Justin Hall Show

Theme: Twentysomething retirement rejects


Opening credits -
pictures of Justin talking and looking serious, Justin doing weird/funny stuff, pictures of Justin's friends, interview outtakes, weird devices, underneath a theme song.


Introduction -
(setting: Justin's Living Room or Porch?)
JUSTIN, LEAFING THROUGH PAYCHECK STUBS, NOTICES THE AUDIENCE AND ADDRESSES THEM DIRECTLY:

Most of the time, young people figure out what they're good at, or what they like to do, or what they can get paid to do, and they start working at it.  They don't necessarily expect to do that for the rest of their lives, but most modern folks expect to hold down a job to get their bills paid.

For a rare moment in the mid to late 1990s, many young folks found that they could make a lot of money with computers.  The internet stock market richly rewarded young folks who spent much of their twenties in front of their monitors.  Suddenly, in some rare parts of the world, it was not unusual to find young folks who expected never to have to work again.

But soon the market crashed, and now those folks are without jobs.  Those folks aren't retired - they've got a rich lifestyle, and they're going broke.  Some of them are headed back to the workforce, some are finding creative ways to manage the kind of lifestyle they thought they were propelled out of.


JUSTIN NODS SOMBERLY AND MOVES TOWARDS OFFSCREEN, LIKE HE'S GOING SOMEWHERE


First Sequence - Elly
FOOTAGE OF ELLY AND JUSTIN DANCING ON A STREETCORNER

Voice Over:

"Elly moved to San Francisco from Savannah Georgia in 1995.  Crashing on futons, partying, and relentless internet chatting propelled her into a job at Critical Path, one of the hot young companies of the dot.com boom.  When the stock soared to over 150 a share, Elly suddenly had a few hundred thousand dollars, at the age of 23.

Elly and Justin sitting in Elly's living room
"Elly, you ended up with a huge phat pile of duckets!  How was it?"

"You bought your parents a car?"

"You bought a $500 pair of shoes?"

"You were making more money than most of our parents made at our age - whaddya think of that?"

"How was it to have freedom from employment?"

"Does anybody treat you different since you made some cash?"

Elly and Justin chat about her recent re-employment.  She mentions another guy, who made more money, with a stranger conclusion - Steve.


Second Sequence - Steve
STEVE DANCING IN A DARKENED ROOM

"Steve5 is 27 years old and he owns his own house and he's working with non-profit companies that test drugs at parties for people.  Becoming rich on the internet allowed him to see that you can spend a lot of money on strange pleasures."

"You got rich, and spent money on some stupid stuff, yeah?"

"Would you call yourself a geek?  How do money and a passion for systems and technology mix?"

Justin and Steve chat.


Third Sequence - Bringing it all Back Home
JUSTIN WALKS BACK INTO HIS LIVING ROOM

"Well not everyone was lucky enough to have an internet stock party land in their lap.  But as we saw from Elly and Steve, managing lots of money when you're young can be a mixed bag."

(Summary based on content shared by interviewees)