Watch episode 11 here.

Watch video and read about Ben Clarke’s 100-mile diet.

Image gallery from episode 11 here. 

In the offices of GreenEdge Projects in Chidlow, near Perth, we meet Dom Carlino and his wife Vida. Along with Robyn Antonelli, they started the innovative property development company back in 2003. That is, they had worked together for some years already, but in 2003 they formalised the company.

“A few years ago it was really only part time work, trying to help Somerville push forward,” says Dom.

“We never ever thought we would be able to create a business or a living out of what we do. We thought we were doing this Somerville because that’s where we were going to live.”

Having traveled extensively, looking at around 60 ecovillages and intentional communities around the world, the trio had gained so much insight into what it meant to a green community, and they had learnt so much about the process that they wanted to share this knowledge and help others in their strife.

“It’s like what Max says – Max Lindegard from Crystal Waters in Queensland – it’s all about standing on each other’s shoulders. Everything that we learn and the models that we have used, we are able to teach somebody else,” says Vida.

The vision was simple: they aimed to develop community groups that brought people together, building sustainable homes, reducing the carbon footprint – living and leading as an example. Bringing the vision to life was another story entirely.

Somerville ecovillage was going to be a life-changing project, not just for them, but for tens of families who invested money and time on getting the project off the ground. It would take around $8 million and a lot of hard work.

The project developed. Interest increased, more people became involved in Somerville. Permits were sought, plans were drawn up, they applied for funding. In 2007 the bank came through, in 2008 the building plans were approved… and then came the GFC…

Hope and positive outlook was replaced with a nasty financial battle to get the bank to stick to their agreement.

Three years on, the approvals are still in place and the project could still proceed, but Somerville ecovillage is well into the 11^th hour of its fight for existence. Unless the financing issues will be resolved soon, the approvals will lapse.

“We have definitely been through the wringer with the bank,” says Dom.

“As far as the development of Somerville goes, there has been no progress since your last visit [in 2009]. The development is up for sale – by St George Bank who has taken control of the asset.”

We’re in his front yard, crouching over a pile of drying apricots he got from Northampton, about 50kms north of Geraldton – about as far north as you can grow stone fruit, Ben informs us.

“We got these from a local farmer’s market that is starting up. There’s a few people who are selling stuff there already on Sundays. And that encourages community, when you know the people that are growing your food, and they know who they’re providing it to.”

This is the onset for the 100-mile diet.

Not a weight loss program
It has nothing to do with losing weight or looking after your posture. Rather, it has everything to do with connecting to the people, the land and the produce in your local surroundings.

It is an attempt to re-engage with place through food. As a teacher in sustainability at a local high school, this is something that is close to Ben’s heart.

“[As people] we’ve re-imagined ourselves as global Gods and say that we live in a global village, eating stuff that comes from all over the place. When you look at recipes in newspapers – nine times out of ten the asparagus that you need is not in season unless you import them from Chile or somewhere else.”

As such, the 100-mile diet involves taking a firm stand against the globalisation of food distribution, and what Ben refers to as ‘replicating humanity as a series of McDonald’s chains.’

“What we’re saying is that to live in Geraldton and to be a part of the community in Geraldton, we need to be committed to working out what it means to live here. What seasons are here and what kind of food can you produce. Because, otherwise you end up in a global suburb where you don’t really know what’s different.”

Preparing for the diet
Next to the apricots, a few corncobs are looking nearly ready to be ground to flour. Another first for the Clarkes, who love their organic experiments. They swapped the corn for a few chooks they had to spare. Although they are already reaping the benefits of having their own wheat flour, this process is different, and again, the only way to learn is to try.

We carry on through the front yard, through an array of plants and vegetables. Some struggling, others thriving. Ben grabs a handful of the sandy soil that is typical of the mid-west coast. He shrugs as the sand runs through his fingers.

It’s not a particularly good soil for growing a lot of typical European vegetables, but Ben is absolutely determined they will find there are loads of things that will grow here, eventually.

Even in the scorching hot and dry, windy, summer of Sun City there ought to be ways to keep a domestic garden in good health. The only way to find out what, and how, is to experiment with ways of keeping the moisture in the ground, and dry composting, Ben says.

In the kitchen his wife Tamara is cooking up a large pot of apricot jam, infused with ginger. The house smells like an organic heaven. With six children to feed as well themselves, the couple need to approach the starting date with a bit of preparation.

They know that they will have to give up on a lot of big things. Sugar, rice, and possibly coffee are the first major things to be crossed off the usual consumption-list. But Ben’s not fazed at all. A cheeky smile and a truckload of enthusiasm spell out the strong determination behind the diet. He draws a link to travelling, and to discovering a fresh new, local, cuisine.

“The other day we went down to one of the beaches and got some cockles and boiled them up. And the indigenous people of this area know a lot about the food that you can eat. They’re going to take us to some places and show us some of the things that they eat. But, again, it’s seasonal, and it’s not a lot that is in season at the moment. This is traditionally the hottest and driest time of the year. So you wouldn’t expect to find a lot of stuff.”

“Biting the bullet”
-So why would you start such a diet at the supposedly ‘worst’ time of year?

“We talked about it all last year, so we gotta bite the bullet and start,” Ben laughs. “Rather than looking at it as a negative thing in terms of what we’re going to miss out on, we’re excited to see what we are going to find and how it is going to connect us to this place.”

“Our generation loves being nomads, to be able get up and have no commitments. And I think in one sense we are richer, but in another sense we are poorer.”

Ben and Tamara have lived in every state of Australia. They have spent five years in Eastern Europe, and their kids are well travelled. But, he says he would like them to know and understand the seasons, and to know what land does over time.

“How does this affect our land into the future? What happens if we put seaweed on it? Is it going to be a good thing or is it going to increase the salt content of the soil so much it is going to be useless? I don’t think it will, but unless you actually do that, you’re not going to find out. Is bringing sheep manure going to be a good thing? How many chooks can we run as a family?”

Ben is a man of many ideas and many experiments. Possibly, he’s a man with even more questions. And he wants those questions answered. But, more than anything at the moment, he’s ready to start the family’s new diet.

Representing Australian web series; Max De Bowen and Flat Whites took home three awards.

Yes, The Inland Sea is now an award-winning series! This is extremely exciting!

I’m back from an amazing trip, which included having episodes screened at HollyWeb festival and LA Web Fest, taking part in two very interesting discussion panels, meeting some amazing, talented, nice people and, finishing it all off with winning an award.

All the official photos from LA Web Fest area available here.

Actually, it didn’t quite finish there.

On the way back from LA, my flight made an emergency stop in Honolulu when a passenger had a heart attack. We were flying the new Airbus A380, and the airport in Honolulu is not normally taking these big planes, so with the landing came some challenges for ground staff and our flight crew. (Yes, the passenger/patient got the treatment he needed and was alive when carried off the plane).

To cut a long story short, all 400 passengers were lodged in at a hotel in Ala Moana while the crew rested up, in accordance with flight regulations. It was a rather rainy day, so the sightseeing I got to do was limited, but even that tiny taste of Hawaii got me hooked. I want to go back and see it all now.

Back in Melbourne, I found my site had been hacked while I was flying over the pacific. It has caused some headache and really slowed down the process of getting back into writing and editing the final five episodes. But, the site is now finally back up again (duh!) and there should be a new episode coming next week, and more content rolling out steadily until the odyssey finally comes a conclusion. (At least for now…:)

This was originally written as a rather lengthy blog while in Honolulu, but sadly it got lost after the site got hacked, so this update is merely a quick recap.

Below, I have pasted the big winners from LA Web Fest, the ten series who were selected to feature in this year’s Marseilles Web Fest. (This web series festival ONLY accepts fiction series…).

The crew must have had a hard time choosing between so many amazing series. Congratulations to the winners and check them out below!

MARSEILLE WEBFEST SELECTIONS FROM LAWEBFEST 2012

1. Hit Man 101 (Canada)

2. El Porvenir (Mexico)

3. Divine (Canada)

4. Fight Night Legacy (USA)

5. Clutch (Canada)

6. Off Screen (Israel)

7. Out With Dad (Canada)

8. The Booth At The End (USA)

9. The Syndicate (England)

10. Gigi:  All American (USA)

Come and see us at LA Web Fest!

First in, best dressed, the saying goes. It could be I’m just uber-eager, but here I am on the second floor at the Radisson hotel, so far the only series on show in the showroom. I guess it’s early days still on a Friday.

Just sifting through the program for the weekend, and there are a number of interesting panels and workshops, on top of all the screenings of course. So here I am mapping out my weekend. Looks like it’s going to be a busy one.

Our screenings are on at 4pm Friday in the Malibu room and 11am on Sunday in the Languna room.

I’ll be on a panel tonight at 8:15: “THE GLOBAL INFLUENCE OF THE WEB SERIES;” with Rich Mbariket who founded Web Series Network; Stephanie Piche who is the CEO of Mingle Media TV; Jean Michel Albert from Marseille Webfest; Stephanie Rizzo who is a producer and cultural minister working for the Office of the Mayor in Marseille, France; and a few other series producers.

The panel will be moderated by Katie Fong-Yoneda, the author of The Script-Selling Game: A Hollywood Insider’s Look at Getting Your Script Sold and Produced.

I’m also on another panel on Sunday, which will be a panel of educators, with Ross Brown who wrote Byte-Sized Television: Create Your Own TV Series for the Internet; Jeff Burke who is the Executive Director of REMAP at UCLA; Erin Reilly who is the Managing Director, USC Annenberg Innovation Lab; and, Rick Gott who is a drama instructor at the Tomas Academy in Sacramento.

This panel will be moderated by Rich Halke, TV writer-producer and transmedia writer.

Really looking forward to it all. There are so many great series we caught at the HollyWeb festival last weekend that will be screening more episodes here, and some new friends that will be great to catch up with!

Once the festival is over, I’ll do a post about all my favorite picks from both festivals, but here are few worthy mentions: Divine: The Series is an eerie show with extremely high production value. It took home two awards from HollyWeb. Hitman 101 is an action-packed series, created by the very talented Scott Staven. You can read about the series on Tom Cruise’s official blog in a comprehensive piece about web series. Other series to look our for: The Division, Headshots, HollyWood Girl, The Big Dick Mike Show and of course my Australian mate Max De Bowen’s series Flat Whites.

Finally, for this weekend’s festival I’m particularly interested to see all the non-fiction series. Although there aren’t that many of them, our genre is better represented here. A total of ten documentary series will be screening at LA Web Fest. So here’s to a niche within a niche!

It’s going to be a great weekend!

It’s been 48 hours since the HollyWeb festival, and may I say, it has been 48 hours well spent. Today we received word from La Trobe Uni’s Matt Smith that The Inland Sea is currently featured on the front page of iTunesU. It is after all an academic project – and you can subscribe to our podcasts here.

The Inland Sea - in good company

My roommate Max De Bowen and I placed an order for some slick looking t-shirts for our series this morning, which will be delivered to the Radisson hotel in time for LA Web Fest on the weekend.

The inaugural HollyWeb festival was a success, I think for those involved with making series as well as for those who put on the festival. It was a full day of screening. We caught some absolutely amazing shows, met some fine people and enjoyed a well organized award ceremony to finish it all off. See below for list of awards.

Max with plenty of motivation.

Beside me in our little room, Max is still working tirelessly on new creative endeavors, with little or no sleep. Last night he edited up episode 33 of his show Flat Whites, going on coffee by the gallon and a short power nap. Now he’s powering through energy drinks like a truck driver and firing away a casting call for a hopeful short film, which he’s aiming to shoot over the next couple of days here in LA. Without giving too much away, the working title for the short is Long Blacks.

Yesterday was a very cool day for yours truly, catching up with former colleague I haven’t seen in ages. Literally. Mansour Niroumand and I used to work together at Laagendalsposten more than ten years ago and haven’t seen each other since, well, the turn of the century! We cruised Mulholland Drive, Santa Monica and Venice Beaches and pretended to go shopping on Rodeo Drive. I think that almost covered the necessary sightseeing.

Some images from the HollyWood experience so far here.

Finally, nine awards were handed out at HollyWeb on Saturday. Check out the winners below. Congrats to all for your much deserved success!

BEST WEB SERIES

Headshots

BEST INTERNATIONAL WEB SERIES
The Syndicate

BEST ACTOR

Sam Pancake: PRETTY

BEST ACTRESS
Hillary B. Smith: Fumbling Thru The Pieces

BEST DIRECTING

The Division

BEST SCREENWRITING
Headshots

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Divine: The Series

BEST EDITING
Dead Grandma

BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC/SCORE

Divine: The Series

HollyWeb Festival is on tonight. Actually, it starts in half an hour, and I’ve just walked off my flight. The after-effect of the Valium is still noticeable, but at least I slept for an hour on the way here. Check in is not in another few hours, so we’ll have to start the festival experience without a shower even. Oh well, it just adds a certain flavor to it all I suppose.

Very excited to be here. Very excited to be part of these festivals.

Web series are commonly quite underappreciated creative endeavors, and it’s great to see that there are some forces at work, people who are passionate about recognizing the talent and hard work that goes into making independent series online, and who are facilitating networking and building of an emerging industry.

HollyWeb will have its inaugural festival today. 50+ series will be screening at Dim Mak Studios in Hollywood, followed by a red carpet event tonight.

Next weekend the third annual LA Web Series Festival will be showcasing a grand total of 178 series, over three days at the Radisson hotel in LA. In addition to screening two episodes, I will be sitting on two discussion panels during the festival. One panel with other series creators and another panel with North American academics talking about web series in higher education.

LA Web Fest’s growth has been remarkable, and arguably reflects the booming initiative from creative independents world wide.

Their selection panel has been busy over the last few months, as they received over 300 submissions this year.

“Everybody and their dead grandma was submitting shows, festival director and founder Michael Ajakwe joked in a recent press release.

“We actually got a submission called Dead Grandma that actually made the cut.”

Among the 178 series in the official selection, 9 countries are represented. Well, ten if The Inland Sea can represent both Australia and Norway.

And everyone attending will be keeping their eyes on the Grand Prize(s). Ten series will be selected for the Marseilles Web Series Festival in October and will get sponsored flights there.

As for the international series, Australia tops the list, with a total of ten series screening at LA Web Fest. See the full list below, and check them out!

Australian web series in LA Web Fest:

FLAT WHITES (Dramedy)/(Max De Bowen/Melbourne, AUSTRALIA)

ONE STEP CLOSER TO HOME (Comedy)/Alyssa McClelland, Ryan Johnson/Picnic Point, AUSTRALIA)

THE PEEP JEEP (Mockumentary/Reality)/(Greta Harrison, Matthew C. Vaughan, Michael De Robbio/Kensington Victoria, AUSTRALIA)

THE MAKING OF ‘SERBS IN SPACE (Mockumentary/Dramedy)/(Tom Vogel, Steve Trevaskis, Tim Ferris/Melbourne, AUSTRALIA)

SNOW WIGHT & THE STRIPPER:  SEASON 2 (Comedy)/(Sophie Vigors, Clare Griggs/Sydney, AUSTRALIA)

THE BROKEN ONES (Comedy)/(Michael De Robbio/Fitzroy, AUSTRALIA)

THE INLAND SEA:  AN AUSTRALIAN ODYSSEY (Documentary)/(Steinar Ellingsen/Preston VIC, AUSTRALIA)

VEGAN 101:   SEASON 2 (Sketch Comedy)/(Joanne Rose/Melbourne, AUSTRALIA)

SHUTTERBUGS (Comedy)/(Katie McIntyre, David Collins, Lyndal Mebberson, Kayne Termillis/Fitzroy North VIC, AUSTRALIA)

FEVER DREAMS (Comedy)/(Dave Jackson, P. Lloga/Etham Victoria, AUSTRALIA)

Watch episode 10 | The Prince of Hutt River.