When Paramount released “The Truman Show” in 1998, the studio thought it was releasing a satire of how far America’s obsession with celebrity could go.
But two Italian entrepreneurs think Paramount gave them a business plan.
Arturo Artom and Luca Ferrero are beta-testing a Web site, set to launch in May, called YourTrumanShow.com.
Site takes self-revelatory blogs and YouTube videos to the next level by encouraging users to submit videos of their personal lives for public display and judgment.
“Your life can be rated by others, and it might be highlighted as the ‘life of the day,’ ” says Artom.
Exec says the site’s name was in the clear, since trademarks for the film filed by Paramount expired in June; a search of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site confirms that.
Paramount reps declined to comment on the transformation of satire into reality in less than a decade.
