Newspaper Page Text
SGTC’s Patrick Peacock Makes It
Happen By Rediscovering A Dream
'You just have to do it. Just
make it happen. Do not wait on
permission. Study, make inten
tional choices and get better."
These are words of advice for
aspiring filmmakers that ring
true For any ambition or desire
wc are consumed by, wrote
Rachel Price in the Sumter
County Living Magazine article
on South Georgia Technical Col
lege Marketing Coordinator
Patrick Peacock, who made his
first feature fIIrn recently. The
entire article with photos from
David Parks Photography can
be found at:
https']/'withy ou i nm in d
publications.com/sumter-
cou n ty/su mtc r-co u n ty- li vi ng-
magazine-spring-202GA
This article begins on page 39.
E^atrick Peacock grew up in
Americas, Georgia, His family
had a small 8 mm home-video
camera that mostly sat unused.
These were not the days of vid
eos. sclfies, and all-consuming
technology. Graduating from
high school, Patrick entered the
Art Institute in Atlanta, Geor
gia, with the intentions of re-
cordingmusic. Television wasn't
anything he even considered as
a career, much less movie mak
ing.
l< At school, I had the opportu
nity to get behind a television
camera. We had our first day of
video production class. I was
not anticipating video being a
thing at all for me, v Patrick ex
plained. ‘They had a studio
camera set up with a viewfinder
and handles. We each got a turn
to operate it. 1 stepped up, as it
was my turn, and one of my
classmates was sitting on the
stool to be the subject for the
shot. I remember grabbing the
handles and moving the camera
that made the picture change.
Inthatmoment,therewassome-
thing that clicked for me.”
Patrick's first job was in Al
bany, Georgia, with WALB-TV.
He ran the video camera for the
news. From his earliest days at
WALB, co-workers talked about
making a movie. "We talked
and talked about it and never
made anything,” said Patrick.
Despite that slow beginning,
that passion or interest re
mained with Patrick for 20
years.
And about 12 years ago, he
began making a film that was
an earlier version of his first
feature length film, Back Foe us f
which debuted in Americus at
the Rylander Theater in June
2019. Tjust tried to dive into a
feature film, but it fell apart
pretty quickly,” said Peacock.
If was after he sat down for
lunch with friend Faith Fuller
that she gave him some good
advice that he took. “She told
me that 1 needed to make a
short film, Shegavc meinstruc-
tions to meet back for lunch in a
month and have a script for a
short film and offered to pro
duce it to get me started,”
With that challenge, Patrick
struggled for about three weeks
trying to figure out what the
script was going to be about.
Then he had an idea and wrote
a script of about 15 pages. lie
took it hack to Faith, and they
made his first short film titled,
By the Light of Dark. He felt like
the film turned out pretty well,
and because it was his first, it is
a personal favorite.
Since that humble beginning,
Patrick continued to make short
films, all the while thinking and
believing that he could and
should produce a feature length
film. Then a couple ofyears ago,
Patrick pulled out an old script
he happened upon by chance. It
was an earlier version of Back
Focus.
He was approaching his 50th
birthday, and his goal was to
produce his first feature film
hef ore he turned 50, T looked at
that early version of Back Focus
and got excited. 1 had to totally
rewrite the script to improve it.
I had gotten more practice and
became better at writing. I real
ized that I probably wouldn’t
have it completed by 50, but I
started filming." The film pre
miered on June 29, 2019, the
day after he turned 51.
The reaction to Back Focus has
been amazing. Social media
buzzed over a local feature film
with local actors, and on June
29th, over 250 people arrived
for the film. "They laughed dur
ing the parts J had hoped they
would laugh, and I could feel the
energy happening during the
tense, dramatic moments, as
w ell.” As the credits rolled, the
c r o wd e rupted wi th a 1 oud stand-
ing ovation, “It was wonderful,
1 could not have been more
pleased,” said Patrick.
Back Focus was an indepen
dent film in the truest sense.
Peacock paid for everything out
of pocket. There were no inves
tors. But he did receive tremen
dous support from his local com
munity as far as the donation of
locations for the film. Back Fo
cus was filmed at Cafe
Campcsino, Pat's Place, The
Rylander, Tobaggan Steve's (at
the time JJ’s Wings), The Lee
Council House, GSW, the home
of Charles and Kim Christmas,
and other locations around
Americus and Sumter County,
The film is not a biography, but
Patrick did pull from a few r per
sonal life experiences for the
main character; the obvious one
being a career in videography,
Patrick spent six years with
WALB at the start ofhis career.
He later moved on to OnMedia
as the Production Manager for
the past 15 years. Currently, he
is the Marketing Specialist at
South Georgia Technical Col-
lege.
In his spare time, Patrick has
created over six films between
his short and feature films; his
first being By the Light of the
Dark, An other film entit led L?/e
After Death is a favorite for
many, especially his number one
fan, his wife, Wendy. It is the
one comedy in the lot and has
been played at several festivals.
It won “Best Comedy' 1 at the 15
MinutesofFarne Festival in Or
lando, FL, in 2017, along with
six other awards from various
festivals.
In 2017, Patrick formed Aeon do
Films. He hopes to turn his
creative passion into a sustain
able profession. He also wants
to establish a vibrant film com-
munity in his hometown of
Americus,
Individuals who arc interested
in becoming a part of future
films or staying in the know, can
follow' Back Focus and Acondo
Films by typing in the names.
Patrick Peacock dkl a little of everything in his film Back Focus.
He ,shot video, acted, and directed.
Cover photo from the Sumter County Living magazine
feature article about Patrick Peacock, written by Rachel Price
and photographs by David Parks Photography.
DVD copies of Back Focus are website...acondofilms.com.
available on his
Patrick is comfortable being behind the camera
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Why Are The Grocery Store Shelves Empty?
By Gopinath Muuisamy
CABS News
While all industries have been seri
ously affected by the CGVID-19
pandemic,food ami agriculture have
been among the hardest hit segments
of the U.S. economy. The primary
reason lies in the composition of
household food expenditures.
The impacts of ihe pandemic appear
to vary by commodity based on two
critical issues: perishability and la
bor use. Perishables like fruits, veg
etables and milk are among the hard
est hit. Many of these industries also
depend on labor for growing and har
vesting,
Tliere is no immediate shortage of
food in the U S., according to die
U.S, Department of Agriculture
(USDA); however, the current de
mand for items such as grocery-size
products and on demand delivery is
greater than what is in abundant sup
ply: bulk, large-sized products, and
processed shipments to restaurants
that remain open.
This demand-supply mismatch ap
pears lo mimic anecdotal evidence
of price spikes and empty store
shelves on the consumer side and the
collapse of demand and dumping of
food on the faint side, with a range
of linked effects in the middle.
Households spent SI.7 trillion on
food in 2018, 54% of which was
sjx'iit on food away from home at res
taurants, bars, sports Venues, and
other establishments, according to
the USDA Economic Research Ser
vice. A dramatic drop in foot traffic
at all types of restaurants began in
the second week of March.
Supermarkets and grocery outlets
have also experienced a significant
reduction in foot traffic, but delivery
and on-demand services have been
strained hy the sudden surge in de
mand from people under stay-at-
home orders and social distancing
guidelines, which includes nearly
90% of the U.S. population.
With the drastic fall in food demand
away from home, multiple forces
were unleashed rapidly, causing
ripples that stretched farther into ev
ery food and agricultural commod-
ity.
First, the supply chain sen'ing food
service industries did not have many
buyers. A case in point is cheese,
w here the major supplier, Wisconsin,
found two-thirds of its demand fall
to near zero within a week or two.
Second, social distancing guide
lines and shuttered non-essential
businesses affected supply chains
serving both food services and retail
grocers.
The results include a significant
slowdow n in the operations of pro
cessing and distribution, shortage of
workers at farm,processing, and dis
tribution (trucking) facilities, and a
shortage of cleaning and sanitizing
supplies, Compounding these effects
are the resources spent in contact
tracing and quarantine if/when a
worker tested positive for COV1D-
19.
Third is Ihe urgent need to transi
tion products run through food ser
vices into those that consumers need
at the grocery store. For example, res
taurants usually bought diced veg
etables. like onions, in 60-pound
bags, but cot iso mers at grocery stores
usually buy 3- to 5-pound bags of
unpeeled onions. Also, large cheese
blocks sold to food services, which
generally have sizable storage space,
cannot be chopped overnight into
packs of ounces and pounds to sell
at grocery stores.
Imports of food have declined due
lo reduction in air and shipping traf
fic between countries and regionally
within countries. Nearly 13 c /c pffood
consumed in the U.5. comes from
other countries - primarily horticul
tural products, livestock, and edible
oils.
Preliminary data shows that the
countries first affected by COV1D-
! 9 exported and imported less food
in January and February 2020 rela
tive to the corresponding period in
2019, according to recent reports by
SafelyChain, a food and beverage
management system.
What can be done by private and
public sectors, hope!Lilly in a partner
ship, to offset these challenges? An
obvious option is storage, where ap
plicable, to mitigate price spikes,
avoid empty store shelves, and pre
vent collapse of demand. However,
not all commodities are storable.
Some experts have recommended
go vem meat purchase s of per ishables
and transfer to regions and segments
of the population where they arc most
needed. It is not clear that the logis
tics of such an operation can be
pulled off within the short time pe
ri ud needed to accommodate farms
and markets.
The stimulus measures to keep busi
nesses in operation - including loans,
grants, unemployment insurance,
and SNAP benefits - alleviate the
pro ble m t o some extent, but their d u-
rability has already been questioned.
Policy and other measures will be an
ongoing discussion.
Also, government regulations are
somewhat eased to help in the tran
sit ion of demand from food service
to grocery outlets. Nonetheless, the
food and agriculture sectors need
more attention, especially the most
vulnerable segments, likely in the
form of a combination of the above
axils employed in greater intensity.
The Taylor County News, April 23, 2020, Page 5.
A great many people mistake opinions for thoughts.
-Herbert V. Prochnow
Republican Candidate
for Commissioner • District 4
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