The 11th Hour Dispatch — Friday, September 28, 2018
BINGE WATCH
The live action Sesame Street film finally has a director, and it’s — believe it or not — the co-creator and director of the sketch series Portlandia Jonathan Krisel. The Warner Bros. film, which will reportedly be a musical, will be produced by Stranger Things and Last Man Standing executive producer Shawn Levy with Michael Aguilar, the executive producer of Jim Carrey’s Showtime dramedy Kidding. The film’s first draft was written by American Vandal writer Mike Rosolio and is currently being “polished” by The Kings of Summer writer Chris Galletta. This film has been in development since Sesame Workshop signed a five-season deal with Warner Bros.’ sister company HBO to air the beloved children’s show. Warner Bros. immediately jumped on the chance for a companion film for the series.
YOUNG MONEY
Foodie digital media company The Infatuation has picked up $30 million from Jeffrey Katzenberg’s WndrCo. The company, which you may have noticed around social media with its spotlights of ungodly massive plates of food accompanied by the hashtag #EEEEEATS, plans to use the funds to expand its product lineup, specifically its SMS-based restaurant discovery platform Text Rex, to more cities around the world. It currently cover roughly two dozen. Two WndrCo co-founders, Ann Daly and Sujay Jaswa, will join The Infatuation’s board as part of the deal. The Infatuation brand encompasses digital content, apps, and newsletters that spotlight food and foodie trends across several major cities around the world. It also puts on over 50 live food-centric events each year, the largest of which is EEEEEATSCON. Also, The Infatuation owns renowned food review company Zagat, which it purchased from Google back in March.
BIG BUSINESS
Oh, Facebook. The troubled social network has suffered a data breach that compromised the information of over 50 million users. Facebook reported that it discovered the breach on Tuesday and immediately called the FBI. “This is a really serious security issue and we’re taking it really seriously,” Mark Zuckerberg said to reporters today, which sounds very assuring and not at all hilarious. The company logged out over 90 million users from their Facebook accounts last night as a precaution, so I hope you didn’t forget the password you made at age 13. On top of this, Chang Chi-yuan, a well-known Taiwanese hacker, has promised to delete founder Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook page and livestream it on Facebook Live this Sunday (he has now been sued). Who said appointment viewing was dead?
NOTHIN’ BUT ‘NET
Read this piece from Nicole Byer and feel joy finally.
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