Operation Varsity Blues Trailer Dramatizes College Admission Scandal For Netflix

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Netflix has released an official trailer for Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal – a dramatized documentary about Rick Singer. He took millions of dollars from wealthy American families to cheat their children into college. An FBI investigation into the scheme became public in 2019 and dominated headlines for months, sparking a broader conversation about university admissions' inequity. The documentary begins streaming on Netflix on March 17.

Between 2011 and 2018, Rick Singer ran a fraudulent operation accepting money from wealthy American families to gain their children admission to various colleges. These plans involved cheating on entrance exams to achieve optimal scores and getting students accepted on athletic merits that were underserved – in many cases involving bribes. CEOs and other prominent business executives have been indicted and sentenced in the wake of the FBI’s investigation (codenamed Operation Varsity Blues), as have some notable Hollywood figures like Full House actress Lori Loughlin.

Netflix’s upcoming documentary Operation Varsity Blues will delve into all these details and more. The film’s official trailer shows a dramatized approach, whereby actual conversations between Singer and his various clients will be recreated verbatim by actors, alongside actual news footage and interviews with the real people involved in the case. Matthew Modine (Stranger Things, Full Metal Jacket) will play Singer, and the documentary is created by Chris Smith and Jon Karmen (Fyre: The Greatest Party That never Happened). Watch the official trailer below.

Netflix has carved out a niche for itself over the past few years in the more bizarre side of true crime documentaries, from Tiger King and Wild Wild Country to Fyre and Don’t F**k with Cats. Operation Varsity Blues looks to be another entry in that catalog. Tiger King, in particular success for the streamer, launched in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic and quickly caught fire as a cultural touchstone. Chris Smith, the director of Operation Varsity Blues, also worked as an executive producer on Tiger King.

Two years after the FBI investigation into the college admissions scandal was made public, the case remains a hot topic. The investigation led to an ongoing cultural conversation surrounding rising college tuition costs, equity in higher education, and student debt. Audiences who’ve enjoyed past forays into the realm of true crime on Netflix can look forward to more when Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admissions Scandal releases on March 17.