Love it or hate it, this is the approach taken by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia’s publicly funded TV & radio broadcaster) to pull together a team of young Australians to produce a half hour of TV every week – Hungry Beast (and its website with daily content), named from their view of what the media world is all about.  It’s a frenetic and unpredictable roller-coaster of current affairs meets college humour, told from an unapologetically Generation Y perspective.

Dan Ilic was one such candidate to take up the ABC’s invitation and make it through a grueling application and selection process.  His six year background in writing, performing, directing and broadcasting, in media as diverse as stage, stand-up comedy, viral video communication, journalism and television, made him a perfect fit for such a challenge.

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uncluttered white spaces Anthony May manages to grab some time out of Dan’s hectic schedule to ask him a few questions.

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Dan, thanks for taking the time, share with us your current endeavors:

Hungry Beast is a all consuming endeavour.  I put aside my small business and my stand up aspirations to focus on working on this show.  Hungry Beast is an unusual show, it mixes comedy with the serious, and I get to do either.  This show is made for my Gen Y, ADD-infested brain, which makes it a joy to work on.

My Generation:

Don’t watch TV, and know more than you Gen X and Baby Boomers think.  I think our generation has without a doubt replaced television with the internet as a primary source of pop culture.  Instead of “did you watch this?”, it’s “have you downloaded that?”.

Tell us about HungryBeast & how you came to be involved:

It was a cattle call, so I put my hat in the ring.  The application form took about a month to fill in, then there was an hour long interview, but now I’m really happy I did as it’s been an incredible experience.  I’ve gotten to work with some brilliant people, and I hope to remain friends and work with them again when this show finishes.

What are your expectations for Hungry Beast?

I expect Hungry Beast will be consistently confusing television that will amaze and interest people from time to time, and then also annoy and frustrate people other times. And that’s the nature of the beast…

Where are you now – literally & metaphorically?

Literally:

10pm on a friday, I just got home from work and am sitting in my underwear.

Metaphorically:

I’m on a growing stage of my career, I’m trying to push my own comfort zone with what I can handle, and hopefully getting better as a broadcaster and content creator.

What makes you tick / get up in the morning / think you’ve had a good day:

When I make something great, be it a script or an edit or a graphic, I get an enormous sense of achievement. Also in my business when I make a client’s video go viral nothing makes me more excited, looking at those numbers and click-throughs pour in is like crack cocaine!

UnclutteredWhiteSpaces.com creates a platform for people who challenge the status quo. We like to focus on thought activation and cross with inspiring content and amazing design. As a result, a lot of our readers are entrepreneurs, business owners and creatives. With this type of work comes a lot of highs and lows. Can you share with us one of your notable highs:

Most of my work is with non-profits who operate well and truly below the line. I absolutely love working with groups like GetUp!, where not only do they demand I take the piss, but also affect change in policy.  My greatest successes with GetUp! include Climate Clever-er and Censordyne.

How about a notable low:

When you’re three weeks into a run at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with a terrific show, but no audience… that hurts… the ego and the pocket. It’s when you wish you had a job on TV or did breakfast radio so that people would come and see your work.

Any relationship between the two?

When you make great work it’s important to the creator for people to see it. Hang on to those ideas that audiences haven’t seen, because those ideas will come in handy again eventually.

We love what the ABC is doing with Hungry Beast.  It’s the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that’s rarely seen in Australia TV production, particularly its unashamed targeting of Gen-Y.  Given a suitable opportunity, what else would you do, or like to see done, to reinvigorate TV?

I rekon the networks need to take more risks in programming.  I would also form a Hulu-like service in Australia, that worked with all broadcasters and major news outlets, but was separate from them.

Dan’s Mission:

My mission is to create a big body of work, so that when I die, people will say… well he did make a lot of stuff… pity it’s all so average.

My Social Networks… where do we find you online or out and about if we were considering stalking you?

@danilic on Twitter, you can become my “fan” on Facebook, or my friend if you really want… but I will spam you!

In your view, finish this quote: ”What the world needs more than anything right now is…”

More Twilight movies.

You can see some of Dan’s work on the Hungry Beast website (http://hungrybeast.abc.net.au/), and his YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/DanIlic

My personal favourite is Dan’s spoof of the FreeView TV commercial (announcing a crop of new free-to-air TV channels in 2009).  It simultaneously conveyed GenY’s *yawn* for commercial TV programming, the larrikin Aussie spirit, and how to make an internet video ‘go viral’ and earn the wrath of commercial TV stations!

Interview by Anothony May (@TechyDude) for uncluttered white spaces. You can follow Anothony on Twitter @techydude.