Another GameStop Film in the Works, This Time From Jason Blum and Andrew Ross Sorkin at HBO

Former HBO Films president Len Amato is also attached as an executive producer

GameStop
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There is another project from Hollywood based on the GameStop saga in the works, this one set at HBO. The pay-cable network is in development on a scripted project based on the “short squeeze” movement regarding GameStop’s stock that took place over the last two weeks.

This one is from Jason Blum and “Billions” co-creator and CNBC co-host Andrew Ross Sorkin. Former HBO Films president Len Amato is also attached as an executive producer. The project is being envisioned as a film, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.

Here is the logline for the project: How a populist uprising of social media day traders beat Wall Street at their own game turning the stock market upside down and shaking the financial world to its core.

Led by a cadre of Reddit stock traders, who were attempting to stick to Hedge Funds who were shorting the stock price for the gaming retail company, the past few weeks saw heavy trading that inflated GameStop’s stock market value by as much as 1,500%, before it came crashing back to earth. The heavy trading is all thanks to WallStreetBets, a subreddit founded in January 2012 as a meeting place for both new and experienced investors to network and also talk about their bets (as in, what’s good, what to hold, etc). The subreddit quickly grew into a forum for amateur — and often unvetted — wannabe financial advisors who brag about huge gains to encourage other people to play the stock market.

WallStreetBets exploded in size over the last year — partly thanks to the pandemic, which had lots of people looking for alternate ways to make money. Members started betting heavily on companies like GameStop and AMC that have been heavily shorted, or bet against, by large hedge funds. The way it works is that an investor, more usually a hedge fund or similar entity trading on behalf of multiple investors, borrows shares to sell at what they think is a high price, only to buy them back at a lower price and profit off the gap between prices.

The HBO series joins a growing list of Hollywood projects based on GameStop. Academy Award-winning screenwriter Mark Boal is in talks to write an untitled movie for Netflix. that would star Noah Centineo. There are additional projects in the works from MGM and Chris Temple, as well as a pair of documentary films planned.

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