Darrell Morrison

The HOLY SHED™ - a guide to Australia's greatest sheds!

INTRODUCING: DARRELL MORRISON who has been involved in publishing, media and marketing for 30 years.

This project involves producing a glossy coffee-table book for the 2014 Christmas market - paying homage to the Aussie love of sheds.

Part of this mission is to create a television program (or documentary), complementing the book; and an interactive web shop putting people in touch with collectors, and shed owners to help readers source specialised shed fittings and decorations.

A short pilot episode will be recorded en route, to pitch the program idea to the networks. This would be done in collaboration with the award-winning Powerhouse Productions - see their show reel here: http://vimeo.com/43295673

The publication will be full of photographs and short interviews with the shed's owners and creators.

Submissions, or supplied photos will also be considered for publication. Suitable photos not appearing in the book will appear on the project's website and Facebook page.

As you could imagine, there are thousands of kilometres to travel to bring this project together.

Some of the expenses may be covered by commercial sponsors who may identify with this story.

Budget items:

PRINTING:

Though a publisher may want to acquire some of the rights to publish this, the cost to print 6,000-10,000 books of high quality is an est. $128,000. Publishers also have better and more efficient distribution channels.

PHOTOGRAPHY:

The author's connection through professional photographers and authors will see some images commissioned and sourced at a cost. However, this will spread the creative incentive to others and significantly improve the book's photographic appeal. Est. $15,000.

TRAVEL:

Travel will be predominately by road in a specially equipped van - enabling images and articles to be prepared - backed up and stored online. This camper will keep the cost of travel as low as possible and add to the visual appeal of the video elements.

However, to ensure the maximum national coverage some flights will be undertaken to reach remote, regional and rural areas. AIR: est. $20,000 ROAD: $50,000 (including minivan, fuel, insurance and equipment).

Contingencies: Interstate equipment/vehicle hire and accommodation. Meals and gratutities en route. est. $12,500

Sundry items: Communication, publicity (promoting and sourcing shed owners), advertising. est: $12,500

Digital and multimedia platforms: est. $12,000

eBook

Website/social media

Apps

You can help by being part of this iconic and historic project!

Shrine, or sanctuary?

                                    ...the Aussie Shed celebrated in a new book:

BOOK SYNOPSIS -

THE ubiquitous Aussie shed has long been an icon; something of a shrine and often a welcome sanctuary.

Now it's time to set out on a quest to find and record Australia's best sheds!

In Australia, we might not go to the footy, or church every weekend as much as we used to, but we certainly make a bee-line for 'the shed', or off to a mate’s shed at every opportunity.

Sheds have come a long way since wattle and daub huts gave way to weatherboard, then on to pressed tin and corrugated iron.

Today’s structures made of powder-coated metal; rustic or rendered brickwork, glass and steel, are sometimes humble, innovative and bespoke, through to major extensions of the home itself.

Like the Hills-Hoist ®, clothesline once cloned across suburban blocks, and de rigueur on every new estate, the shed has come into its own as a mini factory, workshop, studio, and entertainment complex - so often festooned with lights and decked out with all modern conveniences, sometimes there’s room even for a car or two - but not always as we’re finding out.

Shed-life is breaking free for people, mostly blokes (but not always), those who haven’t gotten the essential shed, or men seeking some company - sharing skills and socialising through the new Men’s Shed movement.

Discovering Australia's Greatest Sheds

OUR main focus in this publication is to uncover Australia’s greatest sheds. They may be distinguished through their contents or palatial grandeur. Your shed -my shed, they are full of our treasures; some are crammed with our unique junk. It really does not matter, because, they are havens and sometimes more like a home than the so-called investment property to which they are attached.

By migrating to our sheds, we all have a holiday from the house, in a twilight zone, akin to Switzerland, neutral territory from all our worries (wives, husbands or offspring), a place to play, think and tinker. A few hours or a day in the shed recharges our batteries, and it is sometimes easier and much cheaper than camping.

The famous Aussie love affair with ‘the Shed’ is also a celebration of all that is unique about the said sheds’ owners; as much as it is of Aussie culture itself.

In this book, we thank those who have welcomed us into their often privileged and sometimes secret domains. We share their ideas, passion and Aussie ingenuity with you. So, sit back and enjoy some time out-back, escape, to the shed.

We hope to entertain surprise and inspire you with ideas and designs for your own shed.

You can share your shed with our readers at our new website [domain pending] and we might feature you online, or in our publication.

Thank you for any support you can muster :-)

Darrell Morrison, Beachieon Books Australia