HBO has landed the rights to Facebook drama “Doomsday Machine,” which stars Claire Foy as Sheryl Sandberg.
Anonymous Content Studios and wiip will co-produce the limited series with HBO on “Doomsday Machine.”
Per its official description, “Doomsday Machine” is “the riveting human drama chronicling the political and social minefields Facebook has navigated on its relentless quest for growth. The series places us in the shoes of Sheryl Sandberg (Foy) and Mark Zuckerberg, who are shaping the way that billions of people around the world communicate and consume information.”
The show “covers the period beginning with disinformation and the 2016 election and brings us up to the internal struggles leading to the most recent revelations reported in the WSJ and NYT: the disclosure of XCHECK, a program that shielded VIP users including Trump from the platforms normal rules and regulations; news that the company was aware of the mental health risks posed by Instagram to younger users despite their public downplaying of the issue; and a propaganda push by Zuckerberg to use the News Feed to push out positive stories about Facebook to help shape public opinion.”
“Doomsday Machine” is created by “Homeland Elegies” author Ayad Akhtar and adapted based on Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang’s book “An Ugly Truth: Inside Facebook’s Battle for Domination” as well as their NYT reporting and the reporting of The New Yorker’s Andrew Marantz.
Foy, Akhtar, Paul Lee, Josh Stern, David Levine, Doug Wald, Adam Berkowitz, Elyse Cheney and Adam Eaglin executive produce.
“Doomsday Machine” will be the second scripted take on the social media giant, following “The Social Network” in 2010. That film, about the early (and much more benign) days of Facebook, starred Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg.
Claire Foy is represented by UTA and Independent Talent Group. Ayad Akhtar is represented by CAA, Lenore Entertainment Group, and Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher