Secrets Of TV And Movie Set Catering & Will Wimbledon Ever Leave The BBC? 

Drinking game - take a shot every time Richard says 'by and large'

The Thing. Gold standard of remakes. Not only surpasses the original (which was also very good), but is a classic in its own right.

I've been crew for 25 years and catering is not as plush as they make it sound here most of the time, nor is it ever an hour and 15 minutes; 1 hour tops. It's better in commercials as there are more clients knocking about to impress and keep happy. American shoots do have better catering. UK drama shoots tend to have a choice of three things. Meat/fish/Vegie option and a salad bar. Not uncommon for a lesser choice to be put aside for Extras from a separate area, even just sandwiches, as generally crew have things to do, even in lunch breaks, so clogging up the crew queues with Extras is never useful. Not uncommon to push in front of them in the queue as a result. Anyone can queue jump if they need to with no upset caused as all are aware we have lots of very random things to do and each departments clock is running on different times. Some days when on location you may get on the callsheet "Food in hand" which will mean a 30 min lunch brought to you and you more or less work through it. This can be because of the impracticality of the location and nowhere to go to break or fighting for brief windows of correct light. It will mean an earlier finish though. In most cases the food is fine. Does the job. Never that spicy. Any good assistant getting teas and coffees during the day will pass the catering chalk board and get the DL on what's to come and tell their dept by 11am which is good for morale. I can tell when lunch is overdue, or who isn't having a good breakfast, as actors stomachs start rumbling and it picks up quite clearly on the radio mics...

Dara answered why comedians have customised live introductions, Josh answered why comedians do their OWN introductions.

I love how they always manage to say "See you next Tuesday" with a straight face.

My auntie sometimes works as a Supporting Artist. She was on a set with David Tennant. He insisted that all the Supporting Artists ate first, because if they ran out of food the crew would go out and get something for him, whilst they wouldn't for them. I know he's getting a lot of bad press recently, but hopefully that balances things a little bit.

About the Wimbledon discussion. We had something similar over here in Sweden, where when I was growing up the Ice Hockey World Championships were huge when it was available for everyone. And then it went to cable, and now it is largely forgotten. Even hockey fans don't bother that much with it anymore.

The reason that companies will say not to use portaloo or portacabin for those that aren't theirs is because they could lose their trademark to "genericide" where generic use of a trademarked term is so widespread that the company is unable to protect their trademark rights. One of the more famous cases would be Asprin, which Bayer lost through generic use.

Questions edition is sufficient. Answers are implied. I'm on the questions bandwagon!😂

Good lord that first transition noise scared the bejesus out of me 😅😅

I must correct Richard on calling a wireless mike “a Madonna type thing.” Kate Bush was the first performer to use a wireless headset microphone in concert for her 1979 Tour of Life. Her equipment was a repurposed commercial wireless mic, modified by her sound engineer using a bent coat hanger to position the mic on her head. Bush's live performance included a lot of dancing, and the wireless headset allowed her to move without the limitations of a handheld mic. It didn’t start to see mainstream use until around a decade later when Madonna used a professionally built one.

Question......How is the amount of money offered to contests on TV shows like the Chase decided?

Dara isn't disagreeing with Josh. He's disagreeing with Richard. Richard suggested getting someone famous to record an intro. Dara is explaining why that wouldn't work.

Amen to Richard’s point about Twitter! X is not a thing.

We went to see Ed byrne in dublin few weeks ago...and funny thing was he was his warm up acts.....warm up act lol he came on first did a bit then did the introduction to the warm up act, he did his own introduction off stage to

Marina: God I wish The Ashes were on terrestrial and not on Sky. Also Marina: This episode is brought to you by Sky. 😂

I've been eating set food for almost 40 years now. All of it in South Africa, sometimes I was the one booking it. Truth is, it very much depends on the production, the budget and the context. Can be as bad as a toasted sandwich at the side of a motorway, as good as wine and entrees if you're working on a French commercial in the Cape. You work long enough, across enough formats, and eras and you'll get every possible version. But you will never hear a better quote than from a sound man on a very low budget movie when the crew were winging about the bad food. "I don't want to eat a sausage for breakfast then weep when we watch the rushes." That went on the end of shoot t-shirt. BTW: having also done concert tours, it also depends... in this case very much on who is paying (lable toyr support or the band, etc.) and the scale of the gig. But onething that never fails, if it's Germany, breakfast is meat and cheese.

Just writing this to prove I was here at the start of the start of the Josh and Dara Drama. Or maybe the Widdicombe and O'Briain Scene?

I was an extra on a big film for two days (that flopped and almost killed a franchise, but switched to making series instead), and on the first day we broke for lunch, and I sat down with my food and two minutes later we were called back to set. I had two mouthfuls of ok curry, while the crew and supporting actors had nicer food, and got to eat all of theirs. It was a 15 hour day

O Brien's answering a different question.

This podcast could be called 'By and Large'😂

Good id very important in any situation..I used to transfer merchant crew between ships and airports and the first question usually asked when joining a ship was "who's the chef?" .. imagine being at sea for 3 months with someone who fed you badly!

Marina has got RU-vid top three’s totally mastered. She’s even doing Honourable Mentions now!

On the comedian introductions, the mystery remaining to me is why most comedians introduce themselves *in the third person*.... It's not like we don't recognise the voice.

Never get the intro right Marina, that’s what we’re here for. Love the show.

Josh has to introduce himself because he's got another man's name tattooed on his foot.

Marina, as a Cricket nut, thank you for advocating for at least The Ashes being on free to air. Paywall sport does nothing to actually draw people in and creates the problem of smaller crowds at the actual events. Why? If people don't know they're on, they're not going to go to it, and why would any channel advertise for something that is going to cost them viewers? The audience is there and is thirsty for the product, but by making it exclusive, the powers that be are cutting off their own noses to spite their faces.

That's a Port-a-loo Massacre.

The "x formerly known as" I see as a rude gesture to Musk which I think is funny.

"Airplane!" has got to be the best remake! The original (which itself is a remake) is a decent, straight-played drama. The remake - one of the funniest American comedies made, and one of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker's best. A purist might not consider it a remake though...

Trademark holders have to defend their trademark. If it starts to be used generically, they can lose the trademark because it is no longer associated in the public consciousness with their product but with the general category. Wikipedia has a long list of trademarks that have been cancelled because they became generic. I don't think they can actually stop people using it generically, though. If you are selling portable toilets and call them Portaloos, that's obviously against the law, but if you are just talking about them I don't know that there is any legal recourse. They just send strongly worded letters that sound threatening without actually threatening any real consequences.

What was that about the US Masters and the first 6 holes etc?

I would rather not have Marina's top three picks in reverse order. It's more fun to hear her talk about the one she's most excited about first.

Why is is called craft services

Kids play the game that is on TV that month. Free-to-air is the best advert for the game.

20:35 how many times did they remake spiderman?

No "Ocean's 11" in the remakes?

Catering on set, the worst thing ever is a "Rolling lunch"

Why do they both sit facing the back of the studio for most of the podcast? Rory Stewart and Alistair Campbell seem to be able to face the front while chatting to each other

The best movie remake is the The Thing (John Carpenter's version). There is no room for discussion.

When GAA moved a lot of their games from RTÉ to Sky, it caused a massive furore in Ireland.

so Richard since you drop Stephen Spielberg's name like you're besties- I noticed you first started name dropping his name during book tours, claiming he bought the rights and implying he was directing, then it turned out Columbus was going to direct the movie, now it turns out it's not a movie just going to be just another Netflix series. Have you ever even met Spielberg, been at his beach house, etc?

I recently introduced my wife to 'The Marina Drinking Game', in which you take a shot each time she touches her nose, but we couldn't agree upon whether touching the bridge of the nose counts. I think it should count because, like a goal in football, the more the merrier. However my other half thinks the bridge is technically not part of the nose. Who is right? Any guidance?

Tell us about how they produce the Tour De France, and why Sir Mark Cavendish has not had a proper documentary made about him on terrestrial TV.

I worked in children’s drama here and year on year budgets got cut and the first place money was saved was in catering which got worse year on year as a result

I will always defend the Italian Job "remake" because, for me, it's a great film that was incorrectly marketed as a remake when it's almost a completely different story. I'd much rather watch a film like that, which is inspired by/referencing an iconic film, than watch someone do a rubbish Michael Caine impression.

My sympathy for Producers sitting in post getting tea, coffee, croissants and biscuits and fruit *all* day long is pretty damn slim. I've been the runner delivering it, I've become an HoD receiving it. It's not hard work FFS Richard.

Why have you Stop categorising the sections on the video timeline

"X (formerly known as Twitter)": anybody know if they say this in the US too? I watch a few US RU-vid channels but I've never noticed.

Talking about brand names, I recommend everyone watch the "Don't say Velcro" video that, while very entertaining, completely fails at its mission.

No room for Gone in 60 Seconds? It might not be high art, but the original is truly a hard watch.

Can’t wait for the Marina / Spielberg episode. LOVE you two.

The thing . Invasion of body snatchers. The Fly

Wimbledon and BBC... in 2018 AELTC brought the broadcasting control in-house ie away from BBC. So now AELTC control the feed with their own production and camera crew

When West Side Story was in the cinemas, I overheard a young boy furiously moaning to his parents that they had took him to see it. The parents were laughing at his histrionics, while he shook his head. saying: "I can't believe you made me watch that. You said that he always made good films. I'll never trust you again." It was funny, though.

With regard to the Olympics being part of the "crown jewels" list...no other broadcaster would want them. They would take up far too much airtime for far too long and on the whole have very minor appeal ( sorry Archery, skeet shooting etc )and thus not be attractive to advertisers ....all factors that the BBC doesn't care about. If the BBC loses its licence fee funding model and has to go commercial they will no longer be able nor interested in paying the huge sums that they now do to show the Olympics. I also suspect that Wimbledon would be uneconomic also ....blocking out your channel for 12 hours days ...I doubt even Sky would be interested. Sky would probably not want the Olympics either I think... they couldn't make it pay. It's not just the fees that the Olympic Committee charge for broadcasting rights but the huge army of staff , pundits and broadcasters that you have to dedicate to the task sometimes months ahead of the event ...always in a foreign country and always at premium prices.

the "X/twitter"controversy: why not always call it "X™" , (especially in print) ? that should annoy everybody.

Do they have an Oscar for Catering?

Little Shop of Horrors

school portacabin = Prefab

the catering budgets on some big movies are sickening.They could feed a small town!

Twitter = Tweet X = ?

Richard, do you realise how often in all these videos you say by enlarge!

It's still called the twittarse to me!

In the 80s it was very traditional British (and fine for all that) and what slowed you down was the apple crumble with custard, cream and ice cream. Breakfast fried eggs always cooked to order and generally ‘Banjo’. At the same time in France we would sit down at a table with wine. No wine - walkout. The director most notorious for not wanting the crew to take a proper lunch break (maybe cheese on a biscuit was…Ken Loach.

Eeek! Edit suits? Recording studios? Are you the *ugger who drops crumbs in my faders?? And then there are those pesky stomach burbles that come over the mic. Always during the best take. Eons ago, I was recording an audio-only interview with a certain famous author. I was doing the normal thing of getting levels etc while she and the interviewer were chatting in the voice booth. But there was this odd clicking on the mic. I checked the cables, I checked the sound desk, then I checked the mic itself (discretely so that I didn't cause a scene), then returned to the control room, sat down next the producer, and said there was nothing I could do about it. We would have to live with it. "Why?" asked the producer angrily. "Well, if you want to tell Dame Barbara Cartland that her false teeth are clicking, help yourself. I'm not going to." There was a short pause. "We'll live with it." (Note, this was in the days of tape when we didn't have spectral digital editing systems where I could have solved it in seconds.)

Not sure how I feel about a podcast that discusses, reviews and critiques the media being sponsored by Sky. Certainly not ideal

ECB couldn't give two F#cks about that game. It is all about the bottom line for people in the ECB. They ran the Game into the ground, and the domestic teams suffered. To Richards's point. BTCC is shown on free-air TV on ITV 4 for 6 -7 hours.

Twitter pre Elon, Twatter post Elon. 😁

Oceans 11 has to be the best remake. The 1960 version was unwatchable.

Gotta shout out the wonderful Pierce Brosnan / Rene Russo remake of The Thomas Crown Affair. Superb film, and the Sinnerman scene is downright iconic.

I have stopped watching wimbledon as I'm sick of watching a big match i might have to pause the match so on delay and then they move it from BBC1 to BBC2 for the news.

the thing could be best and worst (there was a pretty crap one in the 2010s)

Jesus christ john carpenters the thing

My name is amusing to some. I have the same surname as a movie character, as my idiotic dad changed his name before i was born. Its not amusing to me because it causes problems, but its a conversation starter.

Screaming at the screen! Sorry, casino royal was a spoof of bond not a bond film bit like Austin powers Remake of Italian job was sacralidge but if you take away the title it’s an ok film

Greetings Pop pickers. Can I ask "what is your top 3 Spielberg Movies"? Not Arf!

The word you are searching for chaps is ‘generic’.

That people don't feel comfortable calling it X simply means that it was a boneheaded branding choice. It's an idiot name for a platform, full stop.

How long do you reckon the faux fumbled intro thing is going to be cute ? By all means, do the Marina-says-questions-edition-and-Richard-says-questions-and-answers-edition shtick ... But please just leave it at that and spare us the faux handwringing after ... "oh, I'll get it right next time", "oh, I keep doing the intro bad" ... Give me a break I've had enough, it's been going on for months.

I DO NOT GET NOTIFICATIONS FOR THIS SUBSCRIBTION

As usual you don't know what you're talking about Marina Jekyll. I am a union actress and it is extremely unlikely a "writer" would be on set. By SAG rules, hot meals are required to be served are an hour long, not half an hour as you claim, and served OFF SET so your ridiculous story about Anderson serving soup all day on set is wrong like everything you state. Also even union extras usually get a better meal than non union extras.

Good pod, but by crumbs, Marina is such a sneering leftie! Almost makes it unlistenable.

I don't love Marina.

What's Marina got against Elon Musk? He's a hero in my book.

How about using a sort of portmanteau calling it TwitX ? Or if your young and like to abbreviate everything TwX (phonetically Tw-eX)