I’m Jonah Tulis and I am the director of "GameStop: Rise of the Players." The doc is available in theaters nationwide now - one year after the epic series of events that changed Wall Street forever. Excited to answer all your questions about the w...

Changed Wall Street forever? I understand that’s a classic Hollywood cliche term, but did it? Wall Street is still 100% the same as it was before. Totally unaccountable, unfair, and out of control.

You're not wrong at all. They're still up to the same tricks and there has been little to no regulation of note. And to add to that, during the Congressional Hearings, I felt like our representatives didn't even understand what this was all about. BUT the events of 2021 and even now to this day, show retail can make a difference. It's the first step of "change" as we move forward. There is a long way to go but until GameStop, which is somewhat of an Occupy Wall St 2.0 (but with some ideas of how to change things this time).

Did you reach out to Roaring Kitty/DFV at all for an interview in the movie? And did you have to get a thumbs up from him to use his clips in the movie?

Yes multiple times. Even wrote a very heartfelt handwritten letter. And many of our subjects, whom he's close to, also reached out on our behalf. And they haven't heard from him since January either. And these guys knew him pretty well. I think he has real reasons for laying low. When you expose wealth like that - who knows what may have happened. And of course, legally he probably needs keep his lips sealed, even if I personally believe he should be in the clear.

As per clips in the movie - they were used legally through fair use, which is common in documentaries in order to properly tell these sorts of stories.

Is there a reason you ended the movie on March 8th, when March 10th was a huge day in this saga?

Hey how's it going. First official question. Let's go. The film didn't end on a specific date in my mind. Yes there may be social posts that reflect specific dates throughout the film but keep in mind the majority of the interviews were filmed April-July. We definitely know that GameStop was going to continue to have plenty of ups and downs throughout the next year as Ryan Cohen's "Chewification" took hold. This story is ever-changing.

What do you personally think the future of GameStop is?

I believe in a e-commerce future and the potential "Chewification" of gaming. "GameStop" is the most recognizable name in gaming. Pair that with outstanding customer service and revamped e-commerce and I can't see shopping anywhere else for games. And gaming is a bigger industry than the TV and film industries combined! So the sky is the limit. I really spent a lot of time in the gaming world filming my doc CONSOLE WARS and saw the potential of that business.

When people view this film, what are you hoping the audience takes away from it?

Personally, I want people to believe in themselves like many of our subjects. Any true story has a human element behind it that anyone should be able to connect with. At the same time, I wanted to give a digestible explanation of what is happening for people who don't typically understand this world. But the key takeaway is that the world is changing (in my opinion for the better) and finance is beginning to be democratized.

What do you think of Ryan Cohen?

I'm very impressed by him. And after learning more about him from Farris, a former Chewy employee, I have nothing but great things to say about him. His silence through all this is obviously scary to some folks but super important as he tries to reshape the company. He didn't have to invest in GME, he chose to.

how much GME do you currently hodl?

This is a question I've been getting a lot! So currently I am not HODLing. But not because I don't want to! I have the utmost faith in Ryan Cohen and his plan for the future and very excited to see what he does with the company moving forward. I also believe that everything that's gone on the past year has given GameStop incredible visibility that is invaluable. But from a journalistic perspective, I can't hold the stock right now. That being said, now that the movie is out I think it would be acceptable for me to jump in especially at these prices!

One thing that I noticed was the lack of Dr. Michael Burry even being mentioned in the doc. I don't remember the specifics of his involvement, but I know he held GME for some time.

Could you discuss any information you gathered regarding any information you gathered regarding him?

Did you make a decision to leave him out?

Michael Burry was a critical guy early on (in mid-2019). We initially had a whole scene involving him but it didn't make it in the final film. He definitely helped influence Jenn Kruza to get involved. He's an incredible investor and was really a part of this story (for a little). He had been in and out of GameStop for multiple years it seems. But his story didn't quite make sense for us. He had actually gotten out at 17 dollars (unconfirmed by me), which was a great value play but didn't play into the story we were telling. I did have off the record convos where I learned a bit more as well. But nothing game changing for our story.

How was "wall street changed forever?"

Answered above in detail. It's the beginning of long-standing change hopefully. Things don't change overnight but if you look at the past year there's a lot of eyes on what's next.

As a test (and a test of your loyalty!) I want to know who was your favorite producer on the film?

you of course!

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1. I am no financial expert and have never worked in finance. That being said, I'm an investor and have studied (at school and beyond) the fundamentals. Once I was engaged in the film, I really spent hours upon hours learning from our subjects and dozens of other people I perceived as experts.
2. For me, it's always the human story. In any film, you need to connect with someone - someone you can relate to. And I really just fell in love with the stories of the people I met along the way. It's hard not to root for them. In regards to a moment in the movie - I actually really like ending it in a way where we don't know the future. Because no one does. But it certainly does look bright for GameStop.
3. They have ignored me completely : ) (as expected) Although have spoken to other short sellers and they thought Melvin etc. were out of their mind. (also of course we spoke with Andrew Left - and I thought he was pretty humble about things in the end - in a pretty comical sort of way)

Have you contacted Larry Cheng and/or other investors that have worked with Ryan Cohen for their input?

Not Larry but others at RC ventures too. Lips are all sealed except for one or two related off the record convos. I'm guessing RC's plans just like you at this point. But there's a moment in the film where he mentioned "Chewy" could be any business, along those lines. And that makes me think it's mostly an e-commerce play.

Are you at liberty to even mention the existence of any NDA’s you may have been asked to sign, and/or signed?

I haven't signed any NDAs but I have had off the record conversations that I don't speak of as is customary. Mostly for background information. Occasional fun interesting tidbits (sad I couldn't share) but nothing that is so "big" that it is game-changing.

Hi, as someone who saw many references to the events occurring but didn't actually read up on them closely, what would you say the most important lessons from this event are?

Context that may act like a leading question: I saw some posts recently referencing how Robinhood changed its policies to sabotage the movement and it sounded like things ended with more of a whimper than a bang. I was hoping that there were still meaningful positives that came out of such an extraordinary event despite this.

I think there is a still a long way to go but the best thing that came out of this was some increased transparency (just the beginning of course). Robinhood sold their "order flow" to funds like Citadel and no one knew this. No one knew their free trades were really because they were getting clipped off the top. Robinhood went public months ago and the founders became billionaires despite this. BUT the stock has tumbled to around 12 dollars. That's a good sign in my opinion.

I have a question. So with all the attention GameStop has now garnered, due hugely to what happened with the stock, has there been an effort to maybe put some of that spotlight on how bad their work environment is? Severely underpaid, over-utilized, and with morale extremely low, I feel a lot of that could be rectified with the proper attention given to the people under the corporate umbrella.

You know I walked into a local GameStop recently and kinda felt that. And this is probably a problem both at GameStop's and many other businesses around the country. Treating employees well should be priority #1 for any business. Your employees are who make you money. From what I understand from Chewy, RC was great to employees so hopefully that will improve soon at GameStop.

Have you had any intention of putting a spotlight on these problems and possibly becoming somewhat of an icon for this type of reform?

Feel free to DM me anything on Twitter that may be helpful in understanding more of this.

Are you continuing to document where we are at now and all the way till this is over?

We are not physically filming but we are keeping track of everything going on. If there is a sequel to be had we need to know the critical players as this moves forward. There is so much left to happen for GameStop as a company and it's stock. For me, telling this sort of story is about finding the people behind-the-scenes who are on the front lines. I'm sort of seeing that develop and hoping there's more to come to document!

Thanks for the answer. Allo of the DD, the ape migration, fud, etc etc could also be its own documentary. There's so much information just outside of the people involved too.

There are so many different stories that will get told, many deserving of their own docs...

And is there a planned sequel to document further how this story is far from over?

Edit: asked at same time of answer from OP

Nothing is "officially" planned yet. There is so much more to come. Typically, when making a film like this - you have to present the story you're going to tell to potential distributors before they finance the movie. So I'm watching closely seeing the stories that develop. I think there are a lot of different angles. There is the rise of Ape culture and regulation in the markets (and I believe this is going to be covered in Apes Together Strong) and then there's the "Chewification of Gaming" which is a story in itself. I could see a narrative about Ryan Cohen a la "The Social Network" as well. I think there are years and years of new stories and interesting and compelling people to explore.

What options are available for Canadians to see the movie?

Been getting this question a lot and it will 100 percent be distributed in Canada and all countries. Because of the speed of this release - we basically turned it around to theaters in less than 9 months (which in our business is madness!) we couldn't sync with international release. But from what I'm seeing from internal emails the translated versions are all in process and it will hit VOD and streaming in Canada (maybe even theatrical) in the next two months or so. I will keep people updated on twitter as I know more.

Saw the movie on release night on the 28th. I just want to start off by saying great work and congrats on the accomplishment of getting a deal with the theatres. I think you told a really cool angle of the story focusing on the people that were there "early". A story I had not previously heard.

One question: Why did you not even mention naked short selling in the movie? You did mention short selling but not naked. Was it because of possible legal issues? Do you believe there is naked short selling?

Thanks for your time and I cant wait for the sequel.

Thank you so much ! Appreciate it.

As per naked short selling we had discussed this but it wasn't a big part of our subjects' worlds and it definitely feels like it would be part of a sequel. Because hopefully the truth on this will be revealed as things progress with GameStop, things are regulated etc. Personally, I'm not an expert, but I do believe hedge funds find other ways to short but to what extent I do not know.

Have any of the OG GME contributors taken issue with the way anything was portrayed in the final cut of docu?

Actually they all have had the most positive things to say. It was very much a situation where they had to trust me to tell their story right. That trust is what got them to commit to doing our project and I think it paid off. You can ask individually but everyone seems to love it and think their portrayal was accurate.

Do you think there was any crimes being committed by anyone involved in the Gamestop saga?

On the retail side, no. Unless there was some insider-ey stuff I don't know of outside this circle. But there definitely wasn't market manipulation on their end. On the other side, I think so. Shorting isn't a crime, but there may have been some manipulation on the part of the shorts. But is this "go to jail" illegal or "pay a fine" illegal I don't know...

I’m your personal opinion, do you think the events of Jan 2021 could happen again?

I think the retail "revolution" will continue both with GameStop and with other stocks. Power in numbers and the power of the internet is something that will keep growing and growing. So yes. Absolutely.

You keep mentioning chewification I'm not sure what you mean and it almost sounds like a buzzword. Can you elaborate on this and how it implies to GME. Also have you read the DD available and if so why wasn't there more of a fuss made over the blatant illegal activities of people in control of the markets. I do think you gave a reasonable account of the story thus far but was there a reason you didn't hit harder? You mentioned that the MSM had a narrative do you think you could have persuaded this more?

Edit:asked another. Question

"Chewification" is a term that our subject Farris Husseini coined and it kinda took off from there. Farris had worked for Chewy and knew what Ryan Cohen was all about. When Ryan Cohen seemingly looked like he was going to get very involved with GameStop (long before the board appointment) Farris and others saw the potential e-commerce play like Chewy. Basically the Chewification is the Ryan Cohen factor in simplest terms.

Did Ryan Cohen or anyone working for GameStop give any feedback on the film?

Edit: Sorry, you answered his as well.

I emailed Ryan Cohen's PR the other day but haven't heard back. That being said, it was incredibly exciting to see Ryan Cohen tweet about the film Friday night. I can't know for sure but I would take that to mean he took a look and liked what he saw. I am going to try and circle with him soon. But when you run a company like GameStop, you obviously have to be super tight lipped. Anything he or anyone else says about the company can create issues with the SEC, etc.

But when you run a company like GameStop, you obviously have to be super tight lipped

On the other side of this argument, Elon Musk and Tesla

You're not wrong! Elon is another kind of monster though :)

I have not seen the film yet (Canada, looking forward to it!) All research I’ve read says that shorting hedge funds have not closed their positions; they’ve instead doubled/tripled/quadrupled down on their short positions. What evidence have you seen either for or against this hypothesis? Thanks!

I'm no financial expert and I let the OGs speak in the film on this. On a simple level, short interest is 18 percent as opposed to 140 percent BUT of course hedge funds have other ways that they can short as well. So it's tough. I will say one thing: if hedge funds get stuck in a short situation with this stock it's going to be career-ending and super embarrassing for them.

Where were you in that last week of January 2021 when it all started originally unfolding and what was your initial reaction?

*Bearing in mind the frustration of many retailers who felt the story was being completely misrepresented across mainstream media and painting them as the villain.

I was home in New York. A couple weeks earlier I was slowly getting intro'd to the OGs. And I was on the phone with them daily getting the blow by blow of it.

One of the reasons I wanted to make this was because I saw what the media was saying and I say what my subjects were saying and the media was just WRONG. They went for the sensationalism of it all. WSB was actually the "bad guy" to them...

What is your response to questions of whether or not this is simply a money grab while the topic is so active/relevant?

Well let me tell you something about documentary filmmaking: We don't do it for the money! Every project is basically a passion project for us. While docs have had more traction in the past few years with streaming, it's still about getting great stories out there and not a "money grab." Our team killed themselves making this and it wasn't about money. It was about telling the story of these great people.

Did you receive any pushback communications from any financial institutions/entities at all?

Funny enough - no we did not. I think their overall feeling is just to ignore and let things pass. It isn't good business for them to react in this case I guess. Living in New York, I've come across a lot of people in this world - and it just seems like everyone has their heads down most of the time and doesn't look at outside noise. That being said, that probably doomed some hedge funds in the process...

This film attempted the contrary imo, it helped the hedge funds narrative that squeeze is squoze. I wouldn't imagine any of them would push back.

We left it open. Our subjects gave their opinions based on their own facts. I feel regardless of squozeness - the film emphasizes the Chewification of GameStop as a real driving force for the future.

What can you say about DFV? Do you think we'll see him again as the rest of the story transpires?

So he's been off the radar - even to his friends in the film. These were his friends in arms but something clearly happened where he felt he needed to go underground. And that's ok. You have to protect your family and be legal-conscious. If I had to guess, he'll be laying low for a while. But who knows? That being said, really had a blast making him sort of this "Wizard of Oz" man behind the curtain character. It worked well and people seem to love it.

Do you believe that releasing this to cinemas first is the best first step for release? due to the sort of eye opening material that this highlights in regards to the markets, wall Street and the community of traders around the world. This was a step up for retail traders and what was reported as a fight against WallSteet. However releasing this in cinemas seems like a way to stifle the viewership of this content due to the lack luster numbers cinemas have been reporting lately, instead of say, releasing it to streaming and the millions of people who would view it then? Just curious on your thoughts regarding this.

Our distributor made that choice and I love it. Often times, movies can just be dropped on streaming and disappear forever - no marketing etc. This was/is an event. And don't worry, in due time it will be on VOD and streamed to millions of viewers around the world as well : )

What are the plans for any physical media?

How soon can I buy it from my local GameStop?

Will find out! But it will hit VOD and streaming down the line - it should definitely be on DVD or downloadable via GameStop app! Anyone at GameStop reading this feel free to hit up our distributor!

Hey Jonah! Two part question here. 1) Do you believe that MOASS is still to come? 2) If so, will you make a 'Gamestop Part 2: The Players Have Risen' post-moass?

1) Been getting asked this a lot. I'm no expert in this field so it's a hard one for me to answer. I'm more an expert in examining a story through the eyes of people (our subjects!). I know it's possible but I can't quite say yes or no at this point in time. There are so many things at play and of course while the short interest is low, there are many others ways the shorts can be hiding. That being said, I do believe GameStop is heading to the moon in regards to Ryan Cohen leading them forward... 2) ABSOLUTELY! Maybe it should be called "GameStop: The Players Have Slayed!!!"

If this story is ongoing and you intend to follow it up sometime, where would you start the second part with? As another person in this thread asked, the implied ending is a few days before the March 10th events. In a more broad sense, what were some things that were left out which you wish you could have included? Would these things be added in the second part?

I think about this a lot (and of course have touched on it). Note: there was no end date on this doc. Kinda left it open (spoiler alert: with RC really coming in and enacting change). It's a hard question. There is the transformation of the company, potential MOASS, regulation of hedge funds, all this. I definitely would've liked to touch more on the culture developing / trying to enact change. We finished the film in November, and that has evolved so much since then. It was tough though, because we wanted to keep the focus on our subjects and where they were at in their lives. Personally, I like the idea of what's happening inside the company. I love a good business story (note: CONSOLE WARS!). But that may not be the most important story to tell. The most important story is how things will continue to change (hopefully for the better) for years and decades to come. So I think it's more than a sequel. It's me, others, etc all telling different stories that help paint a tapestry of the future of retail.

• End of film mentions ~$70M in investment gains--am I correct in thinking that this means the combined investment gains from the "OG's" in the film--including DFV & the gains made by Domo Capital on behalf of it's investors--totaled ~$70M?
  • Based on the publicly shared position, DFV accounted for about half of the ~$70M gains that were referenced?
• I appreciate the film not diving into the "tin-foil" theories surrounding GME, whether they are accurate.
• Is there a reason the story behind DFV's WSB posts and how those directly fed the WSB/Reddit file wasn't further developed? I think there's a big part of the story that was missed/overlooked. There's much more to the Reddit story than just some people were commenting about GME on Reddit and posts getting blocked and then eventually sentiment shifting. I feel a big reason for the shift in sentiment is DFV posting consistently and being ridiculed for months before his play started paying off and then people hopping on to the momentum he started.

So the 70m of course changes in line with the stock price over the past several months. We chose early on not to disclose our subjects gains but they cleared went into the millions and tens of millions. There were others in this community (part of the OGs - but off camera) who made in the 100s of millions as well FYI.

As per DFV, it was crazy - he was getting laughed out of WSB. He was a joke to them. But then everything changed. He was the underdog and people can always get behind an underdog. There's nothing better than that. He definitely helped the momentum of course but he "liked the stock" and still does to this day I suppose.

I feel like a lot of us are aware of the excitement that happened on Reddit regarding GME. I was wondering if you could give us a brief summary on how Gamestop's management and/or the SEC viewed the sudden burst in market price?

During the time of filming, the GameStop higher ups were unavailable because they were in a lockup. I really haven't gotten that perspective and we probably never will. We tried reaching out to many current/former folks over there but they have to be incredibly careful what they say. And unfortunately, any conversations we did have were agreed to off the record. I think overall though, no one saw this coming. The SEC definitely seemed to feel like they needed to find someone to blame (and I believe they still are pursuing). But from my perspective they shouldn't have wasted time on the retail side of things.

Darn, not the answer I was hoping for. But I can appreciate the effort it must have taken to attempt to get those folks on the record.

Thank you for the response!

I think GameStop higher ups didn't know what they were dealing with. This had really never happened before. I can't imagine being in their position during all this.

Did you have to deal with apprehensions of possible legal problems on your side or on the side of your production firm? Did you have to be careful about certain topics/storylines or leave out statements that you originally planned to make?

I didn't leave anything out. Just make sure that anything we portray we can back up journalistically. Of course if there was an off-the-record background convo, I would have to leave that info out. But often times that would lead me down a path that would be helpful.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/shbbzo/im_jonah_tulis_and_i_am_the_director_of_gamestop/hv1nwok/

In the linked comment above, you mention how your team worked to get this to release in theaters in under 9 months and how that’s extremely fast.

What were all the reasons for moving so quickly?

Edit: Was anything at all of meaningful substance sacrificed in order to make the deadline?

There were probably two reasons to move this fast: 1) There were competing projects - and while we love the story and are exclusive with our amazing subjects - marketing teams do not want to be the third one out of the gate and 2) there was a chance this story (to the outside world) wouldn't be as relevant years later. A chance. 3) it was important to tell our story and lining up with the events of last year would 100 percent get more eye balls.

We did not sacrifice quality and we got the story of our OGs out there as we had planned and left the story open to be continued in a sequel as things further develop. We did everything we would do on a film that took 3 years. BUT it was such intense work we may have taken years off our lives!

I mentioned to a GS store owner (respectfully) about how the memes with buying stocks helped their company stay afloat , and he was adamant that it was more about the changes in CEO structure, business models, etc.

In your opinion and research, did any of their corporate changes play a bigger role than the /r/superstonk movement in preventing them from bankruptcy?

I think a few things helped:

1. Ryan Cohen buying in and eventually coming into to rework the company
2. The revelation of the Microsoft deal that allowed for GameStop to profit from online sales
3. During the COVID pandemic, the otherwise not so great online sales thrived.

Have you had any inquiries from general public retail investors due to this film being their first meaningful impression and/or serious consideration of the GME story?

Edit: Where do you, or would you, point them to learn more?

People seem to really like it for both entertainment purposes but also because it shows the power of individual investors. I think people need to learn more just like the subjects in our film. Hit every resource possible and find people they trust and read anything and everything. I, personally, have two or three of our subjects whose strategies align with my own (value!) and have been carefully following them :)

How did you connect with AMC to get your film in their theaters and have they already agreed to show Part 2?

So that was all our distributor, NEON/Super LTD. They have the relationship and of course many of their other movies play in AMC Theaters. I love the poetry of it all. NOTE: It also is in a whole bunch of other great chains as well: Cinemark, Alamo Drafthouse, Landmark and others!

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I didn't say it. Some of our more knowledgeable subjects presented their data. It wasn't a certainty and they even say "it's possible" but in their opinion it was less likely - based on short data (I know this gets incredibly complicated when we start talking naked shorts). In our subject's opinion. We do know Melvin definitely got crushed and are still getting crushed. That being said, we left a lot of the future of GameStop open as you'll see. Our subjects even say it only looks up from here etc.

Hey Jonah, I haven't seen the film yet but am very aware of the GME story. I was curious to what kind of opposition you received in trying to finish this film. Just like the stock, there seems to be many parties trying to hide the truth. Any instances like that with this film?

Well thankfully we had total freedom to tell the story as we like from our distributor/financier. Because of the nature of the film, we kept the details pretty under wraps for this purpose. Then we exploded out with press one week before it came out. This was our distributors plan and we really liked how it worked out. Didn't really face opposition thankfully because of this smart plan.

not my smart plan, the distributors!

It’s only just been released, but even so, is there anything at all you would do differently if you could from a content messaging standpoint?

Not at the moment. It's kind of a moving target everything happening. But the stories of our OGs (even those still in the stock) sort of ended for now. The next story will probably involve different players on both sides of the coin!

Hey Jonah,

Looking forward to watching your film either today or tomorrow after work. Based on the trailer, you threw in a ton of easter eggs and highlights from the initial squeeze/ run-up. Was there a lot left on the cutting room floor? Also, how long did it take for you to sift through all of the clutter of GME posts/ media that has come out since January 2021?

There was a ton left on the cutting room floor. But that's the process of making a movie! Tried to hit some of the critical memes and posts throughout. We actually had a dedicated assistant who handled all social media posts and memes. He was the "King of Memes!" We created a database and built it out from there. So he was incredibly helpful and it was his full time job. That being said, was also quite difficult because a lot of people deleted posts once things got crazy. There was a lot of worry about what would happen after. So we definitely missed some great stuff that's lost to the world forever.

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If you had to direct any movie/documentary, what would you want to direct? What do you enjoy the most in directing? Cheers :)

I love finding great stories and interesting people behind those stories. I tend to focus on documentaries that are character studies. I choose to avoid narrators and instead tell a "campfire" story from the eyes and ears of those who were "in" the story. And I like to keep it in the moment. I want audiences to live the events with the subjects of the film. I am also very interested in complex subjects - people who the world thinks one thing of but there is a whole different "Story behind the story" ready to be told.

Have you already begin work on the sequel? Do you have any targets in mind that you care to share?

BTW: Cheers for your amazing documentary! You did a great job! Community is what the web is all about, especially where we’re headed, and you captured a key look at how powerful it can be. Thanks again, awesome work. I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL!!!

Answered this briefly above but will elaborate. The key in the sequel is finding the human beings behind the next chapter of GameStop as well as the democratized stock world itself. GameStop has the "Chewification" ahead of it - and I find that fascinating. I also am really interested in the the regulation that may or may not occur in the coming years. Right now have my eyes and ears open as we see this story continue to develop.

Do you hold a personal position on $GME? If so, did you DRS them? Finally would you be willing to provide proof?

Here's a post of my proof. You can use this as an example to black out personal information and barcodes: https://www.reddit.com/r/GMEJungle/comments/qrvjxx/for_the_jungle/

*Edited: Grammar

Responded above to this. Again, until the movie is off the radar a bit it's not ethical for me to own stock as much as I believe in Ryan Cohen and his plan