Justine Bateman: The Future of Entertainment
October 7, 2008 by poprockcandy
By AMANDA BRUMFIELD
Pop-Rock Candy Mountain
Justine Bateman is an actor, writer, producer and co-founder of the internet production company FM78.tv. The company is set to launch it’s first series, “Candy Inc.”, which will star Bateman, Jeff Garlin, Doug Stanhope, Buck Henry, Judd Nelson, Wallace Langham, Susan Nakamura and Beverly D’Angelo.
Bateman is a powerful creative force and she speaks honestly, never posturing herself before answering a question. She is whip-smart, focused and her excitement about the changes taking place in the entertainment industry and the freedom those change have allowed is contagious. She’s telling us that the future is now and that we should all jump in feet first and play a part in the change- in the way that we create, distribute and receive one of our most precious commodities- entertainment via creative freedom.
Pop-Rock Candy Mountain (PRCM) Tell me about FM78.tv and how the company got started.
Justine Bateman (JB) Well a bunch of us got together during the writer’s strike when we all realized very clearly that the bottom of the distribution pyramid had dropped out for many things, but especially for TV and film and that we no longer had to go through the studios and the networks to get our stuff out there. We took all of the scripts, all of the partners in fm78 were writers, producers, actors. We took all of the scripts that we would have taken to ABC or Showtime to pitch, and instead we went straight to the sponsors and get the money that way. We wanted it to be 100% professional, all union and then distribute it on the internet.
We could see how every piece of entertainment is eventually going to come through an IP address, so let’s just start now.
PRCM: Do you really feel that television is a dying medium?
JB: Yes, broadcast television, absolutely, without a doubt. I mean this year, premier week was down 18%, and that ’s supposed to be the big week.
I think all the big media companies- it’s like watching a mudslide. It’s all going away. But the great news is that the future of entertainment is phenomenal. The future of the corporate stranglehold is not looking good. The executives who are interested on keeping that stranglehold on content- they are done.
PRCM: I think that the freedom the internet allows as a distribution center for writers, producers, musicians- whatever type of artist you happen to be- is amazing. However we’ve experienced a large percentage of executives that are still reluctant to consider the internet as a legitimate media source.
JB: It really doesn’t matter. Executives deciding whether or not they are going to accept the internet as a valid point of distribution is almost like someone on the 24th of December deciding they are not going to accept that the next day is Christmas. It’s just going to happen. It doesn’t matter how anyone feel about whether or not it should happen, you can already almost speak about it in the past tense.
It’s so much bigger than broadcast television or the old fashioned way of releasing music, it’s bigger than any of that.
PRCM: Do you think that broadcast television and internet programming will cross over for a time?
JB: I don’t see why, I mean I guess it could for a year or two, but why bother? I mean look, working in television is very different now than it was 10 or 15 years ago. It used to be you had some creative freedom and you were paid well. You didn’t have layer upon layer of corporate notes. Now they don’t want to pay you anything. They’ve already screwed directors and writers out of residuals for “made for new media”. It’s like telling an artist, “You no longer get royalties on anything you produce.”
They have already done that and now they are trying to do it to the Screen Actors Guild. There’s no way we can make an agreement with no residuals from new media, for a lot of actors who work in TV that’s half of your income. It’s insane because everything is going to be made for new media.
Here’s what’s going to happen with TV- right now I have an HDMI port in the back of my Direct TV set topbox. So I can just plug in my laptop, pull up any file from the internet, and play it on my TV. You can also buy a box to wirelessly connect to your computer, download whatever you want off of the internet, and watch it on your flat-screen TV. Also all of the new TVs are going to have USB ports or already do have them, so really we are very close to canceling our Direct TV because why should I pay for a satellite connection and an internet connection when I’m getting the same data?
There’s a lot of room for top notch quality content, but it will be distributed exclusively online. Then you can watch it on your desktop, your laptop, your flat screen TV- wherever you want to see it, but it’s going to come through an IP address and not through broadcast television.
PRCM: Why do you think that the corporations and executives are so unwilling to compromise or accept the changes that are happening?
JB: I guess I can see why they would want to believe it’s not happening. Because it will mean that they are completely out of a job. If they were to accept it then they would have to say to themselves, “My position is irrelevant.” and then look for another line of work.
So they can think what they want, they can reject it, they can ignore it but it really doesn’t matter. It is there, it is happening, it will eliminate their jobs, there’s nothing that can stop it at this point. So the people who are unwilling to change or unable to adjust in the entertainment business are going to have a very hard time. Those who are willing are going to do great.
I think this is the best time to be in the entertainment business. We are the designers of this change, it’s in our hands. All of us that were born 20, 30, 40 years ago- this is one of our moments. We get to design this whole space.
PRCM: Your first series is called “Candy Inc.”, tell me a bit about it.
JB: It’s about a woman who has been trying to live an authentic life and she is heir to this fairly successful candy corporation. She never wanted to be a part of it because she wanted to pursue her dreams, like she likes to follow rock stars around but can never get back stage. She’s kind of like “The Dude” in The Big Lebowski, she’s kind of a loser. She’s always getting into trouble so at one point her father, played by Buck Henry, calls her into his office and tells her she’s being cut off and will have to work at the factory and learn the value of a dollar. She’s really too old to be learning this lesson at this point.
So she and the CFO, played by Jeff Garlin hate each other immediately. She finds, much to her dismay, that she has a real talent for running the company but tries to hide it because she doesn’t want to stay there. So Jeff’s character starts taking credit for her ideas.
It also stars Doug Stanhope, Judd Nelson, Wallace Langham, Susan Nakamura and Beverly D’Angelo.
PRCM: Sounds awesome, do you have a tentative release date?
JB: The script is top-notch, I’m really excited. It will probably premier in the Spring.
PRCM: The internet has certainly shown us how much talent there is out there, that might otherwise be overlooked.
JB: Exactly, you know all of the directors, writers, musicians, photographers…now to be able to just put themselves out there without having to go through some gatekeeper, you really do find some incredible talent.
I think that what is going to happen is that this whole business grid is going to continue to collapse and this new business grid that we’ve created- the deals we’re all making directly with sponsors or distribution sites- are going to become the standard. I mean there will be lots of different ones to choose from, there won’t even be just one standard.
Then there will be a creative renaissance that will blow everybody away. There’s going to be a new wave of creativity that is going to rock this world. I believe that something huge and totally new is coming.
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Watch Justine and Illeana Douglas in “Easy to Assemble”.
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