Richard Branson Biopic Reviews: A Four-part Biopic on Richard Branson’s Journey to Success!
Richard Branson Biopic Reviews: The four-part biopic of Richard Branson, Branson (Sky Documentaries), directed by Chris Smith, starts at the end. Or at least it starts with Branson thinking about how it will all end. In the summer of 2021, Branson is getting ready to go to space in his beautiful, big villa on his own island in the British Virgin Islands, which is a tax haven. He is making a video message for his family and friends that will be played if he doesn’t come back from the stratosphere alive. When he talks about how sad it would be for his wife, children, and grandchildren if he died, he keeps crying and ruins the take.
Richard Branson’s Background and Risk-Taking Nature
The sequence is more than just a strikingly personal moment that would look good in a documentary. People say that Branson is always willing to take risks and has always tried new things when he could have kept what he already had. Now that he’s 70, he’s still putting everything, even his life, at risk. The first episode of Smith’s series does a good job of making us wonder if this is something to be happy about.
People often say that billionaires rose from poverty to wealth, but when we hear that they “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps,” it’s always instructive to look at how shiny those boots were, to begin with. After a summary of Branson’s first business, the magazine Student, and how selling cheap records through its classifieds led to the opening of the first Virgin Records store, we go back to his childhood.
His sister Vanessa gives a great example of a humble-ish background: “We weren’t raised either really poor or really rich.” Home movies show the Branson gaff, which is a big country house with a big garden. The children went to a private school. Their father was a lawyer, and their mother had several businesses, such as renting out extra rooms in the house.
The Early Days of Virgin Records: Branson’s Resourcefulness and Risk-Taking
This safety net set the stage for the early days of Branson’s record shops, including the trouble he got into in 1971 when a plan was uncovered in which records were taken to Dover and stamped for export, but then brought back to London and sold there without paying the equivalent of VAT.
The family home was put up as a £50,000 guarantee for a deal that gave him three years to pay his fine. He did this by growing the business quickly. Branson tells most of this story himself. He says it in a calm way, as if it were a small, maybe even inspiring, setback: “Everyone came together.”
Then, when Branson wanted to turn Virgin Records into a label as well as a store, he knew that having a publishing arm and a recording studio would give it a stronger base. So, with a £10,000 loan from his aunt, he bought the Manor studio and got his first big hit when he let an unknown musician named Mike Oldfield record there while other artists were taking a break. Oldfield ended up making Tubular Bells, which became a huge hit.
Guts, Luck, and Controversy in the Music Industry
It’s clear that Branson had guts as well as luck and privilege. Virgin was £500,000 in debt when he took a chance on the Sex Pistols, and we see him fighting off cops on the boat hired for them to play God Save the Queen in front of the Houses of Parliament during the silver jubilee. Even though the BBC banned the single, Virgin went on to sign many of the most popular bands of the 1980s.
But the show keeps showing entertaining clips of people who don’t like it, like NME editor Neil Spencer. In an interview with archive footage, he wears the jacket and thin tie of an angry post-punk and complains about how tightly written Virgin’s contracts are. He also makes fun of the fact that he supposedly paid £90,000 to sign the failed salsa-jazz fusion band Blue Rondo à la Turk.
More interestingly, Branson’s former close friends and coworkers are often there, if not to criticize him, then at least to say what they really think. “When Richard would wear woolly jumpers to meetings and stutter a lot, people thought he was a bumbling good guy,” says longtime Virgin Records executive Simon Draper.
“But Richard always had a very firm eye on the bottom line… Richard was a businessman who had no morals. Later, Branson’s cute story about how Virgin Atlantic was made up on the spot is immediately shot down by the company’s ex-vice president. Branson is always a likable interviewee.
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The first episode of the series ends with Branson’s (risky) move into aviation. This means that the show has yet to judge him as an environmentalist who runs an airline. But so far, it’s a good picture of the kinds of contradictions and coincidences that, when they come to light, make the legend of a business hero seem more like a myth.
Final Words
Richard Branson’s background and risk-taking nature are highlighted in the four-part biopic Richard Branson, Branson (Sky Documentaries). Branson had guts, luck, and privilege to succeed in the music industry, including a £50,000 guarantee and a £10,000 loan to buy the Manor studio. Virgin was £500,000 in debt when it signed the Sex Pistols, but the show shows clips of people who don’t like it.
