Tag: writing

IntJobs Week #5

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11882284_729698580468347_8757313360589793632_oIt’s Week 5 and the group’s progress is on par. The multitalented Aki has completed a campaign design, which means that the social media crew can begin pushing out content for students to discover. As seen on the image above, the group has also begun filming the promo video directed by Angus. More information on that soon.

On my end, I’ve spoken with my contact Josh McNicol about potentially speaking for us and he seems keen about the idea. Although he doesn’t have a conventional “international job” I sold the idea to him of working with foreign clientele and assimilating with varied cultures rather than finding jobs abroad. He said he can also recommend someone to me who’s currently working in the Australian Ballet, but has had experience working in China and I think Europe (?)

I’ve also contacted Adam Smith, who is based in Miami as the Executive Director of Social Responsibility and Public Affairs at the Laureate Universities. He’s also a connection of mine, but I was initially apprehensive to approach him as 4 PM Skype/FaceTime session in Melbourne will be 2 AM in Miami for him. But the great thing about him is his story. He didn’t have a traditional education in communications and forged his career by networking and hard work. He’s told me he will check his schedule and get back to me soon, but if he’s unable to do it, he can recommend someone he knows who’s based in Melbourne.

My only concern about these potential speakers, and also something which Vicson has spoken to me about, is their careers’ focus on communications rather than media. According to the Facebook poll we shared on the media pages, there is more interest on media graduates to invest in a career within film and television production, which is nothing to be surprised about given our course. On this case, I must cater for our audience’s interest and continue to look for people with established careers in production overseas.

Thanassis’ Story

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UPDATE on Thanassis‘ story:

Thanassis (67) is a widower and father to Lisa (43), who lives in the States with her family, as well as Bernadeth (38) and Manuel (33) who are both based in Melbourne. His wife Koula, passed away from breast cancer 4 years ago and he has not been able to cope with the loneliness since then. For the past 4 years, he has been living with his oldest daughter in San Francisco.

Now, he returns to Melbourne to recompense for what he feels was a lack of fatherly affection to the rest of his children. He moves in with Bernadeth, her husband and their children Emma (15) and Sophia (5), whom he babysits now that he is retired. He quickly finds himself endearing to the child’s way of thinking.

On one Sunday, he discovers his son’s address and decides to go to his city apartment for a surprise visit. The surprise is reversed on him when the door is opened by another man, a stranger. As it turns out, this man is Manuel’s partner, Josh, whom Manuel has been building up the courage to introduce to his father. With a strict upbringing in a conservative household, Thanassis is outraged and storms out of the building, shunning his only son and the remaining bearer of the Manosopoulos family name. He refuses to accept his son’s homosexuality and finds himself pushing his children away even more. As it turns out, the whole family had known Manuel’s secret but had kept it from Thanassis, for fear of his reaction.

The rest of the story sees Thanassis trying to adapt to the modern way of thinking and assimilating (at least attempting) to his children’s new lives. He is no longer the father he needed to be in the past, when they were still kids. He must learn to change himself if he is to be a part of their family.

Melbourne: “Thanassis”

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Considering the other group member’s characters, I decided to go for someone who was less relatable to me. I took inspiration from various people in my life, hopefully crafting an interesting character who is out of the norm of a young, white and educated Australian.

manolis_the_slap_episode_6“Thanassis (67) is a widower and father of three. His wife passed away from cancer four years ago, bringing him to a new understanding of loneliness. He comes to a realisation that he spent his youth working, and as a strict father, he feels that he had pushed away his children in the process. In an attempt to find purpose in his new life, he tries to get closer to his three kids, despite all of them having their own families and living away from home. He discovers a second chance for redemption by bonding with his middle child’s daughter, Sophia (5), nurturing her like his own.”

Undoubtedly, my character was influenced by Manolis from Christos Tsiolkas’ The Slap. (What can I do, I just love Tsiolkas’ work). It would’ve been relatively easy for me to write about someone who was of Filipino heritage, considering my background, but I thought that Greek families were more dispersed and assimilated into Melbourne communities.

Without revealing too much of my personal circumstances, this character, his motivations and particularly his family were inspired by people close to me. This will make my writing easier and hopefully give me the opportunity to grab raw content to transform into story material.