| Biography | Richard Norton was intalled as the first managing director of Pinewood in 1936. He came up with strategies to keep the studio busy and the staff and technicians employed during quieter seasons. He set up a small subsidiary company, Pinebrook, which was designed to make low-budget films, or 'fillers', when there were gaps in studio bookings. Pinebrook was a hazardous experiment which spawned a major innovation in film finance; however cheaply the pictures were made, Norton generally found it a struggle to pay the wages. He pursuaded cast and crew to invest past of their wages in the films. With the 'Norton Formula', as it became known, Pinebrook never lost money. |