The cave in of crypto trade FTX has crossed over into the mainstream like no match within the historical past of cryptocurrency, with acres of newsprint dedicated to the downfall of the company, its founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), and his cohorts together with Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang.
Inevitably, Hollywood has been attracted to the tale.
It’s a vintage story of hubris operating headlong into nemesis, shot thru with salacious main points (the “polycule,” somebody?) and has dragged celebrities from Larry David to Gisele Bündchen into its orbit. With Bankman-Fried now going through legal fees that might put him in prison for over 130 years, any movie is assured a dramatic ultimate act within the court docket, too.
The leisure trade has observed luck lately with movies and collection specializing in failed marketers (Hulu’s “The Dropout” and Apple TV’s “WeCrashed”) and finance bros (“The Wolf of Wall Side road” and “The Large Brief”). With FTX, they’ve a tale that sits on the intersection of the Venn diagram. It’s rarely sudden, then, that manufacturing corporations are racing to be first out of the gate with movies, TV collection, and documentaries specializing in SBF’s downfall.
In fact, now not these kinds of initiatives will make it onto the display screen, with many of those certain to flounder in development hell—however it is protected to mention that if you wish to watch a movie, collection or documentary about FTX within the subsequent yr or so, you can have a bevy of possible choices.
Untitled Michael Lewis Adaptation
Almost definitely the highest-profile of the entire FTX initiatives in construction is the variation of Michael Lewis’ upcoming guide on Sam Bankman-Fried. The writer of “The Large Brief,” “Moneyball,” and “Flash Boys” spent six months “touring with and interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried,” consistent with a letter circulated via his company CAA. The collaboration seems to be proceeding even after Bankman-Fried’s arrest, with Lewis reportedly visiting the disgraced FTX magnate for “a number of hours” in January 2023.
Whilst Lewis’ guide was once first of all set to concentrate on Bankman-Fried’s speedy upward thrust and embody of the “efficient altruism” philosophy, the cave in of FTX equipped a “dramatic wonder finishing to the tale,” consistent with CAA agent Matthew Snyder.
Snyder additionally flagged up the contention between Bankman-Fried and Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao as a imaginable narrative thread within the guide, with Lewis likening them to “the Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader of crypto.”
Consistent with a document in leisure trade business paper The Hollywood Reporter, Lewis has been pitching the movie and TV rights to his guide, with Apple “nearing a deal” within the mid-seven-figure vary. In keeping with business paper Deadline, different events come with Amazon Studios, “Harry Potter” manufacturer David Heyman, and control corporate Sugar23, which is reportedly performing on behalf of actor Josh Gad (who formerly performed Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak within the movie “Jobs”).
Cut-off date reports that “The Large Brief” director Adam McKay “would possibly grow to be concerned” with the venture, whilst Netflix may be reported to be “circling” the name on behalf of “The Social Community” director David Fincher, who signed an exclusive four-year deal with the streaming carrier in 2020.
Untitled Amazon Top FTX Drama
Amazon Studios has raced its personal FTX venture into manufacturing, ordering a miniseries from Joe and Anthony Russo, the administrators at the back of Surprise’s ultimate two “Avengers” movies.
In keeping with movie business paper Variety, the Russo brothers will produce the eight-episode collection thru their manufacturing corporate ABGO, and are in discussions to direct and govt produce.
According to “insider reporting” from more than one newshounds who’ve lined the cave in of FTX, the collection will likely be written via David Weil, whose earlier credit come with Amazon’s “Hunters” and “Solos,” in addition to Apple TV’s “Invasion.”
Consistent with Selection, “more than one Surprise actors” had been in discussions about taking roles within the display, even though casting main points have not begun to be printed. In a remark, the Russo brothers described Sam Bankman-Fried as “a particularly mysterious determine with complicated and probably unhealthy motivations,” who performed “probably the most brazen frauds ever dedicated.”
Untitled Graham Moore Undertaking
Graham Moore, the Oscar-winning author of “The Imitation Recreation,” is about to write down and direct an adaptation of New York Mag’s cover story at the downfall of FTX, in step with Deadline. Scoop Wasserstein is about to provide on behalf of the newsletter and its proprietor, Vox Media Studios.
Moore has but to make a decision whether or not the venture will take the type of a characteristic movie or a TV collection. The author-director instructed Cut-off date that, “I’ve spent a large number of time writing concerning the complicated and singular characters on the heart of large technological moments,” including that, “In SBF, ‘complicated’ and ‘singular’ sound like understatements. Whether or not or now not he supposed on converting the arena—it looks as if he simply did.”
It’s now not the one crypto-related venture to come back out of New York Mag’s reporting; “Emily in Paris” megastar Lily Collins is attached to “Razzlekhan: The Notorious Crocodile of Wall Side road,” according to the mag’s coverage of aspiring rapper and accused Bitcoin cash launderer Heather Morgan. (The 2015 film “Hustlers,” a couple of crew of strippers who drugged consumers and stole their cash, was once according to a New York Mag tale.)
Untitled Panoramic Undertaking
A fourth FTX venture is within the works from Scott Burns and Jonathan Glickman’s Panoramic Media. In keeping with Deadline, Panoramic is “having a look at a possible venture” with New York Instances author Andrew Ross Sorkin, who in December 2022 interviewed Bankman-Fried within the aftermath of FTX’s cave in.
All through the long interview, Bankman-Fried claimed that, “I made a large number of errors,” and that he “didn’t ever attempt to devote fraud on somebody.”
The previous president of MGM Movement Image Workforce, Glickman’s credit come with the “Creed” collection, Netflix’s “Wednesday,” and the James Bond movies “Skyfall,” “Spectre,” and “No Time to Die.”
Untitled New York Mag Documentary
Along the previously-mentioned scripted adaptation, New York Mag and Vox Media also are participating on a documentary according to Bankman-Fried’s collapsed crypto empire. In keeping with Deadline, the venture will draw on resources and journalists in each the U.S. and the Bahamas.
SBF and the Finish of Silicon Valley
Produced via Vice Media and tech industry newsletter The Knowledge, “SBF and the Finish of Silicon Valley” will land in Q2 2023. Consistent with The Hollywood Reporter, the documentary will draw on reporting from Vice’s Motherboard staff and The Knowledge’s crypto and VC groups, and can dissect FTX’s green management, the function of VCs, and Bankman-Fried’s involvement with the “efficient altruism” motion.
“On the identical time that the primary era of Silicon Valley giants had been going through turbulent markets, new industry demanding situations, and mass layoffs, cash stored pouring into FTX as they attempted to upend the arena monetary machine with risk-seeking schemes that no person dared query,” stated The Knowledge founder Jessica Lessin in a remark. “This tale marks the tip of an technology in Silicon Valley. A brand new Darkish Age is coming.”
Untitled XTR Documentary
Nonfiction studio XTR raced into manufacturing on its as-yet-untitled FTX documentary, with filming performed within the Bahamas—the place the crypto trade was once headquartered—in November 2022.
Oscar-nominated director David Darg, whose earlier credit come with “Frame Workforce 12” and “You Can’t Kill David Arquette,” is helming the venture, which claims to have secured “unparalleled get right of entry to to key gamers at FTX and the cryptocurrency neighborhood,” consistent with a document in Variety.
Describing it as “essentially the most sensational monetary tale since WallStreetBets disrupted the inventory marketplace all through the pandemic,” govt manufacturer Justin Lacob stated that the FTX saga “exposes primary flaws inside the cryptocurrency universe.”
Untitled Fortune/Unrealistic Concepts Documentary
In February 2023, Mark Wahlberg’s manufacturing corporate Unrealistic Concepts, the outfit at the back of HBO’s “McMillions,” entered the fray with its personal documentary venture.
Produced together with Fortune mag, the movie is explicitly located as being targeted at the dating between SBF and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, with govt manufacturer Archie Gips describing it as a “Shakespearean-like drama.”
Consistent with The Hollywood Reporter, the venture is a “non-public exam of the connection” between CZ and SBF, contrasting the latter’s “austere way” to construction Binance with Bankman-Fried’s seek for “famous person endorsements and political affect.”
The movie has secured the participation of CZ in addition to executives at Binance and FTX, with Gips lauding the documentary’s “exceptional unique get right of entry to.”
Wahlberg and Gips will govt produce the documentary with fellow Unrealistic Concepts founder Stephen Levinson, along John Weston and Fortune‘s Alyson Shontell and Jeff John Roberts.
Untitled Decrypt Studios Documentary
Closing, however not at all least, Web3 streaming platform Myco and Decrypt Studios, the manufacturing arm of Decrypt, are producing a feature-length documentary on the upward thrust and fall of FTX and its founder. Production will start in January, with a projected summer time 2023 unlock.
The co-production will draw on within get right of entry to and unique photos from Decrypt, together with interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao, whose tweet sparked the “financial institution run” that in the long run doomed FTX and its sister corporate Alameda Analysis.
“There is not any replace for firsthand reporting and unique get right of entry to to the people who are in reality engaged within the occasions at the back of the headlines,” stated Decrypt Studios founder Alanna Roazzi-Laforet in a remark. “Whilst others are in the market speculating about what came about, we will give the target audience get right of entry to to the individuals who had been in reality there.”
“We now have observed crypto marketplace cycles and meltdowns come and cross, however the implosion of FTX has captured mainstream consideration like not anything ever earlier than in crypto,” stated Decrypt Editor-in-Leader Dan Roberts. “Maximum of all, other folks wish to know the way this came about. Decrypt will inform this tale in a riveting and lucid approach for the mass target audience.”
