As we all know, Bateman’s movie career has been climbing steadily upward with high profile roles in films such as The Kingdom and Juno as well as the upcoming Hancock and State of Play.

What many might not know, however, is that Bateman was tapped by Fox to direct the pilot for “Do Not Disturb,” which scored a fall series berth on the Fox network. He’s also providing one of the lead voices on the Fox animated series “Sit Down, Shut Up,” which 20th is co-producing with Sony Pictures TV. (The fate of that show is unclear, however, as writers have been told “Sit Down” won’t be a WGA show.)

Under this new deal, Bateman will give 20th first crack at anything he develops with his F+A Prod. label. Bateman said he’s already kicking around several ideas and plans to meet with writers in the coming weeks.