[HPFGU-Movie] Scheduling GoF

[GulPlum]

At 00:55 14/02/03 , Richelle Votaw wrote:
>Okay, question here.  GulPlum mentioned that they'll have more time over 
>the summer to shoot PoA, especially with Daniel turning 14 in July.  When 
>is school usually out in England?  In the U.S., school's out by the 
>beginning of June, or middle at the latest.

UK school holidays usually start in mid-July (until mid-September). The 
exact dates are set by LEAs (local education authorities), or the schools 
themselves if they're not state-funded. However, most schools and LEAs 
agree dates with each other so that there's a degree of national 
coordination (though it's not necessarily complete). For instance, at Dan's 
current school (the one he joined in September; I have good reason to 
suspect which it is) the school year ends, totally coincidentally, on his 
birthday. :-)

His school terms aren't necessarily governed by his own school, though; for 
the purposes of education/employment legislation, I would expect that all 
the kids on the production are deemed to be based at Leavesden Studios 
(regardless of where they're filming), and thus would follow the Watford 
LEA diary. After a long search online, I've discovered that they end the 
school year on the 22nd July and start 2003/4 on 2nd September.

That said, from the on-set reports and interviews with various child actors 
involved (not just the Trio), I got the impression that the Trio (plus Tom 
Felton) were tutored individually, whilst extras were taken as whole 
classes who were taught as such. Which means that everyone could well have 
stuck to the school calendar of wherever they live.

 > Will they continue tutoring on the set?  Or not?  Would that mean they have
 > three extra hours to film (minus breaks) due to no tutoring?  I know no one
 > knows for certain, but anyone care to speculate how that'll be handled?

Well, although only those involved know *for certain*, speculation is 
fairly straightforward and the legislation (amongst others, the Children 
and Young Persons Act 1933, as amended in 1998) is pretty clear:

"Under-14s may not work for more than 5 hours on a Saturday or on any day 
during school holidays, and no more than 2 hours on a Sunday. Those aged 14 
and over may not work for more than 8 hours on a Saturday or during 
holidays - the 2 hour limit on a Sunday still applies. "

(NB there is no strict regulation of breaks during those 8 hours, although 
the spirit of the legislation allows for 8 hours *plus* breaks, rather than 
*including* breaks which is the deal they've had to date. There are 
separate regulations relating to children under 14 who are being employed 
during term time and are applied on an individual basis, which I've quoted 
before and can't be bothered to look up.)

If only because 14 year-olds are allowed to work for 8 hours a day during 
holidays, there is no time for school work. :-) There is no legal 
requirement to educate "working children" during school holidays, although 
if anyone is in need of extra work to catch up with their off-set 
classmates, I suppose provisions can be made. In other words, if Dan hasn't 
caught up with his schoolmates by his birthday (when they all technically 
break up for holidays), space will be made for some tuition.

Then again, please remember that this whole topic started with my 
assumption that they'll all take advantage of the change in Dan's legal 
status: perhaps his parents will insist that he continues to work shorter 
days (NB his dad will presumably continue as his official chaperone) and 
gets some tuition most days, or perhaps they'll let him work on set a 
certain number of days per week for the maximum hours, but then set aside 
time on other days for schoolwork. Or, as with the previous two 
movies,  they might take him abroad on holiday for a few weeks around his 
birthday (as I recall, Spain during PS/SS and Florida during CoS), which 
will eat into the schedule.

*That* is what is open to speculation.

However, I just noticed a small snail in the ointment: for the climax of 
PoA, Harry is with Hermione all the time (less with Ron); Emma is almost a 
year younger than Dan and thus the legal limitations on the hours *she* can 
work remain in force (she won't be 14 until next April). Some clever 
scheduling and use of body doubles could get over that, though...