Last night was huge step in the democratization of media. The FOX show “House” aired it’s season finale which happened to be shot on the Canon 5D Mark II DSLR camera.

Why is this such big news? Well, that camera retails for under $2700. Normally House is shot on film with cameras and lenses that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Last night’s episode proved that the cost of equipment is no longer a barrier to entry on making broadcast-ready television.

I bought the Canon 5D in December of 2008. I had never owned a DSLR, but had seen the video that people like Vincent LaForet were getting out of these cameras and I had to try it. I ended up selling that camera and getting the Canon 7D about 8 months later. That camera was almost $1000 less and had more functionality at the time than the 5D. Canon has since remedied that with a firmware upgrade. Now there is a new camera called the T2i that costs $800 that has almost all the functionality of the 5D and 7D. That means there is no barrier to entry. For the price of a home video camera, you can now own the proper tools to help you shoot a film or make a television program.

When I started the American Cliche radio show back in June of 2005, I talked often about the democratization of media. The internet has allowed us to each have a voice and be able to tell whatever story we want. Since I started this show AC has been listened to almost 5 and a half million times. I think that’s pretty powerful.

AC’s success proves that we have the power to take the power away from radio, but television and film has been a tougher nut to crack. Shooting an entire episode of House on a sub-$3000 DSLR camera brought us much closer. If you have a great story and the talent to back it up, there are no excuses anymore. Get out there and do it.