how to become a god in central florida

This content is imported from YouTube. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.

Showtime's new comedy-drama On Becoming a God in Central Florida just might be the wackiest show on television right now. The series hinges around waterpark employee Krystal Stubbs (Kirsten Dunst) whose husband Travis Stubbs (Alexander Skarsgård) is a member of Founders American Merchandise or "FAM," a fictitious multibillion-dollar multi-level marketing company that sells toilet paper, cleaning products, and cosmetics. After Travis gets eaten by an alligator (yes, really), Krystal vows to get revenge on the pyramid scheme-like operation.

The year is 1992, which means the entire cast is decked out in delightfully ostentatious clothing, and the very apropos setting is Orlando.

The plot of the show, which is available to watch on Amazon Prime here, is so out-there it's left fans wondering whether any of it could actually be true. And the short answer is...kind-of.

Cardboard, Box, Carton, Package delivery, Shipping box, Room, Packaging and labeling, Shoe,

CBS

Show creator Matt Lutsky told Pop Sugar On Becoming a God in Central Florida is "based on a lot of true ideas, true stories. It's very fictionalized, but it's very much in the world of the kind of big-business, '90s multilevel marketing home goods commerce."

According to the site, Lutsky and his co-creator Robert Funke actually started out writing a show about religious cults, and found there to be lots of crossover with multilevel marketing companies.

"It's recognizable and relatable for us in a way that people who follow more esoteric religions — that just feels like you're kind of laughing at them, but we suddenly realized that we identified with these characters and these people so much more than any of the people we'd been writing about [in cults]," Funke told Pop Sugar.

"Robert and I were in Vegas before we ever started writing this show and there were hundreds of people there for a convention just screaming a very generic platitude over and over again, it was something like, 'Don't you wish this was you?!' and we eventually asked them why are you here, what is this? And all of them told us that this was the way their dreams were being made true, but none of them, when we pressed them, could tell us what they were selling and what they were doing," adds Lutsky. "It was gnarly. That was one of two multilevel marketing encounters we had that weekend."

Photograph, Blond, Beauty, Street fashion, Fashion, Yellow, Shoulder, Pink, Summer, Photography,

CBS

There's certainly a plethora of real-life material for Lutsky and Funke to source from. If you've ever had friends try to hawk tea or leggings or handbags online, you'll know this firsthand. If you haven't, try listening to Little Everywhere & Stitcher podcast The Dream, hosted by Jane Marie, which delves into the bizarre world of multi-level marketing or "MLM" systems. The podcast takes a look at companies like Avon, Mary Kay, and Pampered Chef.

Recently, MLM has experienced a major boom, according to The Atlantic. The outlet cites the Direct Selling Association, which claims there were more MLM companies in 2017 than ever before, and that one in six households in the U.S. participated in a direct-sales company. Consultants at companies like LuLaRoe, Younique, and Limelight have all found recent success with sales on social media.

Many MLMs also sell the idea of financial autonomy and future wealth to their "employees," though that's not always the outcome. In On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Krystal begins to realize that in order to make any money selling through FAM, she needs to recruit more sellers to the company and to get more followers, sort-of like a modern-day social media influencer.

"She gets people to come down and get inspired," Kirsten Dunst told The Wrap. "It's all about giving people hope, getting them inspired, and selling more products. So it's just bringing people, getting more people to buy more things. Like buying into her water class, buying products from her, just branding yourself — like Instagram."

Rose Minutaglio Staff Writer Rose is a Staff Writer at ELLE covering culture, news, and women's issues.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io