The teaser for Operation Varsity Blues, the Netflix documentary about the Hollywood college admissions scandal, announced it would hit Netflix on March 17. In recent years, Netflix has experienced a boom in documentary films outside minting true-crime phenomena like the Making a Murderer and Tiger King series. The service has made a strong effort to platform talented filmmakers and spotlight a range of issues, a prominent example being Ava DuVernay's 13th, about the mass incarceration of Black Americans. Many documentaries about Hollywood, like Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond, have been big hits for Netflix. Now, it looks to be adding another entry to that subgenre.
The streamer will next tackle the 2019 college admissions scandal, which brought to light a widespread conspiracy and web of bribery wherein wealthy parents shelled out millions of dollars to get their children admitted to top universities. Orchestrating the scam was Rick Singer, who faces up to 65 years in prison for doctoring sports credentials and helping his clients' kids cheat on entrance exams. Much of the media frenzy centered on Hollywood clients caught up in the scheme, including Oscar-nominated actress Felicity Huffman and Full House star Lori Loughlin, who served two months in prison and became the face of the controversy.
Netflix tweeted a teaser trailer for Operation Varsity Blues, which drops March 17 and promises to go beyond the celebrity headlines. Named after the FBI codename for the investigation, the documentary is directed by Chris Smith and produced by Jon Karmen, the team behind Tiger King and Fyre, which indicates the film will share the same compulsive watchability. It will combine interviews and recreations of FBI wiretappings to explore further Singer and his tactics for pulling off the far-reaching scam. Watch the Operation Varsity Blues teaser below:
Though it's not the first film to come out of the scandal, it's undoubtedly the highest-profile. Lifetime took a crack at it in 2019 with The College Admissions Scandal, which explores the scandal from two fictional mothers' perspectives, but the film generated little conversation. It's safe to say Netflix, with its more than 200 million subscribers worldwide and reputation for riveting documentaries will provide the broadest exposure for the still-unraveling scandal that's affecting dozens of teens whose parents have been charged.
That being said, documentaries on incidents where kids are ultimately the victims can prove challenging since they must be handled more sensitively. It looks like Operation Varsity Blues will smartly orient its focus away from the scandal's victims and fallout to the scandal's inner machinations. All signs point to the documentary being Netflix's most significant of the year so far, and viewers can watch for themselves when it debuts on March 17.
Source: Netflix/Twitter