'The YouTube Effect' Teaser Trailer: Alex Winter Documentary To Debut At Tribeca

Here’s a first teaser trailer for The YouTube Effect, the documentary by Alex Winter will premiere at the Tribeca Festival on June 11 in the Spotlight Documentary section. The film, an acquisition title with CAA Media Finance handling sales, takes viewers on a timely and gripping journey inside the cloistered world of YouTube and parent Google.

The film, presented by Olive Hill Media and produced by Valhalla Entertainment, Trouper Productions and Zipper Bros., investigates YouTube’s rise from humble beginnings in the attic of a pizzeria to its explosion onto the world stage, becoming the largest media platform in history and sparking a cultural revolution, while creating massive controversy in the age of disinformation.

YouTube raked in $8.6 billion in ad revenue in the fourth quarter, up 25%, as traditional media struggles. The platform is a lightning rod for online radicalization, surveillance, algorithmic capitalism, the proliferation of misinformation, and, of course, influencers and cat videos. It’s a world populated by some of the most brilliant minds in tech, business, media and politics, as well as pranksters, trolls and conspiracy theorists.

“I’m honored and grateful to be premiering a film at Tribeca for the first time,” said Winter (Bill & Ted Face the Music, Showbiz Kids, The Panama Papers, Zappa). “The festival is revered for its sophistication and cultural savvy, making it the perfect home for a documentary on the global impact of tech titans YouTube and Google.”

The narrative is produced by Winter, Gale Anne Hurd (Mankiller, The Terminator Trilogy and The Walking Dead) and Glen Zipper (Undefeated, Challenger: Final Flight, What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali, Zappa). Executive producers include Michael Cho, Mimi Rode and Tim Lee for Olive Hill Media (WeWork: Or The Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn), Michael Y. Chow, Kevin Lin and Sue Turley for XRM Media and Ian Orefice, Rebecca Teitel and Mike Beck for Time Studios.