Vanity Fair, September 2004

Plum TV Captures The Good Life

By Kimberly Cutter

For anyone who ever wished life were just a big J. Crew catalogue, you'll be happy to know the folks at Plum TV are working hard to make that wish come true. The brainchild of 38-year old Wasp entrepreneur Tom Scott, Plum TV is a new 24-hour television network tailor-made for the sandy, grosgrain-ribboned enclaves of Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and the Hamptons. There are live morning shows hosted by sun-kissed madras-clad local co-eds, and mogul-friendly talk shows hosted by Patricia Duff and Sophie Dahl. (Technically, Dahl's show is for children, but it seems to have serious crossover potential in the adult-male category as well.) There is blow-by-blow coverage of East Hampton's Artists & Writers Softball Game and the Vineyard's Monster Shark fishing tournament. There is a puppet show called Hamptoons. And yes, because J. Crew is a major sponsor, there will be many "lifestyle segments" (looking very much like ads) featuring still more winsome Wasps chomping on lobster rolls and capering about the windy bonfire in anoraks and seersucker shorts.

"It's very much all-hands-deck television at the moment," explains Scott, a towheaded Brown alum and ex-NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) instructor who made his first fortune in the 90s with Nantucket Nectars, a juice company he started with a college buddy. The collaborative venture partners Scott with 10-year NBC veteran Chris Glowacki and film producer Cary Woods (Scream and Swingers)-who also happens to be the ex-husband of Emily Woods, Tom Scott's wife and the founder of J. Crew. ("Cary's actually the one who set us up," explains Scott with a chuckle.) Eventually, Plum TV will be about a lot more than carefully cast clambakes and surf reports and it will reach other plum stomping grounds such as Vail, Aspen, and Sun Valley. "We see it developing as our own little independent television festival," continues Scott, who describes the company as "actively looking" to acquire and produce material. "We're buying up documentaries; we're developing dramas, comedies, on-act plays, the whole thing. We think of it sort of like Sundance, but for TV." Sounds just peachy.