It's been a while since I posted.

Australia has a female Prime Minister now, people are walking around with Star-Trek devices called iPads, the Middle East youth are rebelling and calling for democracy and America has its first black President. All of this was only a daydream a few years ago.

But - cynicism is still attached like a limpet mine to world affairs;

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/04/trump-birtherism-and-race-baiting.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/28/bahrain-death-penalty-shia-protesters

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/welfare-sector-calls-for-fair-go-for-poor-20110428-1dyel.html

http://www.zdnet.com.au/iphone-ipad-tracking-big-deal-339313651.htm

Saleh.

Great Vic Gov't sponsored CO2 campaign

What Does It Cost To Produce A Webisode?

There's the start of an interesting conversation on the topic over at NEWTEEVEE.

We need more Australian data on this.

Personally, I'm involved in producing an animated FLASH Webisode at the moment that is costing approximately AUD$6,500.00 to produce the first 1-minute pilot. The client hopes to get this to around $2,000.00 per minute eventually, but I think $3,000.00 is more realistic.
Why? Because a Flash Animator (who is, after all, a specialist) worth his or her salt will be able to, depending on complexity, produce 30 seconds of Flash animation in a week and will usually charge about AUD$1,200.00 for the effort. Factor in GST, and you have a bill of $2,640.00 for a minute of Flash animation.
Of course, how much you can do in a week is largely up to how picky the client is and how many notes they throw at you.

Broadband Policies Affect Us All

Thank yourselves for voting Labour. Seriously. A Government-owned network is a better idea.
A good summary over at Whirlpool:

Both the Coalition and the Labor Party have extensive broadband policies, and the debate over high-speed internet access has featured prominently over the six weeks of the election campaign.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd has been spruiking his $4.7 billion Fibre To The Node (FTTN) proposal endlessly. The plan, which includes minimum speeds of 12Mbps to 98% of the population by the end of 2013, will be built by the government and remain in public hands providing what Labor calls a "genuinely open access ... network".

The ALP is also promising to legislate to protect its investment in the network, ensuring more equitable access charges and allowing for the full customisation of the service — everything from speed, connection quality and contention ratios.

The bush hasn't been forgotten either. The remaining 2% of the population that will not be reached by the Labor FTTN plan will receive the benefit of the existing government contract with OPEL. The contract, signed back in June, will provide WiMax and ADSL2+ access to regional Australians at a cost of almost $1 billion.

The Liberal Party, meanwhile, is taking a different approach to broadband, but ultimately is aiming for the same lofty 12Mbit peak. Its policy, "Australia Connect", John Howard has pledged not to raid the Future Fund like Labor, but rather to seek out private sector investment to build commercially viable fibre networks in major population centres. The plan will cover 99% of Australia's population with either FTTN or ADSL2+ or WiMax via the OPEL contract.

The other 1% of the population with receive government subsidies of up to $2,750 to purchase the necessary equipment to ensure high speed internet access in the bush.

Mr W.

Another great Ad.

Is your TV a Power Hog?

Hey, fatty, how much power does that big-screen TV of yours suck up?
Find out here: http://www.comparison.com.au/

'Tard Producers who screw things up for the rest of us...

Here's a section pulled from an email I recieved from a Producer looking for work:

"Hi,

I am emailing because I saw you attended MIPTV and would love to work with your company.  
I have produced mostly reality TV for Ten and Seven (I have attached my resume).  
I represent an extreme sports company and I have sold childrens DVDs.
I am looking for fulltime/contract work in development/os sales/series producing.  
I have an Australian contact in Bejing that can supply 22 minutes of animation for $us3000."

It goes on.

Firstly, look at the sentance structure. Could this guy be just a little self-focussed?
Secondly, 22 minutes of animation for US3K? On what fucking planet?
Even if this was the actual figure that this 'contact in Bejing' (way to spell, buddy) is able to match, I can hazard a guess as to the quality - turd-tastic.
So how is this guy screwing things up for the rest of us?
By not checking his numbers.
Even with Back-end and territories, a half-hour (22-24 minutes - the rest is ad breaks) of animation production will cost upwards of US$40,000.00 to send to an OS studio. Usually it costs around US$70,000.00.
It's cowboy pricks like this that give hard-ons to Executive producers by quoting unsubstantiated low figures. The net result is that overall budgets are driven down to the point where shows are impossible to make.

Aussie Peso hits US$.90 - Retailers cheer, Producers reach for the Diazapam

As the Australian dollar continues to rise like so much Pavlova, a leading Sydney cocaine dealer has reported a surge in new business from retail store managers and a fall in demand from entertainment Executives and Producers.

The story is an old one - retail profit made on imports ordered while the dollar is high is not translated into savings at the cash register where prices remain static. Conversely, a higher Oz currency means that local Producers can get less high, less often as work heads to NZ or SE Asia.

Meanwhile, business is as good as ever for local Coke dealers as they welcome a new wave of customers; Managers with unexpected retail bonuses - or MURBs.

I was talking to Paco, my usual source, last night and he told me that "Things are looking great for the Christmas holidays this year" and that "...the Bob and Jane mortgagees of this fine brown land don't realise they're funding my next AFP payoff every time they buy a new Plasma to watch Border Security..." Pausing briefly, he said that my Producer "mates" had been calling him less frequently too.

It was something about the way that Paco made that last observation - almost as though it was an unexpected bonus - that made me ask him if he missed my "mates" and their business. Paco said "Look, don't get me wrong, a Producer's money is as good as anyone else's, it's just the constant HAGGLING - it gives me the screaming shits. I've never met such a cheap bunch of wankers... present company excepted."

Television - a Hunter perspective

The following quote from Hunter S. Thompson could equally be applied to the Oz TV biz:

"The TV business is uglier than most things. It is normally perceived as some kind of cruel and shallow money trench through the heart of the journalism industry, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free and good men die like dogs, for no good reason.... Mainly we are dealing with a profoundly degenerate world, a living web of foulness, greed and treachery . . . which is also the biggest real business around and impossible to ignore. You can't get away from TV. It is everywhere. The hog is in the tunnel." (H.S.T 1988 R.I.P.)

No Rebate for Game Devs

There's been a lot of talk about the new Producer's rebate system and how it affects the Film and Television Industries here in Australia - but there is quite a large entertainment sector that has been left out in the cold.

Great Dove campaign - nipping at the heels of the Beauty Industry.