Fortune USA 201902

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FORTUNE.COM// FEB.1 .19

WHITMAN AND KATZENBERG SHOW UP at the same office every day,

an unfussy steel-and-glass low-rise on a Hollywood side street.

Whitman started at Quibi last March, after putting her home

in the tony Bay Area suburb of Atherton up for sale and mov-

ing into a West Hollywood condominium. (She did manage to

squeeze in a trip to Africa with her family between CEO posts.)

Quibi is in a shared-office complex, similar to WeWork, with

room to grow. Says Whitman: “We canPac-Man our way as we

get more people.”

they don’t get the subscribers, and the cards

are stacked against them getting subscribers,

your series won’t be a hit, and who’s going to

want to buy it?” wonders Dan Rayburn, who

tracks streaming media for the consultancy

Frost & Sullivan. “You don’t see people clam-

oring to rebroadcast stuff from go90,” he says,

referring to Verizon’s mobile-video platform

that went dark in July.

JUSTINTIMBERL AKE

Untitledproject

Katzenberg loves

to ask musicians

about the song that

inspired them to get

into the industry.

Timberlake will ask

other singers just

that—“What was the

song and who was

the singer?”—and

then perform a duet

with them.

ZAC EFRON

“Kill the Efrons”

Premise: Zac Efron

and his brother get

sent to some remote

part of the world

with no food, shelter,

or technology—

except for the

cameras chronicling

what happens, of

course. What could

go wrong?

LENA WAITHE

“YouAin’tGotThese”

Waithe, an Emmy-

winning screenwriter

(Master of None) and

actress, will produce

an unscripted

documentary series

about sneaker

culture, told through

the lens of race,

gender, commerce,

and fashion.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO

Untitledproject

The reigning best

director and best

picture Academy

Award winner (The

Shape of Waterrr) is

working on a series

based on the 198 0

horror novelThe

Vampire Tapestry,

according to

Katzenberg.

ANTOINE FUQUA

“FreeRaySean”

TheTraining Day

director is taking

his thriller expertise

to Quibi with a

story about a

hostage situation

that features

themes of racism,

law enforcement

protocol, and post-

traumatic stress

disorder.—S.M.

CHRIS ROCK

“Wild Kingdom”

Chris Rock will

narrate wildlife mini

documentaries

(four to five minutes

each) produced by

National Geographic.

It sounds like a

mashup ofPlanet

Earthand the

Planet Earthh spoof

voiced by rapper

SnoopDogg.

BIG PROJECTS, LITTLE SCREENS

SIX HOLLYWOOD HEAV YWEIGHTS HAVE COMMITTED

TO CREATE SHORT-FORM CONTENT FOR QUIBI.

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