The Made for MTV Movie on Shawn Fanning and Napster
Thanks to Hollywood Reporter via Digital Coast Reporter:
Napster founder Shawn Fanning, whose file-sharing software pitted him as a populist David doing battle with the Goliaths of the music industry, has found a champion in MTV.
The cable network has hired filmmaker Alex Winter ("Fever") to write and direct a small-screen biopic for MTV Original Movies that will dramatize Fanning's life. As a teenager, he created a software program in his college dorm room that led to an online music revolution and his own booming Internet company, only to become the target of the music industry's legal wrath.
The deal with MTV gives the network exclusive rights to Fanning's life story. The Napster founder and former chief technology officer is collaborating with Winter on the screenplay, and he also plans to executive produce the telepic along with its soundtrack, which will be released through his forthcoming, yet-unnamed record label, sources said.