Studios just after it made ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’.  The word is half of Pinewood Studios will be sold off within two years and all of it shortly afterwards.   At least we might get one brilliant 007 made for the last time in Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, UK before then. So let it be a brilliant screenplay, Vic Armstrong directed, music provided by ‘Editors’ and sung from the depth of his heart and soul by Tom Smith, and graced by great looking British babes such as Aruna Shields and Jamilla Jamil as well as Wei Chiung Lin.

Jonathan Stuart-Brown

www.savethebritishfilmindustry.com