Tough. Uncompromising. Hard hitting. All words that are well out of place in describing Sam Mac and his hit YouTube series “Lights, Camera, Maction”. But a boy’s gotta dream and it may as well begin with a subtle documentary series that leads off the ABC’s Monday nights…
Australian Story is consistently brilliant. In just 30 minutes the show manages to give you a genuine understanding of a person’s life & story. Whereas 30 minutes on other shows can be spent deliberating over whether someone got the Elderflower & Honey Cream balance right in their Berry Frangipane Tart.
Last year I discovered that the Bio Channel plays a couple of old episodes per week, so I series linked the shit out of that. I like to intentionally avoid delving into my newly recorded back catalogue for a few weeks, so, when the time is right, I can settle in for a 3 hour Saturday night Australian Story Marathon. Even my 81 year old Grandmother heckles me about this.
It doesn’t matter if the subject is a Software Developer, a Cricketer, or even Red Symons, Australian Story will make you care, or at the very least, make you interested. I love the simplicity with which it’s presented. A basic formula of an introduction, a set up & the right comments from the right people beautifully crafted to tell the story.
The Producers of Australian Story deserve all the accolades they get. They never take short cuts. Working on a show like this would take much discipline, patience & talent. I’ve heard rumours that a single episode of Australian Story can cost around $200,000. That’s exactly $200,000 more than it costs for an episode of my hit youtube series “Lights, Camera, Maction!”
I’ve often fantasised about being on the show. Sadly, I haven’t achieved anything significant enough to warrant an appearance. But, if for some reason, the standards dropped dramatically, here is my proposed script for the first minute of my episode of Australian Story…
STEVE MOLKS: “Hi, I’m Steve Molks from Molks TV Talk. I first had contact with Sam Mac in 2011 via Twitter. I saw him presenting The Metro Whip Around on The Project & I decided to follow him. It was more of a sympathy follow than anything else. Over the years I’ve considered unfollowing him many times due to substandard tweets but i don’t like to kick a man while he’s down. So, It’s with very little pleasure I present you with this, his Australian Story”
SLOW MOTION SHOT OF SAM PATTING A DOG IN A METRO WHIP AROUND
CHARLIE PICKERING: “I remember Sam’s first whip like it was yesterday, mainly because he sent me a youtube link of it…yesterday.”
CARRIE BICKMORE: “Sam’s constantly banging on about how he’s apparently presented more Metro Whips than anyone else, It’s reached a point where I now have the Producers ensure that he’s never in the same part of the building as me. I’m just sick of hearing about it”
DAVE HUGHES: “He comes on the tele for 20 seconds from a bloody knitting expo and he expects us to pay him? Fuck off Sam.”
SLOW MOTION SHOT OF SAM PATTING AN ELDERLY WOMAN AT A KNITTING EXPO
SAM MAC: “I don’t like to big note myself, but yes, I have presented more Metro Whips than anybody else…but the reward I get out of this whole showbiz caper is the respect, the respect of my peers.”
DAN WATSON, METRO WHIP PRODUCER: “He’s a dickhead, I mean, who fantasises about their own episode of Australian Story?”
END.
Sam Mac is a regular on Channel Ten’s The Project. He also presents a weekly comedy/soccer segment on Fox Sports with Jules Schiller called “The B-League”Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/MrSamMac. In no way should you ever confuse him with Steve Molk – their names are different for starters, and they’re entirely separate people.
Sam Mac, this is a great read! The serious, well written commentary which segues into a very funny second half totally nails the Australian Story model of presentation in a very clever way.
I have been an avid Australian Story viewer since the late 1990s. I find many of the stories to be immensely moving and powerful and so very, very well researched. You are so right in saying that the series is consistently brilliant.
Great stuff!