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- RatPac Entertainment bought the exclusive right to the WallStreetBets founder’s life story.
- The company plans to make a series of content following the founder’s life.
- The producer who bought the rights has stayed out of the limelight since being accused of sexual misconduct.
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
The founder of WallStreetBets – the Reddit Group that launched the GameStop frenzy – just made his first Hollywood deal with producer Brett Ratner, who was previously accused of sexual misconduct.
Jaime Rogozinski, the creator of the WallStreetBets forum on Reddit, sold exclusive rights to his life’s story to Ratner’s production studio, one of the producers behind big budget movies like “Wonder Woman” and “Dunkirk,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
The founder was approached by several Hollywood producers, according to The Journal, but chose Ratner, a producer that has stepped out of the limelight as of late after several women came forward alleging sexual harassment or misconduct in 2017.
Ratner has directed many films, including “Rush Hour” and “X-Men: The Last Stand,” and had a $75 million co-producing partnership with Warner Bros before the studio severed ties when the sexual-assault allegations came to light. Ratner has denied the legitimacy of the accusations and there have not been any official charges filed against the producer.
Rogozinski struck the deal with Ratner's production studio, RatPac Entertainment, for a single payment "in the low six figures," according to The Journal. A spokesperson for RatPac did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
The deal will allow RatPac Entertainment access to everyday facets of Rogozinski's life, something the WallStreetBets founder hopes the production company will take advantage of.
Rogozinski founded the sub-Reddit group in 2012. The group was known for its aggressive trading strategies and had millions of users by 2021, but Reddit users took Rogozinski's moderator duties away from him in the spring of 2020.
The founder told The Wall Street Journal he wants the movie to look beyond GameStop's rally and tell the entire story.
"I'm laying it all out on the table. There are going to be some things that are extremely shocking, things that people don't know about me," Rogozinski told The Journal.
Rogozinski, who published a book about WallStreetBets last year, is already reportedly in talks with several potential writers for the film and will work closely with Ratner who plans to launch an entire series based on the WallStreetBets founder's life - starting with a movie, as well as several podcasts and other storytelling methods, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Hollywood has a long history of turning compelling life stories into hits with similar films about the stock market and its many characters with movies like "The Big Short" and "The Wolf of Wall Street" - films that have gone on to be nominated for Academy Awards due to their vivid depictions of people like Michael Burry and Jordan Belfort.
RatPac Entertainment's deal with the WallStreetBets founder is just one of many Hollywood films set to cover the historic GameStop rally. Several other movie deals have already been announced.
MGM recently bought the rights to a book proposal on the GameStop frenzy, titled "The Antisocial Network," which will work with Ben Mezrich, the author behind the book that inspired "The Social Network."
Netflix has also reportedly been in talks for a GameStop movie that would star Noah Centineo.
Read the full story from The Wall Street Journal here.