MGM’s adaptation of The Antisocial Network, an in-the-works book about the Wall Street GameStop stock controversy by author Ben Mezrich has found its writers. According to Deadline, Orange Is the New Black writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo have signed on to adapt the book for film, telling the wild story of how a group of small investors on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets turned Wall Street on its head by increasing the market value of GameStop stock.
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The Antisocial Network brings MGM‘s Michael DeLuca back together with Mezrich who also wrote The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal which was adapted into the DeLuca-produced film The Social Network. Aaron Ryder of Ryder Picture Company will produce while Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss will executive produce under the Winklevoss Pictures banner. As for Schuker Blum and Angelo, the pair worked together writing on the Netflix hit Orange Is the New Black. They are also writing Wolfman at Universal.
On the off chance you have no idea what the situation was with Wall Street and GameStop and why it’s getting so much attention, here’s a pretty basic primer. At least two hedge funds, betting that shares of GameStop would fall, engaged in something called shorting — essentially borrowing stock, selling it for one price, and then waiting for its price to fall so they could buy it back at the much lower price, thus making a profit. However, a group of investors on Reddit’s r/WallStreetBets started buying shares of GameStop which in turn hugely increased its market value creating a “short squeeze” that forced the hedge funds into losing a lot of money and prompted one hedge fund, Melvin Capital, to need an over $2 billion bailout.
Making things even more interesting is that it wasn’t just GameStop stock involved at one point. Other stocks, such as AMC, BlackBerry, and Nokia were also the target of the so-called Reddit investors which has, in turn, prompted trading app Robinhood to put restrictions on certain stocks and generally bring a to of attention to the stock market generally by groups who might not ordinarily pay that much attention. MGM’s film is just one currently in development with both HBO and Netflix pursing their own projects.
As for Mezrich’s book, MGM acquired rights to the book proposal earlier this year and Grand Central Publishing acquired publication rights to the book itself in February. It will be published in hardcover and e-book this fall along with an audio edition by Hatchette Audio. In addition to his book that was adapted into The Social Network, Mezrich also wrote Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions which was adapted into the film 21.
At this point, MGM’s The Antisocial Network does not have even an estimated release date, though Deadline reports that the film is a priority for MGM.
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