Controversial, audacious and suspicious. British writer and film director Carl Erik Rinsch could hardly be described as controversial, audacious and suspicious. His name has risen to fame and not exactly for his cinematographic excellence, as he has only produced one film, ’47 Ronin’. He finds himself in the spotlight after squandering nearly $11 million of the budget given to him by Netflix for a sci-fi series and spending it on cryptocurrencies, stocks and other luxuries.
The series never aired, nor is it on or expected. In 2021 Netflix gave up on it, but they have still initiated the appropriate legal proceedings against Rinsch for breach of contract. As a result of recent reports published by the New York Times, the keys to this controversial case revolving around the series ‘Conquest’ have come to light.
The peculiar part of this story is that Rinsch himself has initiated confidential arbitration proceedings against Netflix, seeking $14 million in damages and breach of contract. A court battle is expected to be a long one.
The origin of the dispute
It all started in the fall of 2018. A little-known filmmaker, Rinsch, was presenting an innovative science fiction project that talked about humanoids. At a time when demand for series and audiovisual content was high, with the rise of new streaming services from Disney, Apple and NBCUniversal, the British filmmaker’s proposal seemed eye-catching.
No one remembered anymore the commercial and technical failure of his only film, ’47 Ronin’. After an auction, Rinsch struck a deal with Amazon, willing to pay millions for the product. But before the contract was made official, Cindy Holland(Netflix’s VP of original content) appeared on the scene to offer him a few million dollars more.
What Netflix didn’t know is that this deal would turn out to be the biggest and most expensive flop in its history. They spent over $55 million on Rinsch’s show, offering him full budgetary and creative freedom.
Rinsch’s masterstroke
After the deal was signed, the filmmaker’s behavior began to become strange and he would barely respond to Netflix’s text messages, calls and emails. Over time, investigations have concluded that he invested much of the money in the stock market and cryptocurrencies. He even spent millions of dollars on a fleet of Rolls-Royces, furniture and designer clothes.
Instead of developing ‘Conquest’, Rinsch poured $4 million of the budget into bets on Dogecoin, a move that would soon net him a profit of approximately $27 million.
In March 2020, and with Netflix putting pressure on Rinsch, the filmmaker’s request was granted and an additional $11 million was added to the initial $44 million budget for him to finish the show. The result was that he never delivered a single episode.
According to The Times’ financial investigations, Rinsch used $10.5 million to gamble on the stock market, losing about $6 million in just a few weeks by placing bets on pharmaceutical companies and the S&P 500. The leftover amount he put into the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, investing it all in DOGE. In May 2021 he went on to withdraw some $27 million.
Those profits from his controversial business dealings were spent on high-end furniture, designer clothes, a luxury watch worth more than $380,000, five Rolls-Royces and a Ferrari. In total, some 9 million dollars. To all this, the filmmaker assures that they were elements that he would use in the filming of ‘Conquest’.
Opening of a new debate
As a result of the controversial situation with Rinsch, the audiovisual and entertainment industry debates about the importance of applying ethical principles in the decision making of streaming platforms. It also calls into question the value of cryptocurrencies and their appeal to influential people with significant purchasing power.
The power of his organic intelligence
Rinsch was considered one of the great promises of Hollywood cinema, sounding for projects such as ‘Prometheus’. However, his directorial debut came with the samurai film starring Keanu Reeves. Despite the failure, he started working with his wife, Gabriela Rosés Bentancor, in the science fiction series ‘White Horse’.
His idea was based on beings that dominated the world to carry out humanitarian aid work, but when they were discovered by humans, they would turn against them. Short four to ten minute episodes were shot to be presented as a prototype to the different streaming platforms, and that’s how Netflix came into play. The shooting was very problematic, with 24-hour days in a row and cases of hypothermia. In addition, the director was accused by the Budapest authorities of uncivic behavior during the location shooting.