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Richard Driscoll
Born (1960-01-13) 13 January 1960 (age 64)
Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom
Other namesSteven Craine
Occupation(s)Producer
Director
Actor
Screenwriter
Editor
Sound Department
Years active1981–present

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.[4][5] The film was a released in 2012.[6]

Legal history

Tax fraud conviction

Once Eldorado was released, HM Revenue and Customs began an investigation into Driscoll and the production accounting of the film.[7] 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.[8] 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.[9][10]

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.[11] He was subsequently jailed for three years.[12][13][14][15] Since his release, he has continued to write, act and direct with Ross Fall and his MAHA Films Label.[16] Since his conviction, he has continued to work under his pseudonyms Steven Craine and Chris Newman.[17]

Sexual misconduct allegations

In 2018, in the wake of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Driscoll was accused of sexual misconduct by two women.[18] Despite the accusations, he is currently working on a mini-series, Buckle-Up, from MAHA Films and executive producers Red Rock Entertainment.[19]

Filmography

Director

Actor

References

  1. ^ "Richard DRISCOLL personal appointments - Find and update company information - GOV.UK".
  2. ^ "Richard Driscoll". IMDb.
  3. ^ "How the 'worst film-maker in the UK' used Hollywood stars in huge Cornwall tax fraud". Cornwall Live News.
  4. ^ "How the 'worst film-maker in the UK' used Hollywood stars in huge Cornwall tax fraud". Cornwall Live News.
  5. ^ "'Worst film maker in UK' is broke and jailed". The Times.
  6. ^ "Eldorado-BBFC". BBFC.co.uk.
  7. ^ "Film producer guilty of VAT fraud". Gov.UK.
  8. ^ "How the 'worst film-maker in the UK' used Hollywood stars in huge Cornwall tax fraud". Cornwall Live News.
  9. ^ "How the 'worst film-maker in the UK' used Hollywood stars in huge Cornwall tax fraud". Cornwall Live News.
  10. ^ "'Worst film maker in UK' is broke and jailed". The Times.
  11. ^ "How the 'worst film-maker in the UK' used Hollywood stars in huge Cornwall tax fraud". Cornwall Live News.
  12. ^ "Film producer Richard Driscoll jailed for three years for VAT fraud". BBC.
  13. ^ "British Filmmaker Found Guilty Of Tax Fraud Involving 3D Horror Comedy 'Eldorado'". Deadline Hollywood.
  14. ^ "British Filmmaker Found Guilty of $2.3 Million Tax Fraud". The Hollywood Reporter.
  15. ^ "UK film producer Richard Driscoll sentenced today for £1.5m VAT fraud". The Independent.
  16. ^ "In Production - MAHA Films". MAHA Films.
  17. ^ "Like an Opera Version of Tosca: The Crazy World of Richard Driscoll". The Reprobate.
  18. ^ "Shocking fresh claims against disgraced producer Richard Driscoll". London Post. Archived from [london-post.co.uk/shocking-fresh-claims-against-disgraced-producer-richard-driscoll/ the original] on 8 December 2019. ((cite web)): Check |url= value (help)
  19. ^ "Current Investment Projects". Red Rock Entertainment.


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