Category Archives: richard osman

I Just Learned Why Horror Movies Make So Much Money And I Had No Clue

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I’m not someone who enjoys, or even knows how to enjoy, horror.

So to think that some titles can creep close to a billion dollars in box office sales is pretty wild to me ― but they can, and do.

In a recent episode of insider showbiz podcast The Rest Is Entertainment, co-host Marina Hyde said it’s Hollywood’s “most successful genre bar none,” adding that a third of the 50 most profitable (not highest-grossing, but best return on investment) movies in Hollywood history are horror.

Even I can accept that some people like the spooky scenes I so loathe ― but why is horror such a money-maker when people love action, comedy, and romance too?

Part of it has to do with production costs

Marina mentioned The Blair Witch Project, which mainly used “found footage” (video shot from one of the actors’ camcorders), and Paranormal Activity, which made use of CCTV clips.

Blumhouse, a big-name horror production company, are “ruthless” with their budget and don’t want to really go over $20 million, the journalist said.

“Horror is thriving, really thriving,” Marina added, suggesting that fans of the genre will drop a bit more dosh than, say, a rom-com lover.

“Audiences go to cinemas for horror… Horror fans want to see stuff in theatres, she said, later adding: “People want to be scared together.”

Then, there are the casts to consider ― you’re simply less likely to see a high-budget A-lister in a horror, meaning you can save on actors’ salaries.

Blumhouse movies “don’t have big stars,” for instance, Marina’s co-host Richard Osman said. “You don’t need to be spending $25 million on actors.”

After all, what truly makes a movie scary ― mystery, suspense, scary noises, and dim screens ― aren’t exactly budget-busters.

Anything else?

The American Film Market crunched the numbers on horror movies and said that while “on average, documentaries stay in theatres for almost 5 weeks… horror movies are gone in half that time.”

They add that “What this means in practice is that horror films are much more reliant on their opening weekend to make money than other genres, and therefore much more reliant on good marketing, and a measure of luck.”

Still, they say, horror seems to be the most profitable ― bad news for me personally, but great news for studio execs.

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So THAT’S How The Celebs For Strictly Come Dancing Are Chosen

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We all love a bit of Strictly, don’t we?

In the final months of the year, we cosy up in front of the TV with a cuppa and for a couple of hours, we’re suddenly dance experts, choreographers, the Best of the Biz when it comes to dancing.

However, our real expertise comes into play before the show is even back on air. The second that the Strictly contestants are announced, the real judges are us: “Who is that guy?” “Wait, wasn’t he in an advert or something?” “How is she a celebrity?”.

We know better than not just the dancers but the casting directors, too. We reckon we either don’t know people or they’re long-since washed up celebs.

However, Richard Osman pointed out on his podcast with Marina Hyde, The Rest Is Entertainment, that actually, Strictly is often the making of celebs and our assumptions about them is often wrong.

He said: “A large proportion of the biggest stars on British TV come from reality shows. Strictly has been the absolute making of them. I mean the wonderful late Caroline Flack absolutely went from minor TV presenter to presenting the X Factor and Love Island because she won Strictly.

″[As an agent] if you have a client who is on the cusp of becoming huge, and they have a personality that people like watching on television, then doing something like Strictly… it’s almost impossible to think of a better show.”

Talent executive at Strictly revealed details behind choosing contestants

Speaking on the Strictly Confidential podcast in 2018, the show’s talent executive Stefania Aleksander revealed that the process is actually quite complicated, saying: “You come up with ideas for the cast of Strictly, present them to the executives and commissioners, and together decide who we want to go for.

“The list is endless. We approach people that we really want to go after and we’d love to see on the show and then we meet them to have a chat about the show, and the commitment, and find out how much they want to learn to dance. Then we present that to the channel between us – it’s a long process.”

…Maybe we need to be a little less judgemental.

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This Is The 1 Presenter Richard Osman Believes Is The Hardest-Working In TV

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Host of House Of Games, regular star on panel shows and author of the Thursday Murder Club series of books, Richard Osman is an incredibly booked and busy talent in the world of entertainment.

However, who does he think is the most hard-working person on TV?

We’re spoilt for choice with television at the moment, and there are plenty of contenders that could take the title, but on his podcast The Rest Is Entertainment with Marina Hyde, Richard revealed exactly who he thinks has been putting a real graft in.

Answering a question about the “hardest-working person in television”, Richard named Romesh Ranganathan as “top of the pile”.

“He does so much so brilliantly,” the former Pointless star enthused. “I love Romesh, I’ve never seen him do a show badly.”

Romesh Ranganathan at the TV Baftas earlier this month
Romesh Ranganathan at the TV Baftas earlier this month

Karwai Tang via Getty Images

Richard went on to say that Romesh is somebody that “everybody wants to work with”.

He also gave a nod to Romesh’s “huge” work ethic and said: “I could live without working. I like staying at home. I do shows that I love doing and because I do four or five a day and they’re on every day, it feels like [people like me] are working more than they are.

“With someone like Romesh, he’s doing lots of stuff abroad, he’s doing The Weakest Link, doing the [Radio 2] radio show now and does all this Sky stuff… he’s working his socks off.”

However, Richard believes that the “real” hardest working people in telly are actually behind the scenes.

Richard explained that in his own TV show, on the day of filming he may be the hardest working in the room, but, “for the four months before and four months after the show, everyone else is working incredibly long hours to make me and make the show look good”.

He said he believes that associate or assistant producers are likely the hardest working as they work between the researchers and producers, while helping both of them with their roles.

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