An Internet misanthrope launches a message board for amateur amateur collectors, sets off, and then watches from afar as this rogue community puts Wall Street on its knees.
This is the warm tone that made Jaime Rogozinski the man all Hollywood producers wanted to do business with. Earlier this week, the founder of Reddit’s WallStreetBets sold the rights to his life story to RatPac Entertainment, a producer known for supporting hits like “Wonder Woman.”
A film version of Mr. Rogozinski’s story will kick things off and then move on to podcasts and other media, RatPac producers say.
In exchange for a payment for the lower six figures, Mr Rogozinski has given exclusive access to RatPac producers, including company boss Brett Ratner, a longtime Hollywood player who recently lost a major deal between allegations of sexual harassment. They want to dramatize the story of their role in the WallStreetBets saga that has sent shares of struggling companies like GameStop Corp.
GME 2.68%
the increase, propelled hedge funds to paralyze losses and turned unlikely investors into big winners and losers.
Rogozinski is already talking to writers that RatPac is considering writing the screenplay for the feature film.
“Maybe I’ll get on the red carpet,” he said.
The race continues to bring the WallStreetBets saga to the screen. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. has acquired a book proposal on the events written by Ben Mezrich, whose previous books were adapted for the films “21” and “The Social Network”. Netflix Inc.
is in conversations with “Zero Dark Thirty” screenwriter Mark Boal in a film that would star Noah Centineo’s young heart from “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.”
Ratner said his company is self-financing the project and that the access he now has to Mr. Rogozinski gives an edge to his project.
“Anyone can go make a movie about junk bonds, but if Mike Milken collaborates, what other information will you have?” he said, referring to the financier known for developing high-yield bonds or junk, and a inside information scandal that resulted in his imprisonment.
Rogozinski, who says he still has no opinion on which actor should play him in the film, said he has spent the past two weeks stunned. In addition to phone calls to her parents ’home and news coverage from her sister’s home in Israel, she has sent messages from Hollywood producers eager to close a deal for her rights to life.
In just five days, GameStop shares rose to 500%. WSJ looked at how Reddit posts, YouTube videos and tweets from personalities like Elon Musk spread online and fueled a commercial fashion that turned Wall Street upside down. Photographic illustration: George Downs / WSJ
Guaranteeing the rights to the life of a person whose story makes an attractive film or TV show is an increasingly popular tactic for producers who want to take advantage when competing with other filmmakers who want to enter a great story. The agreement often gives exclusive access to the topic, as well as newspapers, photos, and other memories that can concretize the story.
In the case of Mr. Rogozinski, producers have the right to adapt their story to any conceivable form: podcast, documentary, television series, or even live theatrical events such as a play.
Rogozinski said the deal was quickly joined. Shortly after appearing in various media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Rogozinski was bombarded by messages from producers. Rogozinski turned to his brother, Joel Rogozinski, for help.
Joel Rogozinski contacted a childhood friend, Michael Smith Liss, who knew he was well connected to Hollywood. In turn, Mr. Smith Liss was able to introduce the brothers to Mr. Ratner.
Mr. Ratner directed the “Rush Hour” and “X-Men: The Last Stand” trilogy, but more recently has been known as the co-financier of several major releases at AT&T. Inc
Warner Bros., including “Jersey Boys” and “Justice League.”
Brett Ratner in 2017.
Photo:
danny moloshok / Reuters
Her agreement with the study was dissolved in 2017 after several women accused her of sexual assault and harassment. Ratner denied the accusers’ allegations, including actress Olivia Munn. No charges were filed against Mr. Ratner.
Since then, he has kept a relatively low profile, saying he has been producing documentaries without receiving credits. He came to the story of WallStreetBets, he said, after several friends in the hedge fund world explained its importance to him. One of his best friends, he said, is Jordan Belfort, the former penny trader, whose fall was told in Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street.”
“This story is such a human story of power and uprising, capitalism and socialism, and so much more,” he said.
Rogozinski expects the film to go beyond last month’s GameStop saga to showcase the entire journey of WallStreetBets, touring viewers through how a small out-of-color Reddit forum he founded in 2012 became a multimillion-dollar user community at the center of the controversy. He also plans to share the highlights of his time with WallStreetBets. Rogozinski was fired from his role as moderator last spring, which he says has stung him for quite some time.
“I am putting everything on the table. There will be some things that are extremely shocking, things that people don’t know about me, “he said.
He is no stranger to reaction. In recent weeks, Reddit users embittered by his previous role on WallStreetBets have written posts about him. Some even went to Amazon to leave negative reviews of their book.
News of the film’s deal can cause tensions. But Rogozinski said he has learned not to feed trolls.
“I won. They can pretend to have this battle,” he said.
Write to Erich Schwartzel to [email protected] and Akane Otani to [email protected]
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