Fame

“[W]holly riveting.” —New York Times Book Review

“Instead of crashing and burning, Bateman has found a life outside the maelstrom, ably described in this sharp, take-no-prisoners book.” —Kirkus Reviews

ENTERTAINMENT SHOWS, MAGAZINES, WEBSITES, and other channels continuously report the latest sightings, heartbreaks, and triumphs of the famous to a seemingly insatiable public. Millions of people go to enormous lengths to achieve Fame. Fame is woven into our lives in ways that may have been unimaginable in years past.

And yet, is Fame even real? Contrary to tangible realities, Fame is one of those “realities” that we, as a society, have made. Why is that, and what is it about Fame that drives us to spend so much time, money, and focus to create the framework that maintains its health?

Mining decades of experience, writer, director, producer, and actress Justine Bateman writes a visceral, intimate look at the experience of Fame. Combining the internal reality-shift of the famous, theories on the public’s behavior at each stage of a famous person’s career, and the experiences of other famous performers, Bateman takes the reader inside and outside the emotions of Fame. The book includes a sixteen-page, full-color photo insert to highlight her analysis and a brand-new preface to the paperback edition.

Author Biography

JUSTINE BATEMAN is an author and filmmaker with an impressive, decades-long résumé in film and TV that includes a Golden Globe nomination and two Emmy nominations. Her feature films are the avant-garde pieces Look and Feel, and the critically acclaimed Violet starring Olivia Munn and Justin Theroux (an official selection of SXSW and the Toronto Film Festival). Bateman’s shorts include the 2017 award-winning Five Minutes, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was chosen by the Tribeca Film Festival and others. Her books, Fame: The Hijacking of Reality and the subsequent Face: One Square Foot of Skin, are both bestsellers. Bateman is the founder of CREDO23 and the non-AI CREDO23 Film Festival. She holds a degree in computer science and digital media management from UCLA.