Justine Bateman experiences career change

[Brian Damage]

In a short time, Justine Bateman has gone from playing a drug pusher on "Desperate Housewives" to pushing story lines for a Disney Channel kids comedy.

The actress has made her first script sale of any kind to Disney's red-hot "Wizards of Waverly Place."

In a way, it was an unusual move, Bateman told the Daily News. "My style of writing isn't this type of writing," she said. "I like rising to that challenge. It's not lost on me that my first sale is a sitcom. I'm thrilled about it."

Bateman had been writing scripts for a while, mostly feature films, but hadn't sold anything. But Peter Murrieta, executive producer of "Wizards," is a friend, and during the recent writers strike, Bateman got to know some "Wizards" writers.

That led to an invitation to write for the show. It's a multi-step process that involves pitching ideas, developing story lines, revising drafts and finally watching the show being shot.

"It's fun to actually write it," she said. "The scenes take on a life of their own."

"Wizards of Waverly Place" is Disney's most-watched series. It stars Selena Gomez as one of a family of wizards whose young members are just coming to terms with their unusual powers.

Bateman rose to prominence in 1982 when she appeared in the opener of "Family Ties," NBC's long-running hit.

Since then, she's worked regularly, appearing in such series as "Men Behaving Badly," "Men in Trees" and "Desperate Housewives."

"Television [networks] used to have an awful lot of sitcoms ," Bateman said. "It's interesting to see Disney is really a place where there are sitcoms.

"Going back 15 years, there were a fair amount of sitcoms families could watch," she said. "I absolutely love '30 Rock' and 'The Office,' but I don't know how many 13-year-olds are watching that stuff."

Murrieta, who's also a partner with Bateman in FM78.tv, a production company that does shows for the Internet, said Bateman did an "amazing job." He said her experience on "Family Ties" helped.

"I think because she was one of the most famous 15-year-old girl characters on televison 20 years ago, she certainly knows the genre," Murrieta said.

Bateman is exited about her venture into scriptwriting.

"I love having first-time experiences," she said. "When you're past the age of 20 or so, there are less and less first-time experiences."

Being on the set as a writer, script in hand, making notes on what worked or not, was empowering, she added.

When not writing, Bateman stars in "Candy Inc," FM78.tv's first project, and is working to get that project off the ground.

"I believe there's a creative renaissance," Bateman said. "The structure of TV is changing quickly."

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertain...eer_chang.html

[Family Ties Forever!]

That's cool. Good luck to her.

[catlover79]

I wish Justine all the best!!