Laurie Segall is betting she can build a new model for true-crime investigations, one that doesn’t have to rely on documentary structures or the hour-long conventions of broadcast TV.
The journalist, who first gained traction at CNN as a technology reporter before leaving to launch her own creator endeavor, will launch “Searching for Mr. Deepfakes,” a 13-part quest to find the owner of a site that creates explicit sexual images of women without their consent. The series debuts on TikTok and breaks many long-held rules.
“I love this idea of creating a new playbook for unscripted content,” says Segall, during a recent interview. “This is kind of a beta test for it.”
The idea, Segall says, is to make sure her story — about probing digital realms for tips about the alleged perpetrator — is available to anyone who wants to see it, especially younger women who are more likely to grapple with this problem. “We really want people who need this the most to see it, “she says.
Segall has allies. Paris Hilton, who suffered from just this sort of violation when she wasn’t even 20 years old, is heavily involved with the series, which is produced by Segall’s Mostly Human, in partnership with BFD and Hilton’s 11:11 Media. Hilton, who appears in the series and does an interview with Segall about the effects of deepfakes, will also promote the project through her own digital and social channels.
