Oct 10, 2017

Ex-Uber engineer Susan Fowler's life could be made into a movie

Kia Kokalitcheva

Sign in front of Uber's office. Photo: Eric Risberg / AP

A movie is in the works about former Uber engineer Susan Fowler, whose explosive blog post about her time at the ride-hailing company led to a major shakeup and eventually the ouster of CEO Travis Kalanick, according to Variety. Fowler has reportedly pledged her life rights to a movie being written by "Hidden Figures" screenwriter Allison Schroeder, to be produced by former Disney executive Kristin Barr. Fowler's agent has not yet returned Axios's request for comment.

  • The pitch: The movie described as "Erin Brockovich" (strong woman toppling big corporation) meets "The Social Network" (dramatic telling of an iconic Silicon Valley story).
  • Our thought bubble: Hollywood has often struggled to tell Silicon Valley's stories in a way that's both commercially successful and rings true to the tech industry's real-life participants. So this movie will have to strike the delicate balance of depicting the Valley's characters, settings, and dynamics in an authentic way while also providing a compelling and universal story for viewers.

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Coronavirus dashboard

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  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 1:30 p.m. ET: 887,067 — Total deaths: 44,264 — Total recoveries: 185,541 — Map.
  2. U.S.: Total confirmed cases as of 1:30 p.m. ET: 190,740 — Total deaths: 4,127 — Total recoveries: 7,141 — Map.
  3. Federal government latest: Vice President Mike Pence said that White House modeling suggests "Italy may be the most comparable area to the United States" in terms of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
  4. State updates: Florida and Pennsylvania are the latest to issue stay-at-home orders, totaling 34 states and D.C.
  5. 2020 update: New York is latest state to delay primary — Bernie Sanders urges Wisconsin to delay April 7 primary.
  6.  🎧 Podcast: The Defense Production Act
  7. What should I do? Answers about the virus from Axios experts — What to know about social distancing — Q&A: Minimizing your coronavirus risk.
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West Virginia is latest state to delay primary due to coronavirus

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West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice rescheduled the state's May 12 primary election to June 9 on Wednesday, citing fears surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, AP reports.

Why it matters: 23 other states and the District of Columbia haven't held primaries yet. The White House is recommending, for now, that Americans practice social distancing and gather in groups of no more than 10 people — while many states have issued stay-at-home orders.

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Florida governor issues stay-at-home order

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered a statewide stay-at-home order on Wednesday after the number of coronavirus cases in the state rose to nearly 7,000.

Why it matters: DeSantis has been criticized for declining to order any statewide mandates to curb the spread of coronavirus as Florida — home to a significant elderly population — has increasingly become a hotspot. The order will go into effect Thursday at midnight and last for 30 days.

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