An Internet misanthrope launches a message board for amateur stock voters, kicks off and then watches from afar as this rogue community drops Wall Street to its knees.
This is the warm pitch that has turned Jaime Rogozinski into the man every Hollywood producer wants to do business with. Earlier this week, the founder of Reddit’s WallStreetBets sold the rights to his life story to RatPac Entertainment, a production company known for accompanying hits such as ‘Wonder Woman’.
RatPac manufacturers say that a film version of Mr. Rogozinski’s story begins and then moves on to podcasts and other mediums.
In exchange for a payment in the low six figures, Mr. Rogozinski gives exclusive access to RatPac producers – including the head of the company, Brett Ratner, a longtime Hollywood player who recently lost a major deal due to sexual harassment. They want to dramatize the story of his role in the WallStreetBets saga, which sent shares of struggling companies like GameStop. Corp.
GME 2.68%
rising, driven hedge funds made into crippling losses and unlikely investors into big winners and losers.
Mr. Rogozinski is already talking to writers RatPac is considering writing the screenplay.
“Maybe I’ll go on the red carpet,” he said.
The race is bringing the WallStreetBets saga to the screen. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has acquired a book proposal on the events written by Ben Mezrich, the previous books of which have been adapted into the films “21” and “The Social Network.” Netflix Inc.
is in talks with lyricist “Zero Dark Thirty”, Mark Boal, about a movie starring young heartbreaker Noah Centineo from “To All the Boys I’ve Before Loved”.
Mr. Ratner said that his company finances the project itself and that the access he now has to Mr. Rogozinski gave his project a head start.
“Anyone can go make a movie about junk, but how much Mike would you have more insight into if Mike Milken collaborated?” he said, referring to the financier known for developing high-yield or junk securities, and an insider trading scandal, which led to his imprisonment.
Mr. Rogozinski, who says he still has no opinion on which actor should play him in the movie, said he has spent the past two weeks in a daze. In addition to phone calls to his parental home and news coverage from as far away as his sister’s home in Israel, he posted messages from Hollywood producers eager to reach an agreement for his life rights.
In just five days, GameStop’s shares have risen to 500%. WSJ analyzed how Reddit posts, YouTube videos and tweets by personalities, including Elon Musk, spread online and sparked a trading craze that turned Wall Street upside down. Photo illustration: George Downs / WSJ
Producing life rights for a person whose story would make a captivating film or TV show is becoming an increasingly popular tactic of producers who want an edge when competing with other filmmakers eager for a great story to tackle. The agreement often provides exclusive access to the topic, as well as diaries, photographs and other memoranda that can expand the story.
In the case of mr. Rogozinski has the producers the right to adapt his story in any conceivable form – podcasts, documentaries, TV series or even live theatrical events such as a play.
The agreement came together quickly, Mr. Rogozinski said. Shortly after appearing in a number of newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Rogozinski bombarded by messages from producers. Mr. Rogozinski was engaged in media interviews with his day job and parenting duties and turned to his brother, Joel Rogozinski, for help.
Joel Rogozinski reaches out to a friend from his youth, Michael Smith Liss, whom he connected well in Hollywood. In turn, Mr. Smith Liss the brothers to mr. Ratner proposes.
Mr. Ratner was the director of the “Rush Hour” trilogy and “X-Men: The Last Stand”, but was recently co-financed by several major releases at AT&T. Inc.’s
Warner Bros., including ‘Jersey Boys’ and ‘Justice League’.
Brett Ratner in 2017.
Photo:
danny moloshok / Reuters
His contract with the studio was terminated in 2017 after several women accused him of sexual assault and harassment. Mr. Ratner denies the allegations, including actress Olivia Munn. There are no charges against Mr. Ratner submitted.
He has since maintained a relatively low profile, saying he has produced documentaries without mentioning credits. He came across the WallStreetBets story, he said, after several friends in the hedge fund world told him about its importance. One of his best friends, he said, is Jordan Belfort, the former penny trader whose investment trap was told in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
“This story is such a human story of power and rebellion, capitalism and socialism, and so much more,” he said.
Mr. Rogozinski hopes the movie goes beyond last month’s GameStop saga to showcase WallStreetBets’ entire journey and let viewers walk through how a small, colorless Reddit forum he founded in 2012 has become a multimillion-dollar user community at the heart of controversy. He also plans to share the lows of his time with WallStreetBets. Mr. Rogozinski was kicked out of his moderator role last year, something he stabbed for some time.
‘I lay everything on the table. “There are going to be some things that are extremely shocking, things that people do not know about me,” he said.
He is no stranger to responding. In recent weeks, Reddit users who are bitter about his former role at WallStreetBets have written reports that have exploded. Some individuals even went to Amazon to give negative reviews about his book.
The news about the movie deal could cause tensions. But Mr. Rogozinski said he learned not to feed the trolls.
“I won. They can pretend they have this fight,” he said.
Write to Erich Schwartzel at [email protected] and Akane Otani at [email protected]
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