In 2019, Ina and David Steiner became the victims of a cyberstalking campaign. There were threats, odd deliveries to their home – from a bloody pig mask to late-night pizza – and terrifying messages. Soon, they found it wasn’t some individual, unhappy with their reporting on EcommerceBytes website. It was eBay.
“It’s a very crazy story,” director Jenny Carchman told Variety.
In “Whatever It Takes: Inside the eBay Scandal,” she exposes the bad side of the company whose slogan claimed that “people are basically good.”
“When I spoke to the Steiners, the anxiety of not knowing [who’s behind the harassment] and not being able to stop it was the most frustrating thing. They really, really suffered psychologically, to the point where they wouldn’t leave the house,” she said.
“Sometimes David would drive to the store and Ina would be lying down in the backseat, because she didn’t know who was watching them. I wanted to mirror this stress and tension of having to look over your shoulder all the time.”
Carchman discovered the story thanks to a 2020 The New York Times article focusing on, among others, eBay security director Jim Baugh.
“One of the things it touched upon were the movies he would show his staff,” she recalls. The list included “American Gangster,” “The Wolf of Wall Street” or “Johnny Be Good”. “I thought to myself: ‘My gosh. This would make for a great film’.”
While explosive – all it took was Ina Steiner’s post about eBay’s lawsuit against Amazon to irk ex-CEO Devin Wenig – the article’s revelations flew “under the radar,” she admitted, sandwiched in between another a wave of COVID and a November election.
“We reached out to as many people as we could, and nobody wanted to talk to us. Coincidentally, our producer Allyson Luchak had made a film about corruption in the Boston Police Department [“Trial 4”]. The Steiners watched it and hired an attorney based on that film.”
“Whatever It Takes” – named after a phrase used by former PR chief Steve Wymer – is produced by Big Pond Films, Undeniable – a Fremantle label – and Concordia. Fremantle is handling worldwide sales.
It has shared a clip with Variety in exclusivity.
“We’ve all seen such a shift from how one is supposed to behave in the workplace. It shifted drastically with the #MeToo movement, with Black Lives Matter. But now, what we’re seeing in the U.S. and what we’re seeing with this administration, is a new wave of real divisiveness. People wanting to protect what’s ‘theirs,’ protect the way the company should run.”
eBay’s employees, including Carchman’s interviewee Veronica Zea, “believed that anything they do would be sanctioned by the company.” Later, they found themselves in the midst of an FBI investigation.
“She was terrified. That was the culture Baugh created: ‘If you don’t do what I tell you, you’ll never be able to find another job.’ It’s shocking it was happening in 2019. #MeToo has already taken shape and yet they were showing these films and hiring young women, calling them ‘Jim’s Angels’ because of that TV show.”
Carchman also had to figure out how to show the cyberstalking in an engaging way.
“I thought about it all the time. What do you do with a story that happens online? On their phones, on their computer? How do you bring that to life and how do you make it feel scary? The ways to do that had to do with the music, but also with the color of the screen, for example. We tried to find all these nuances to make it exciting visually.”
Carchman wasn’t afraid of eBay’s retaliation, she said.
“Of course it crossed my mind. I don’t want to say there’s no risk involved, but I’m willing to put myself out there because I don’t think it’s okay, what happened to them. I don’t think it’s okay for any company to abuse their power like that.”
She added: “It’s all about drive. It becomes a puzzle you just want to complete. You can’t stop: you can’t stop reading or talking to people. The sellers were the most afraid, afraid that eBay would cut off their livelihood or hurt them in some way. That, to me, was the most surprising piece. Because without the sellers, eBay doesn’t exist.”
The film might be complete, but the story isn’t.
“I did want to leave it bittersweet because it’s about people. It’s about your own morals, your own ethics, your own feeling of what’s right and wrong. Devin Wenig said: ‘Take them down.’ For what reason? It was an insignificant blog. It was all about ego,” says Carchman.
Seven eBay employees were charged by the FBI, with several facing prison sentences. Devin Wenig resigned with a $57 million exit package, denying any involvement.
“Right now, the Steiners are pursuing a civil lawsuit. When it goes to trial, if it goes to trial, there will be more to come.”
