"Based on a true story"
Planet Money20 Sep 2023

"Based on a true story"

When a group of amateur investors rallied around the stock for GameStop back in 2021, the story blew up the internet. News outlets around the world, including us here at Planet Money, rushed in to explain why the stock for this retail video game company was suddenly skyrocketing, at times by as much as 1700% in value, and what that meant for the rest of us.

When movie producer Aaron Ryder saw the GameStop story — an army of scrappy underdogs, banding together to strike back against a financial system they felt was rigged against them — he knew it had the makings for a great movie. The only problem: so did a bunch of other movie producers and Hollywood studios. So Aaron found himself in the middle of a fast and furious race to make the first Game Stop movie.

On today's show, one producer's quest to claim the hottest ticket in Tinseltown and the whole hidden machinery dedicated to turning a news story into box office gold. You'll never read the word 'based on a true story' the same way again.

Today's episode was reported and hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi. It was produced by Willa Rubin, edited by Jess Jiang, engineered by James Willetts, and fact-checked by Cooper Katz McKim and James Sneed. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.

Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Det här avsnittet är hämtat från ett öppet RSS-flöde och publiceras inte av Podme. Det kan innehålla reklam.

Avsnitt(355)

Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?

Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?

One reason the $70 billion supplement industry is set to double in the next seven years? Lax regulation.On today's show, we tell the story of a century-long battle between the U.S. government and … yo...

5 Juni 34min

There's no business like dough business

There's no business like dough business

Have you ever walked around a street, mall, or airport and noticed two or three of the same franchise restaurant within walking distance? Why might one Starbucks or McDonald’s or Wetzel’s Pretzels som...

3 Juni 27min

The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food

The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food

99% of chemicals in our food right now were added without FDA approval. Many were added in secret, through a sneaky loophole built into the 1958 Food Additives Amendment.It was supposed to require FDA...

29 Maj 35min

The leaked tapes that show how the rich avoid taxes

The leaked tapes that show how the rich avoid taxes

Tax avoidance -- that is, legally reducing your tax bill -- is as American as apple pie. But the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion is often a grey one. On today’s show, a collaboration with T...

27 Maj 26min

The giant factory town that might be a giant mistake

The giant factory town that might be a giant mistake

How does a poor country become a rich country? There's a simple blueprint — or at least, that's what many economists used to believe. But over the years, a lot of rapidly developing economies have sta...

22 Maj 26min

Vacation and why Americans take so little

Vacation and why Americans take so little

Do you work more for more money? Or work less for more time? For some, this is the ultimate economic choice. Every single worker in the European Union is guaranteed four weeks of paid vacation. No mat...

20 Maj 25min

Jerome Powell and the Future of Fed Independence

Jerome Powell and the Future of Fed Independence

If you have a credit card, hope to buy a house, or just want stable grocery prices – let’s talk about the future of Fed independence!It’s impossibly important for the Federal Reserve to steer monetary...

15 Maj 28min

The secret meeting that launched OPEC

The secret meeting that launched OPEC

Recently, a listener wrote in with a question about OPEC and oil prices. She was prepping for a camping trip… thinking about how much it costs to fill up her diesel-guzzling camper van at the pump. “...

13 Maj 27min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
varvet
badfluence
rss-borsens-finest
uppgang-och-fall
avanzapodden
24fragor
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
lastbilspodden
rss-dagen-med-di
fill-or-kill
borsmorgon
bathina-en-podcast
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
bilar-med-sladd
tabberaset
rss-usa-lounge-loungepodden
montrosepodden
rss-den-nya-ekonomin
market-makers