Richard Driscoll (born 13 January 1960)[1] is a British screenwriter, film producer, actor and film director.[2]

Driscoll was born in Cardiff, and uses the professional name Steven Craine, to avoid confusion with Richard Driscoll, another British actor.[3]

Eldorado

Eldorado, which starred Daryl Hannah, David Carradine and Michael Madsen, was filmed mostly at Higher Nanpean Farm in Cornwall, a small production facility owned by Driscoll. However scenes involving Daryl Hannah were shot in Los Angeles. During production, Michael Madsen was hospitalised after an incident while intoxicated.[3][4] The film was a released in 2012.[5]

Tax fraud conviction

Once Eldorado was released, HM Revenue and Customs began an investigation into Driscoll and the production accounting of the film.[6] Driscoll had greatly inflated the budget of the film to claim VAT refunds on money the production had not spent. The entire budget of the film was reported by Driscoll to be £12 million but the subsequent investigation revealed it had only cost £750,000.[3] False invoices were created to give the impression that Carradine was paid more than £400,000 for 13 days' filming, even though he had died two weeks earlier than the filming dates stated. Other false invoices claimed Daryl Hannah was purportedly paid £575,000 for seven days' shooting at and travel to Driscoll's studio in Cornwall, even though all of her scenes were shot in Los Angeles. Another showed Rik Mayall received £44,350 for four days' filming when his fee was actually £6,000 for two days.[3][4]

In June 2013, Driscoll was found guilty of a £1.5 million VAT fraud involving inflating the values of invoices for projects including Eldorado, and two other films, Watchmen of Hellgate and Back2Hell. But, he was acquitted of conspiring to claim more than £2 million in film tax credit subsidies for Eldorado.[3] He was subsequently jailed for three years.[7][8][9][10] Since his release, he has continued to write, act and direct with Ross Fall and his MAHA Films Label.[11] Since his conviction, he has continued to work under his pseudonyms Steven Craine and Chris Newman.[12]

Filmography

Director

Actor

References

  1. ^ "Richard DRISCOLL personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".
  2. ^ "Richard Driscoll". IMDb.
  3. ^ a b c d e "How the 'worst film-maker in the UK' used Hollywood stars in huge Cornwall tax fraud". Cornwall Live News. 3 February 2019.
  4. ^ a b "'Worst film maker in UK' is broke and jailed". The Times. 2 July 2013.
  5. ^ "Eldorado-BBFC". BBFC.co.uk.
  6. ^ "Film producer guilty of VAT fraud". Gov.UK.
  7. ^ "Film producer Richard Driscoll jailed for three years for VAT fraud". BBC News. BBC. July 2013.
  8. ^ "British Filmmaker Found Guilty Of Tax Fraud Involving 3D Horror Comedy 'Eldorado'". Deadline Hollywood. 6 June 2013.
  9. ^ "British Filmmaker Found Guilty of $2.3 Million Tax Fraud". The Hollywood Reporter. 6 June 2013.
  10. ^ "UK film producer Richard Driscoll sentenced today for £1.5m VAT fraud". The Independent.
  11. ^ "In Production - MAHA Films". MAHA Films.
  12. ^ "Like an Opera Version of Tosca: The Crazy World of Richard Driscoll". The Reprobate. 28 May 2021.
  13. ^ M.J. Simpson (7 September 2024). "Mickey Who? The Unexpected, Improbable New Offering From Richard Driscoll". Desperate Living. Archived from the original on 8 September 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2024.


Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Driscoll
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