David Tennant's Hamlet to DVD

I was signature 5939.

woo! signature number 5946

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Hello. My name is Nicola and I'm in contact with Margret Best, who began this petition (to clarify, she's a patron of the RSC not a veteran) and have been helping her to publicise it. Thank you for mentioning it here. Any questions you have regarding it, you're welcome to ask me and I'll try my best.

There are many dvd companies looking at this at the moment one of them being the company i work for.

Very cool, Osiris! :)

We wont be pursuing it anymore due to how much it would cost us against how much my bosses think it would make.

In my opinion it's a licence to print money as David Tennant is hotter than **** at the moment, but what do i know.

I've tried to push them into releasing more stage shows on DVD but they wont have it. If Bad Girls does well on DVD it may be a different story though.

The pitch we were working towards was simply for the DVD, which probably wouldnt have been that attractive to the producers.

King Lear was released through a company called Metrodome who have released a large quantity of theatre based releases including the Old Vics version of Nicholas Nickleby. They obviously have contacts that we dont so it wouldnt surprise me if they pick it up.

As cinema releases are generally judged on their opening weekends performance, DVD sales are judged by their first weeks performance. With that on mind the recent production of King Lear performed very badly, but i dont think Metrodome spent that much on marketing.

To be honest getting a deal to include tv and worldwide rights is very difficult, and with a hot property like this it's not gonna be cheap especially with Tennant attached. I've just finished producing the DVD of the BBC's version of Anne Frank and worldwide rights simply were not available

I would say the petition people are signing in this instance is crucial and i would urge as many people as possible to sign up. In terms of how much it would costs the rights i wouldnt like to say, but the producers would be foolish not to release, depending on how much of a cut Tennant and the creative team would take.

The thing about this production is that while Tennant was very obviously a hugely central aspect of it, there was far more to it than just him. The fact the play was still brilliant without him should speak volumes. I feel it should be filmed not only to give the masses their chance to catch Tennant, but also to preserve the awesome ensemble in its entirety. I can't tell you how badly I'd want a tangible record of Penny Downie's heartbreaking Gertrude (and Peter de Jersey's awesome Horatio and dammit I was going to try going a whole post without mentioning it but I just loved him far too much in the role for that to happen XD).

One would hope that Tennant and agent would realise that this would be an excellent record of the production, a valuable resource in the classroom, and a last chance for both Tennant and Tennant fans to give the Tennant Hamlet to the disappointed masses. If this doesn't come off, and it's because Tennant proved prohibitively expensive, then I will be outraged and furious. Obviously he deserves a fair whack at any money, but just because this DVD would be a licence to print money (thanks Pauly ) doesn't mean it would make sense for him to demands wads of cash. One presumes he is WELL set up financially for the time-being, so it'd be smashing if he (and/or his agent; I'm fully aware actors don't generally tend to be total money-grubbers XD) could see the value of this project for everyone, and ask for only a reasonable small financial bonus.

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Read my whole post: I covered the bit where I expect he wouldn't be, and the fact I would be outraged and furious, when I'm a terrifically laidback individual, should be further indicator as to how unlikely that event would be. :P

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Reported in yesterdays Sunday Telegraph.
The production is now set be put on film over 3 weeks in June.
A theatre is yet to be confirmed but it wont be in front of an audience. (Think the DVD of 'Cats' filmed at the Adelphi!)
It will not be a film version of the production although it will have enhanced effects etc but it will remain a stage based presentation unlike when the RSC filmed its early 90s version of 'A MIdsummer NIghts Dream'.
One for the Christmas stocking maybe?

Updated On: 3/2/09 at 08:22 AM

We're delighted of course, but it's still early days. There has been no official confirmation from the RSC and I urge everyone to only be cautiously optimistic at this stage. Of course, it's very encouraging, but until it's filmed, plans can fall through and schedules can change. It's still early days.

Don't forget that Patrick Stewart was also in Hamlet, who has proven a draw for NY audiences in the past. Not sure about how likely it is really but never say never I guess.

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