• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

2

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

3

China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation

1

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it

2

Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI

3

China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
Arts & Entertainment

Here’s what movies and TV get wrong (and right) about Silicon Valley

By
Erik Sherman
Erik Sherman
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Erik Sherman
Erik Sherman
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 1, 2015, 6:48 AM ET
The Big Bang Theory
LOS ANGELES - MARCH 10: "The Fortification Implementation" -- When Sheldon and Amy build a blanket fort, they come to major crossroads in their relationship. Also, Wolowitz meets the half-brother he never knew he had, and when Penny is invited to appear on Wil Wheaton's podcast, she and Leonard have a huge, on-air argument, on THE BIG BANG THEORY, Thursday, April 9 (8:00-8:31 PM, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Pictured left to right: Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar (Photo by Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images)Photograph by Sonja Flemming — CBS via Getty Images
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

You may have heard about the new Aaron Sorkin film about Steve Jobs, based on the Walter Isaacson biography, that’s due out October 9. If you’re in Silicon Valley (or an Apple fan boy), you’ve probably already watched the trailer, below.

Several times.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeOxo7o9T8Q?rel=0&showinfo=0]

The comments are already piling up.

Tech culture, particularly with a Silicon Valley spin — whether hacking, Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, or San Francisco startups — has been for years a topic of fascination for Hollywood. And the Valley has a love/hate attraction to entertainment that in their eyes can be brilliant … or a pile-up. Many enjoy the focus on the lives and pursuits they eat, breathe, and sleep. But there are some things that get annoying.

One line of criticism is that the result is far from reality. Now, many techies understand that a true representation of what they do isn’t something that would play well. “A lot of Hollywood falls into the trap that the hacker does something magical and breaks into something [immediately],” Rick Howard, chief security officer for Palo Alto Networks, told Fortune. In reality, a break-in “takes planning and weeks or months.” An audience could fall asleep waiting for action.

So, some types of distortion are necessary. Other types drive dramatic conflict but aren’t anything close to what life is actually like, say some. “[There are no] crazy parties with tons of spending of frivolous money by 20-year-old engineers,” Julia Onken, growth and UA lead at event calendaring software company Stanza.co, told Fortune. “There are parties, but it’s mostly bootstrapped engineers passing out together after 4 beers, with like one girl in the room.”

A number of people told Fortune that Hollywood doesn’t get across how hard it is to raise money and put in the long hours necessary to develop a product. “When you actually get into it, no one tells you about the real stresses of the job and how lonely it is,” said Ranvir Gujral, CEO of marketing software company Chute. “Those are the true issues that we grapple with.”

Tyler Reguly, manager of security research for Tripwire, says people in Silicon Valley shouldn’t take it so seriously. “For some reasons, our industry has deemed that all fictional representations must be realistic and accurate, which completely eliminates the purpose of Hollywood,” he said. “The top box office hit this year is [Avengers: Age of Ultron]. A movie with an alien race of Norse gods, a green Hulk that was modified by gamma radiation, a man who built a reactor in his chest, and a super soldier is somehow more acceptable [to the tech community] than a movie that features extremely fake hacking.”

Here are some examples of Hollywood’s product with views, good and bad, from the real techies of Silicon Valley.

HBO's Silicon Valley

The cast of Silicon Valley, HBO's scripted show about a startup's journey.

Description: A comedy TV series in which a group of young men found a startup, develop a revolutionary technology (ignoring theoretical limits on what software can do), and find business gets complicated, even as they remain socially awkward.

Premiere: April 6, 2014, still on the air.

Comments: "The Silicon Valley series is eerily close to reality," Mark Stevens, a partner at high tech law firm Fenwick & West, told Fortune. "It's clearly a spoof, but it's Silicon Valley from Silicon Valley sources."

"It irritates me sometimes how they exaggerate characters and make it look like the weirdest people in the world are all being handed seven-figure sums off of nothing," Onken said.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2jqGt-53Bs?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]

Bravo's Start-Ups: Silicon Valley

SILICON VALLEY -- "Housewarming Toga Party" -- Pictured: (l-r) Kim Taylor, Hermione Way, Dwight Crow -- (Photo by: David Moir/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

Description: A reality TV show, co-produced by Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook's CEO, about a group of young entrepreneurs all trying to become the next big thing in the Valley. It was not renewed after the first season.

Premiere: November 5, 2012, cancelled after the first season.

Comments: "The tech show from Bravo was just tragic," said Charles Michael Yim, founder and CEO of Breathometer and a former participate on Shark Tank, to Fortune. "It was focusing on parties and drama. It was more about TV than Silicon Valley."

"The Bravo 'reality show' did not reflect reality and you get the sense that the 'entrepreneurs' they cast wanted to be famous and on TV more than they wanted to build companies," said Greg Tseng, co-founder & CEO of social incubator if(we).

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yJITsKfY9M?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]

The Social Network

Justin Timberlake, left, and Jesse Eisenberg in Columbia Pictures' "The Social Network," also starring Andrew Garfield.

Description: Movie about the rise and continued rise of a Harvard drop-out who starts what will become the biggest social network company on the planet.

Premiere: October 1, 2010.

Comments: "I thought the depiction of the meeting between Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Theil was overly simplistic in the movie The Social Network," said John Kwan. CEO of VeriPic. "While I’ve never met Mr. Thiel personally, our funding did come from somebody close to him and I don’t believe getting an investment is as simple as getting a signed check. That defies reality as we’ve experienced it."

"In The Social Network, faux-Zuckerberg takes hardly any time in writing some code that instantly starts a chain reaction with everyone posting pictures at Harvard," said Jessica Mah, CEO of accounting software and services company InDinero. "The real version would have had Mark sitting at his computer for back to back to back endless days just cranking; but Hollywood makes it look like it was done in the time you'd fill out a shopping list."

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9jyEpCibYk?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]

Jobs

Still of Ashton Kutcher and Josh Gad in Jobs (2013)

Description: Film in which Ashton Kutcher plays Steve Jobs.

Premiere: August 16, 2013.

Comments: "I thought it was OK but I didn't think there was anything remarkable," Yim said.

"Tame is the best word I can think of to describe Jobs," Mah said. "All of the scenes with the team working at the parents' garage had to have been super watered down."

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM_I2uwOfXw?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]

Big Bang Theory

A still from an episode of the most recent season of 'The Big Bang Theory,' which began airing this month in China.

Description: TV series in which quirky -- OK, downright strange -- CalTech physicists, an aerospace engineer, and an astrophysicist stand in contrast to a waitress and aspiring actress who eventually becomes a pharmaceutical sales rep.

Premiere: September 24, 2007, still in production.

Comments: "Most TV shows about technology are terrible," said Andy Dean, CEO of ConnectPal.com. "Big Bang Theory is silly and stupid."

"I love Big Bang Theory!" Howard said.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpRkj6SwhvI?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]

CSI: Cyber

LOS ANGELES - FEBRUARY 4: "Kidnapping 2.0" -- Special agent Avery Ryan and her team of FBI cyber analysts investigate a case of hacked baby monitors, on the series premiere of CSI: CYBER, Wednesday, March 4 (10:00-11:00, ET/PT), on the CBS Television Network. Pictured: Patricia Arquette and Peter MacNicol (Photo by Monty Brinton/CBS via Getty Images)

Description: A renowned psychologist, whose patient database was hacked, somehow joins the FBI and heads a team of cybercrime investigators, not all of whom know anything about computers. This is another spin-off of the CBS series about crime scene investigation teams.

Premiere: March 4, 2015, still in its first season.

Comments: "This is supposed to be the FBI's elite cyber unit and the person they have in charge of it is not a computer person," Howard said. "Her number two is not a computer person. Her number three is a bearded Unix guy. The next two are kids they took off the street that they're trying to rehabilitate. That's the elite squad."

No one else interviewed by Fortune even mentioned the show, suggesting that the love/hate relationship hasn't even hit the virtual level.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZnuuKcizvo?rel=0&showinfo=0&w=560&h=315]

About the Author
By Erik Sherman
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon
Add Fortune on Google for similar content.

Latest in Arts & Entertainment

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Arts & Entertainment

Photo: Asha Sharma
Big TechMicrosoft
Exclusive: Xbox’s CEO on 3,200 layoffs, four studios cut, and her blunt warning that ‘we spread ourselves too thin’
By Sebastian HerreraJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago
David Senra smiles in front of a white background
Startups & VentureTerm Sheet
David Senra, your favorite billionaire’s favorite podcaster, has turned down every acquisition offer. Here’s why
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 6, 2026
2 days ago
Meet Atlas, the humanoid robot that delivered the game ball.
InnovationSports
Meet the soccer-playing humanoid robot that just delivered the game ball at the Brazil v. Norway FIFA World Cup match
By Catherina GioinoJuly 5, 2026
2 days ago
Seventh film in animated franchise beats the fifth installment of another cartoon juggernaut at the box office
Arts & EntertainmentMovies
Seventh film in animated franchise beats the fifth installment of another cartoon juggernaut at the box office
By The Associated PressJuly 5, 2026
2 days ago
k
CommentaryBox office
How Hollywood’s youngest filmmakers are exposing Gen Z’s real problem with AI
By Reid LitmanJuly 5, 2026
3 days ago
David Senra poses in a black shirt in front of bookshelves
Startups & VentureMedia
How David Senra built the podcast the world’s most powerful CEOs can’t stop listening to
By Lily Mae LazarusJuly 5, 2026
3 days ago

Most Popular

Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
Success
Ex-PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi worked from midnight until 5 a.m. as a receptionist to pay for her Yale degree—and she says ‘respect went up’ because of it
By Preston ForeJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
AI
Shark Tank's Kevin O'Leary says if he were 25 today, he'd chase these two booming opportunities in the world of AI
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezJuly 5, 2026
3 days ago
China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
Asia
China’s birth rate just hit its lowest point since 1949—and Trip.com cofounder James Liang thinks that’s a threat to innovation
By Nicholas GordonJuly 7, 2026
19 hours ago
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of July 6, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerJuly 6, 2026
2 days ago
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
Success
Even as Elon Musk calls philanthropy ‘very hard,’ everyday Americans gave a record $617 billion—despite feeling the squeeze over the cost of living
By Preston ForeJuly 4, 2026
4 days ago
The man who ran Bernie's campaign says Democrats are still making the same mistakes with Democratic Socialists, and they should laud Mamdani's win
Politics
The man who ran Bernie's campaign says Democrats are still making the same mistakes with Democratic Socialists, and they should laud Mamdani's win
By Catherina GioinoJuly 6, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.