THR’s Hollywood Con Queen Investigation is a docuseries on Apple TV+
Journalist Scott Johnson investigates the “Con Queen” case.
Courtesy of Apple TV+
Original deep reporting by Hollywood ReporterScott Johnson is getting a true crime docuseries on Apple TV+.
The streaming giant picked up all three parts Hollywood Con Queen From director Chris Smith, and based in part on Johnson’s book Queen of Hollywood Universe: The Search for an Evil Genius From HarperCollins.
The docu-series, which will premiere on May 8, promises an in-depth exploration of a mysterious Indonesian man and the masquerade behind the Con Queen’s elaborate scam. This was no garden-variety rogue. His criminal exploits eventually caught attention THR Investigative journalist Johnson and private investigator Nicole Kotsianas set out to unmask the serial conman by tearing apart the layers of one of Hollywood’s most elaborate schemes.
As part of Johnson’s original reporting, he interviewed unwitting victims of Con Quinn’s daring schemes, which wreaked havoc on the entertainment industry and affected Hollywood figures. The master prankster has mostly impersonated top female executives such as former Sony chief Amy Pascal and star Wars Producer Kathleen Kennedy targets industry creatives with promises of changing their careers in Indonesia, only to swindle them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The Indonesian conman didn’t leave his marks until they had exhausted their personal finances for a big, long-shot opportunity, only to trap them in a psychological trick that is now part of Hollywood lore.
The hunt by the veteran con man saw him use accents to impersonate celebrities such as Wendi Murdoch, wife of Fox boss Rupert Murdoch, and Christine Hearst Schwarzman, intellectual property lawyer and wife of billionaire Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, to convince unsuspecting victims to send him money.
Report via THRJohnson – who included a 2018 cover story – helped track down the Indonesian criminal, whom he met face-to-face during the UK’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions in the fall of 2020.
“I felt my heart beating in my chest as I approached him from behind. ‘Excuse me . . .’ He stopped, and although the rest of his body remained motionless, he turned his head toward me. “Above a blue surgical mask, two dark eyes fixed on me with a look of utter fury,” Johnson recounted in his book. Con Queen of Hollywood book.
Hollywood Con Queen Produced for Apple TV+ by Library Films, Smith also serves as an executive producer alongside Ben Anderson. Johnson serves as a consulting producer.
