Wow, a lot of what you’re saying is what we’ve been struggling with lately. Even here in lala land, we go to meetings and they want something fast and cheap: reality shows. No one gets paid anything, except of course, for the networks. Funny enough, some people we talk to want nothing to do with Epic Fu because they want something they can own for very little. It’s also global, not meant to be contained… so they ask “what other ideas have you got?” It’s the big media monster trying to reinvent itself within new media. The battle with Goliath is pretty fucking epic here.

But we’re in new media, right? What the studios say doesn’t matter. Let it all fall. Indies can do it on their own. Then we figure it’s in everyone’s best interest if we’re retooling from the inside as well. Naive, perhaps. And these meetings, and panels, and talks, and trying to get the mainstream on the same wavelength as the new media peeps, when everything is floating in the air and all they want to hear about is how to make money on the web… well, sometimes it’s enough to make us want to throw our hands up in the air and open up a little tea shop in the mountains somewhere (a thought we’ve seriously considered).

What you write pulls at the heartstrings though because ultimately it *is* all about the art… but then to make a living… and then make sure you don’t burn out while you’re crafting. It is a slow and steady race. It’s also recognizing that there’s a balance to it all. That junk and treasure are both needed. Well, maybe less junk. Definitely less junk.

It’s all worth it, though. We’re in such a special moment in time.

Anyway, your post also reminds me of The Red Violin. Check it out if you haven’t already. One of my very favorite films, inspired by one of Stradivarius’s violins, and all about craftsmanship, the love of the thing, and how it travels. I think you’ll like it. And the soundtrack is amazing!