Boy band svengali and convicted fraudster Lou Pearlman getting the biopic treatment
Lou Pearlman ignobly died in prison while serving 25 years for his role in a far-ranging Ponzi scheme, but the one-time svengali’s influence is still being felt in modern music. As the architect behind boy bands like Backstreet Boys and N’Sync, Pearlman helped pave the way for our pop-forward culture, even as he screwed many of his acts of the money they were due. Before he got involved in music, though, he was an awkward kid in New York and, as an adult, a similarly shady blimp salesman.
All of this is detailed in The Boy Band Con, a YouTube documentary produced by former N’Sync member Lance Bass, but now, per Rolling Stone, Pearlman’s story will be getting the biopic treatment via a film now titled Transcon. Successful songwriters Desmond Child and Andreas Carlsson will serve as producers, as will Edward R. Pressman and Greg Basser, who are forming their take around a 2007 Vanity Fair feature about Pearlman, as well as Tyler Grey’s excellent 2009 book The Hit Charade: Lou Pearlman, Boy Bands, and the Biggest Ponzi Scheme in U.S. History.
“Lou Pearlman indisputably changed the course of popular music, and what he envisioned influenced the entertainment business as we know it today,” Pressman said in a statement. “However, while fascinating, Lou’s character was flawed and, having climbed to the top of an industry, he then unraveled in an unprecedented manner.”