Earlier this year, news broke out about a major scandal involving wealthy parents bribing college administrators and recruiters to admit their children into prominent universities. Amongst the parents caught in the scandal were actresses Felicity Huffman of Desperate Housewives fame and Lori Loughlin, who is best known for playing Aunt Becky on Full House and the Netflix spinoff Fuller House. After their involvement in the crimes were revealed, Netflix and Hallmark severed ties with Loughlin and Huffman has pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
Now Lifetime has announced plans to create a movie based on the scandal, which has been dubbed Operation Varsity Blues. The movie is supposed to be titled College Admissions Scandal, but it’s unknown if that title will actually stick. Adam Salky has been chosen to direct the project, with Gail Katz and Howard Braunstein producing it, and Stephen Tolkin writing the script.
Lifetime has already revealed the movie’s plot:
College Admissions Scandal will follow two wealthy mothers who share an obsession with getting their teenagers into the best possible college. When charismatic college admissions consultant Rick Singer offers a side door into the prestigious institutions of their dreams, they willingly partake with visions of coveted acceptance letters in their heads. But when Singer cooperates with the FBI and pleads guilty, the mothers who risked everything for their kids, must face the consequences of their crimes and the loss of trust and respect from their families.
The studio Annapurna Television will also be getting in on this story, having purchased the rights to a soon to be released book about Operation Varsity Blues called Accepted. Once the book is released, Annapurna plans on adapting it into a TV miniseries.
Since Operation Varsity Blues was such an enormous scandal, one should expect to see a lot of books, movies, TV series, and documentaries about it in the near future. This Lifetime movie maybe the first movie about Operation Varsity Blues, but it will definitely not be the last one.