Real Estate: a web-series

A five-part web series where each episode averages about one and a half minutes duration, filmed on an iPhone 6 on nil budget and no marketing. It should have disappeared into obscurity, and yet at nearly 150,000 views and counting, Real Estate is a surprise hit.

Created by writer/director Laurence Rosier Staines, and inspired by the dire state of the current property market, the story focuses on a small group of young, middle class hipsters eager to buy real estate in a trendy locale. Disgruntled by the prohibitive prices, they decide to use violence and intimidation to besmirch the reputation of the neighbourhood and hopefully bring down house values.

Staines references influences such as Christopher Guest (Spinal Tap) when trying to describe the very dry, absurdist, often black humour and mockumentary style. He is definitely making a social comment, but doing it in an accessible, fun way. The fast-paced, quick-edit snippets make each episode feel like a trailer – full of punchy highlights.

While he is cynical about the property market and can empathise with the frustration of wannabe buyers, Staines does not actually like the protagonists in his story and is not barracking for them.

“I don’t really want them to win through violence. Violence is something that will beget more violence and is just an ugly way of going about things.”

Ironically, he believes the audience for the series probably includes the type of people he is “mercilessly criticising”.

While he has no immediate plans to turn the project into something bigger, he believes there is potential.

In the mean time you can check out the series at Facebook.com/realestatedoco/timeline. (RB)