EXCLUSIVE: After one of the craziest weeks in Wall Street history, Hollywood already has its eyes on the wild story with a familiar face trying to tell it. Sources tell Deadline that after a competitive situation, MGM acquired the book proposal The anti-social network New York Times bestselling author Ben Mezrich, who tells one of the biggest stories of the year, about a disorganized group of amateur investors, gamers and internet trolls who have brought Wall Street to their knees. Even though the story is only a week ago, internal sources say Mezrich and his representatives took the proposal to the market at the end of the week and on Friday night MGM acted quickly to acquire the rights.
The project brings Michael DeLuca from MGM back with Mezrich, author of Accidental billionaires: the foundation of Facebook, a story of sex, money, genius and betrayal, that was adapted for the Oscar winner The social network that DeLuca produced.
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This last story seems to have reached the alley of Mezrich and started when a group of rude investors from the Reddit page called Wall Street Bets teamed up to pressure at least two hedge funds that bet Gamestop’s stock would fall. hedge funds had been selling GameStop shares, betting their shares were doomed to fall further, these amateur investors led by the Reddit page began to push the other way, buying shares and stock options. This has caused GameStop’s market value to increase by more than 1,700% since December. Between Tuesday and Wednesday, the market value rose by more than $ 10 billion.
The fun didn’t stop there, as more newcomers to the stock game started looking at other stocks considered to be obsolete or very low, like Nokia and AMC, to try to do the same, resulting in a great deal of controversy when the trading app RobinHood started place restrictions on certain actions.
It is unknown where Mezrich’s story begins and ends, but it is certainly a story as timely as you can get and clearly something that Hollywood was happy to sink its teeth into so soon.
Aaron Ryder of the Ryder Picture Company (RPC), who recently signed a film contract with MGM, will be the producer. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss will serve as executive producers through the production banner for Winklevoss Pictures. The project is known to be a priority for MGM’s DeLuca and Pamela Abdy. Johnny Pariseau will oversee the studio. The book is expected to hit publishers for auction in February.
Mezrich wrote more than 20 books, with more than six million copies sold. His books, including Knocking down the house: the inside story of six MIT students who conquered millions in Las Vegas , who spent 63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was adapted for the screens with the film 21. Accidental billionaires: the foundation of Facebook, a story of sex, money, genius and betrayal spent eighteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and appeared on bestseller lists in more than a dozen countries. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin share the Scripter award for Best Adapted Screenplay for film adaptation The social network. Mezrich is the only non-fiction author to have two adaptations open first at the box office. His book Bitcoin Billionaires was an international bestseller and is being made into a film, as is The Midnight Ride, a novel that was originally published in serialized format by The Boston Globe and will be launched by Grand Central in January 2022. The rights to the feature were acquired by Amblin Partners.
Oscar nominated Ryder is a prolific producer with projects that include Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival, starring Amy Adams; Lisa Joy’s Reminiscence starring Hugh Jackman (now in post-production for Warner Bros.); critically acclaimed Pieces of woman starring Vanessa Kirby for Netflix, The good house for Amblin Pictures, and Greyhound starring Tom Hanks for Apple. He is currently working on The map of perfect little things for Amazon Studios and is currently in production in Montreal in Damian Szifron’s Misanthrope starring Shailene Woodley, who is producing for FilmNation Entertainment. As one of the founding members of FilmNation, Ryder contributed greatly to the company’s creative direction and enduring success, producing more than a dozen films, including: Arrival; Jeff Nichols’ Mud; and The founder, directed by John Lee Hancock and starring Michael Keaton. Ryder’s collaboration with Christopher Nolan is profound, having produced The prestige starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale and executive producer Memory starring Guy Pearce, who was nominated for two Oscars.
CAA represents Mezrich’s book.