I caught the 470 bus back to Lilleyfield in Sydney's inner west this arvo.
I'm sitting at my sister's computer writing this post with crickets screaming outside the window.
Imagine a ceaseless, breathless scream. That's the scream I had inside from just after 5pm when the head of the ABC Kim Dalton started speaking at SPAA till dinner time.
Dinner and with my niece blowing soap bubbles, the dog dragging toys outside - who can stay angry at Kim Dalton.
I'm attending the Screen Producers of Australia Association annual conference - I joined this year.
And today I discovered that my opinion of the ABC has changed - I didn't even realise it.
Cultural institution. Yes. But what kind of culture? And do we need the ABC to preserve Australian culture in the digital age?
Especially if it's going to make a profit off the back of public subside in the name of preserving free-to-air television in the digital age under the guise of protecting Australian culture.
So preposterous! 689 hours of Australian ABC content in the past year.
And who watched? He warned that Australian culture may become the property of telcos without proper regulation and policies.
Is it safer in the hands of the ABC?
He talks about the diversity of the ABC.
But if independent producers decided to distribute their product online, create their own channels, is that not diversity and Australian content?
The conference started yesterday on such a high note with comedian Ahn Do telling the story of his family coming to Australia as refugees.
He took his father's advice: give it a go... contribute to this great country where anything is possible...
That's what opened this conference.
Ahn Do made us laugh and cry and he challenged producers to just do it.
I recorded it when I realised that this is a moment all Australians deserve to enjoy.
I pulled out my flip camera - I don't have a proper edit program with me so I'll try to attach video files as I can.
This is Australian culture and it's not coming out of the ABC.
But this afternoon room full of independent TV and film producers sat there without raising the hard questions - I wonder if we heard the same message??
They don't need the ABC. That's why the ABC boss is worried and asking the government for new regulations a new cultural policy.
He couched it in terms of a threat to the viability of the independent production industry - I think that's interesting considering everything else that's being said at this conference.
The first session this morning was with Brian Seth Hurst (The Opportunity Management Company) - who didn't bother turning up for a round table session I was enrolled for with three others in the afternoon.
But anyway we actually had a good chat without him. He outlined the new digital landscape of participation, giving the audience a voice, yadda-yadda...it's not new actually. It was a 101 in digital media.
Do I need to say that this session was not as well attended as Kim Dalton's session?
Mr Hurst struggled with Australian broadband...the stuff he spoke of is not possible in Australian because ... us has bad reception. ;)
He's now working with Chris Sandberg, the CEO and founder of The company P, which produced a fully interactive drama called The Truth About Marika, for Swedish TV.
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The Truth About Marika won an Emmy last year for best interactive drama: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truth_About_Marika
Mr Sandberg was at Mr Hurst's talk this morning and when I approached him for a brief conversation he said the TV networks don't really have a big part to play in the future digital world.
Not if they think that they are going to control the universe - or at least the digital landscape - as they control the airwaves today.
The greater proportion of content in The Truth About Marika was user generated, he said.
But this was a case where a network came to him and asked for it.
In Australia we don't have the infrastructure to do it - yet.
The Sydney Opera House program, Kids at the House, runs an annual "Little Big Shots" show.
It's an international film festival for kids. Yes. That's right. The Sydney Opera House. Not the ABC.
And they've been doing for a few years now.
Stories for kids, about kids and sometimes by kids - the by kids is important.
This weekend, my Flip video and I are babysitting. We are going out on the town (Sydney) with two kids aged four and seven.
We are going to shoot and edit video to present to their parents.
This is the start of something BIG!
I'm going to watch Disgrace now.
Goodnight.