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Let's Put On a Show!

 
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This is a thread to discuss the idea of creating a permaculture movie or TV series or web series that people have been talking about in this thread:  https://permies.com/t/80/60886/solutions-simple

Just FYI I've worked in showbiz since 1986 and have contacts in the biz, though they may not be relevant to this exact project.

 
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The real funny thing is that I was thinking exactly this, and of you writing this thread, just a few minutes ago, Tyler!

I have no show biz skillz!<-none, that I know of anyway.  But I would be willing to help in any way that I can.
 
Roberto pokachinni
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I am a bit of a writer...
 
Tyler Ludens
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Maybe ideas for the story or format can be brainstormed here, as well as the very important challenge of funding.  Quality productions cost hundreds of thousands of $$.  

My contacts are mostly in the motion-picture special effects and makeup fields, so unless it's a movie about Zombies versus Permies, not sure they will be of help.  I do know a production designer.  My own skills are in specialty costumes and props; again, not especially relevant.

Above all there, must be a handful of people who are strongly dedicated to the project, who are willing to devote most of their time and energy to it.  
 
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I can't put a lot of effort into this, but I can toss in ideas from time to time.

Zombies vs Permies made me think of all my friends that are into the Walking Dead. Maybe find a way to contact a writer on the show and get them to toss in a permie farm as a location or plot idea. This has the advantage of being small and possible while piggybacking on an existing project. I dislike that kind of show myself so don't know enough to put together a pitch, but if I was to do it I'd try to put together as much of the idea as possible to make it easier for them to integrate it.

I like the idea of something like Green Acre, but it has been so long since I've seen the original show that I only have vague memories. I also suck at writing [i.e. I can actually write well, but it takes me so much longer than experts that I don't prioritize it over things like growing potatoes.]

My best contact in the industry last worked as a writer on Deep Space Nine. I doubt he'd be much help now, but if someone has something they want to send to contacts maybe I can have him pass it on to whoever he might still know. It would definitely help if it had a libertarian bent to it as that is more his focus these days - that and horror.

I also like the idea of raising the dough first, then baking the loaf. That is, outline a first show/episode, then crowdfund it and release it freely. Then each episode or new show you can ask for a bit more. Rinse & repeat. Con Man raised $3 million, but then it was promoted by some relatively heavy hitters. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/con-man#/ I wouldn't expect a new/unknown entity to be able to raise that much.
 
Roberto pokachinni
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Maybe this:    (and i'm not attached to this at all, just a thought)

Joe X works at a factory, which is closed due to cheaper labor in country Y.  He knows that his wife Margie's job at the dry-cleaner's isn't going to be enough, no matter how much they tighten their belts.   They don't know what to do, since all their eggs were in this factory basket for paying the lion's share of the bills.  Their rent is coming up soon and they can pay it from their meager savings, but he knows he's going to have to make some big decisions, and soon.  And then he remembers he happens to have a place to go, since grandma had 5 acres in the woods in the next state over.  They get there, but they still don't know anything about what they are going to do there, and the finances are not great.  They start thinking food, and have arguments and drama attached to starving.   Somebody at the local general store overhears one of their conversations about the price of the eggs, and says that chicks are cheap to get and this is the time of year to order some.  And visions of chickens and eggs and yummy dishes lead them to the internet to make sure that they learn the best way to farm their chickens so that they don't loose this investment, and they find a youtube video that leads them to permies.  They come to permies, ask a few questions, get the answers they need, set up the perfect chicken coop, and are completely hooked on getting ideas from Permies...   they build a rocket mass heater to save labor on wood gathering, and consider their lighting needs...   and then they start to innovate on their own.  
 
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The show idea in my head looks more like some of the gardening, wood working, DIY, how-to kinds of shows. To actually show that The Solutions are Simple. "Hey, I saw a guy/gal on tv demonstrating how to..... I can do that."

Emailed the AdCouncil to ask some basic questions. Let you know if I hear back. If nothing else, someone who reads the inquiries gets to read Permies.com several times. (Saved copy of questions - in case moderators care to see.)
 
Roberto pokachinni
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Karen,
I like it.  Your idea would certainly be easier to produce, and it could make the 'characters' different every episode, as the host explores various projects.  I like it.

Great that you connected to the ad council.  !!
 
Karen Donnachaidh
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Being that it's Saturday, may take awhile to hear anything. We'll see. But I thought, they have PSAs about recycling, saving food from being thrown away and even "Only you can prevent forest fires." Worth a try.
 
Tyler Ludens
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There's the title, if it isn't already used by some show.  The Solutions Are Simple.

I like the idea of a how-to show.  It needs a couple or small handful of charismatic hosts, who go around showing what people are doing and how they do it.  Intros and endings should probably be scripted, but the rest could be improv.

Also Ron's suggestion to do a pilot first.  If only a modest production and not really Main Stream Showbiz, could be done via Patreon for funding, possibly.  How will this distinguish itself from all the other crowdfunded productions, though?  What audience is it trying to reach, and is it really trying to go mainstream and get on actual TV?

A series of PSAs seem more plausible than a longer-form actual show.



 
Karen Donnachaidh
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A pilot or ,to start off small, be a segment on an existing show. Whose? Don't know yet. Thinking out loud. (Which means I'm not getting these vegetables cut up. Back later. I'll be thinking.)
 
Roberto pokachinni
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A series of PSAs seem more plausible than a longer-form actual show.

 These could be a start to gauge interest and then... maybe something bigger.  Would be quite possible to get better funding once something of this nature already proved it's worth.
 
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Ron Helwig wrote:

Zombies vs Permies



I always wanted to play a video game based on this.

setting: Post zombie apocolipse
Goal: create a place where humans can exist in comfort
If multi player, it would be a cooperative game, not pvp stuff.  

Combination of farming - with different farming practices, defence, and adventure.  
-so a till field with chemical fertiliser would be the start, but the yield would decline quickly and the fertiliser would be a finite resource which makes people go organic very quickly on
- no-till field would gain fertility and increase yield each year - think Fukuoka
- food forest would be a large investment in time but provide more things.

As the game advances and more people came to the place, you would need to provide housing with local or scavenged materials (cob), heat in winter (RMH, coppice wood lot, dried zombie limbs), and clothing (flax, wool, llama).

Stacking functions would be a must so the grain harvest would upgrade to include straw which can be used for building houses, repairing houses, building mats, rain clothes, &c.

Zombies would be attacking from time to time of course.  Defence would start with salvaged materials, but as this runs out, one would research old farming manuals they find at the local library and use hedges or natural camouflage - zombies would attack a field of cauliflower (everyone knows zombies love cauliflower because it's shaped like a brain) so it can be used as a sacrificial crop to deflect them away from the staple crops in the food forest.  

Anyway, that's the game I wish I could play.  I've actually created a much more complex gameplay idea in my head, but I haven't a clue how to go about making a game or when I would find the time.


As for shows, I used to watch TV and I sometimes borrow movies from the library... so, I'm not really qualified.  I'm a huge fan of cli-fi like Atwood's After the Flood.  
One idea would be the old show Connections - very interesting format and I can see it working for a premies subject, but I don't think it was mainstream.  
 
Roberto pokachinni
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As for shows, I used to watch TV and I sometimes borrow movies from the library... so, I'm not really qualified.  I'm a huge fan of cli-fi like Atwood's After the Flood.  
One idea would be the old show Connections - very interesting format and I can see it working for a premies subject, but I don't think it was mainstream.

 I don't know 'Connections'.  But I do remember a show that might have the right format for this; it was called Real People.  I think it was on NBC.  It was an american show in the 70's that had a couple of charismatic hosts who presented together on a stage before a live studio audience.  I think I remember that there was a film screen, and they would have gone to visit and interview people and the screen show it to us at home and also would provide for the audience reaction in the studio.  There was a great deal of amazing innovation being presented on this show, and it's probably where my Permie's/DIY brain really got it's first boost.    
 
Roberto pokachinni
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in the case of real people, the wackier or out there the project the more likely to get a good audience laugh.
 it shouldn't have to be focused on humor so much.
 
Roberto pokachinni
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Another show from the same era that i used to love was That's Incredible:

 
r ranson
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Roberto pokachinni wrote:

As for shows, I used to watch TV and I sometimes borrow movies from the library... so, I'm not really qualified.  I'm a huge fan of cli-fi like Atwood's After the Flood.  
One idea would be the old show Connections - very interesting format and I can see it working for a premies subject, but I don't think it was mainstream.

 I don't know 'Connections'.  But I do remember a show that might have the right format for this; it was called Real People.  I think it was on NBC.  It was an american show in the 70's that had a couple of charismatic hosts who presented together on a stage before a live studio audience.  I think I remember that there was a film screen, and they would have gone to visit and interview people and the screen show it to us at home and also would provide for the audience reaction in the studio.  There was a great deal of amazing innovation being presented on this show, and it's probably where my Permie's/DIY brain really got it's first boost.    



connections

 
Roberto pokachinni
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ah. Connections.  I am not at all familiar, but I do like it, a lot.    That would be a great format.
 
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