First, a Facebook Movie. Now One About Napster

Actually, it’s not quite the same.  This is going to be a VH-1 documentary, not some Trent Reznor-scored lightly-fictionalized-by-Aaron-Sorkin drama.

What’s interesting is that it’ll be directed by Alex Winter, aka Bill S. Preston, Esq, the “Bill” to Keanu Reeves’ “Ted” in the Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure movies.  

Here’s what Winter told Deadline:

“The rise and fall of Napster and the birth of peer-to-peer file-sharing technology created by Shawn Fanning when he was a college student, changed music to movies, and made possible everything from Julian Assange, WikiLeaks to the iPod and Facebook.  It became an expression of youth revolt, and contributed to a complete shift in how information, media and governments work. And it is a fascinating human story, where this 18-year-old kid invents a peer-to-peer file-sharing system, and brings it to the world six months later.”  

Both Sean Fanning and Shawn Parker (the real one, not some Timberlake stand-in) are participating in the project–which, by the way, is being produced by same division at VH-1 that backed the Anvil movie.