EXCLUSIVE: At one point, e-cigarette maker Juul was valued at $38 billion, qualifying the company as one of the most successful startups in Silicon Valley history. But that book value proved as ephemeral as a cloud of smoke.
Juul’s fortunes – from a high-flying tech company to a litigation magnet accused of marketing its products to teens – is told in the four-part documentary series Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul, directed by award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler. All four episodes are set to premiere globally on Netflix on October 11. We have your first look at Big Vape in the trailer above.
“Juul was the fastest-growing company in history. Now, they’re a cautionary tale,” notes a synopsis of the series. “Based on the book Big Vape: The Incendiary Rise of Juul by TIME Health Correspondent Jamie Ducharme and directed by R.J. Cutler (Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry; Belushi), this four-part doc-series unpacks 20 years of Silicon Valley innovation, influence, and insanity to explain the spectacular flameout of the vaping device that almost changed everything.”
Netflix
The series is a production of Amblin Television, This Machine (a part of Sony Pictures Television), and TIME Studios. Episode 1 of Big Vape is set to premiere on Thursday, Sept. 28 at the 15th Atlantic Festival in Washington D.C., followed by a panel discussion with Cutler and Ducharme, moderated by Atlantic magazine staff writer Shirley Li.
“One of the central narratives of our times is the unintended consequences of Big Tech,” Cutler said in a statement provided exclusively to Deadline. “No story brings this narrative to life more vividly than the story of JUUL and its founders.”
Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul is directed and executive produced by R.J. Cutler. Fellow executive producers include Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey for Amblin Television, Elise Pearlstein, Trevor Smith, and Lindsay Panell for This Machine, and Ian Orefice and Rebecca Teitel for TIME Studios.
Director R.J. Cutler
Courtesy of Matt Sayles
In addition to the Billie Eilish and Belushi documentaries, Cutler’s numerous credits include The September Issue, The World According to Dick Cheney and Emmy-winning series American High. He produced the Oscar-nominated documentary classic The War Room, directed by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. The true crime series he directed, Murf the Surf, premiered on MGM+ earlier this year. His upcoming projects include Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: The Final Elton John Performances And the Years That Made His Legend, for Disney+. Cutler also is directing an upcoming Untitled Martha Stewart Documentary for Netflix “where for the first time, Stewart will publicly speak about her experience in prison,” according to a release. He’s preparing a documentary feature on the 2023 World Series in partnership with Ron Howard and his production company, Imagine Entertainment, and Major League Baseball.
Watch the trailer for Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul above.
