For people born in distant towns or the suburbs, homecomings are a trip. Novel for a while, but slowly more irritating as the reasons you left become abundantly clear.
I grew up in Penrith, a suburban bogan Eutopia in Sydney's west. There is nothing extraordinarily wrong with the place, it is just miles away from everything and anything. The silence is deafening, punctuated by the occasional screeching tyre or siren.
Hence why you either leave for good, or anchor yourself here for life.
I got out, but every so often family business calls me back. And so here I am, no internet (until I finally managed to borrow a USB modem today), terrible public transport and random sightings of people heavy drinking at 9 in the morning. On a weekday. Yikes.
With that in mind, I have gathered some tidbits this week. Scattered pieces to match my scattered mind. The outcome of living in someone else's space for a prolonged period of time.....
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1) MY PREDICTION - AN UPDATE
I have mentioned the growing war on piracy as shifting to a 'war of convenience' - offer easy to use online alternatives for film/TV consumption and make it inconvenient to illegally download - in a couple of previous newsletters:
http://openingactfilms.blogspot.com/2011/07/pirate-stole-my-livelihood.html
http://openingactfilms.blogspot.com/2011/10/prediction.html
And then I saw this story the other day. The move for Hollywood studios to push Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to hold illegal downloaders accountable is expanding at pace in Europe:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/chris-dodd-targets-piracy-at-206226
The highlights are:
Dodd singled out France's controversial three-strikes rule, which cuts off Internet access for users who repeatedly download material illegally, for particular praise.
But the senator cited similar tactics across Europe, including new anti-piracy legislation in Spain pending laws in Italy and the recent German-led raid earlier this month that shut down notorious piracy site kino.to.
the Motion Picture Assn. took British Telecom to court to force it to block access to an alleged film piracy site
It's growing. FAST.
2) RELIEF v SUCCESS
After pontificating about being relieved that we finally got a film festival selection for our film 'The Good Neighbour', it ended up winning Best Drama at the festival (http://openingactfilms.blogspot.com/2011/10/good-neighbour-wins-at-blue-mountains.html). I do feel slightly bad now for even slightly coming off as whingeing when I was talking about relief vs success, but a very good friend of mine had a first festival selection for his short film and the first thing he felt was......? That's right, relief. Anyone who has had a different experience is welcome to write in and prove me wrong.
3) THE SLOW PROTRACTED DEATH OF BROADCAST TELEVISION
The future (i.e. online distribution with massive increases in consumer power) is barreling down on traditional television content distribution models, and Shrek is behind the wheel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/business/media/netflix-secures-streaming-deal-with-dreamworks.html?_r=1
In what was considered a major shock in the cable TV Market in the USA, Dreamworks pictures, the makers of Shrek and Kung Fu Panda, passed on a traditional distribution deal with major cable broadcaster HBO and instead signed a deal with online streaming provider Netflix. This appears to be the first time first time a major Hollywood content supplier has chosen Web streaming over pay television. The longer it takes for television providers to start adapting to new technology, the more they guarantee they will be left behind.
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They say change is the only constant, but the rate of change evidenced in the industry above is quite dramatic. We are in an exciting, terrifying, transformative time. The storytellers will rise and the fame hungry will fall. Mark my words.
Change is the only constant. Except when you come home. Years pass in your home town, but nothing seems to change.
Except you.
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