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Matt Fassberg
biography from 1986
 Matt Fassberg's desk is a
mess. His computer is on and his phone is ringing. With his first words it
is obvious that his mind works much differently from most people's.
However, Matt Fassberg, at age 28, is much of the creative force behind
what promises to be next season's television hit, NEW MONKEES. As the
producer of the series, Matt says, "Every bit of my mind is geared toward
making this show fresh, exciting, unpredictable and imaginative."
Matt's story began in 1969
when his family moved from New Jersey to California. While attending
Oakwood School, he met Victor Fresco, who was to become a close friend,
writing partner and co-producer of NEW MONKEES. During those years at
Oakwood, the two guys practiced what was to become their profession. They
began making Super 8 movies for fun, and continued to dabble in filmmaking
throughout their school years. For their senior thesis in high school,
they produced a comedy film.
Matt's obsessions with
music and film continued throughout college. While attending Hampshire
College in Massachusetts, he worked as a photographer at rock concerts and
studied film and electronic music. Following college Matt moved to New
York where, for the next two and a half years, he worked on a number of
rock videos and films. On his return to Los Angeles Matt began working
with Fresco on various writing projects and television commercials.
Fresco and Fassberg met two
of the original creators of "The Monkees," Steve Blauner and Bert
Schneider through Bert's son. The pair were looking for young producers
who were as plugged into today's youth, as they were when they first
produced "The Monkees" 20 years ago.
At their first meeting,
Blauner asked Fresco and Fassberg to come up with some ideas for the NEW
MONKEES of the 80's. They returned for their second meeting with a series
concept that blew Blauner away, and were hired on the spot. "I've always
had a sort of a wild sense of humor," admits Fassberg. "I'm
the one that would pull off all of the crazy and obnoxious pranks in
school. NEW MONKEES is going to break new ground in television both
visually and conceptually without losing the sense of the old series."
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