Ronda Rousey can soon add screenwriter to a résumé that already includes Olympic bronze medalist, UFC champion, and WWE superstar.
On the heels of the release of her second autobiography, Our Fight, the 37-year-old retired fighter now has plans to adapt her life story into a screenplay for a biopic currently in the works at Netflix. Rousey had originally signed on at Paramount for the film rights to her story, but changes in management at the studio eventually allowed the deal to lapse.
Now Rousey takes her story to Netflix after Michelle Evans, a manager for original studio films at Netflix, championed the project, having become a fan of Rousey’s in the UFC. The original deal was inked after Rousey released her first autobiography, but since then she penned a second book alongside her sister Maria Burns Ortiz, which documents her UFC downfall and exit following a pair of brutal knockout losses, her history with concussions, and her tumultuous time she spent as a professional wrestler in WWE.
Deadline first reported the news, with Chernin Entertainment — a company responsible for films such as Ford vs. Ferrari and the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes — expected to produce the project.
Rousey reportedly fought for the opportunity to write the script for her own biopic after Mark Bomback was initially retained to adapt the story into a screenplay.
Through her agents at William Morris Endeavor — the same company that now serves as majority owners of the UFC — Rousey began working with an executive to help her learn how to become a screenwriter. Over time, Rousey apparently started picking up the technique as well as the structure required for a proper screenplay.
Once she impressed the agents at WME with her newfound skills, Rousey allegedly penned the script about her own life in just seven days. Insiders told Deadline that Rousey’s agents tore the front page off her script before presenting it to executives at Netflix so they would have no idea who wrote it.
Netflix apparently loved the script and reached out to find out about the writer. After discovering it was Rousey who wrote the story, a deal was inked almost immediately to land the rights to the biopic.
While Rousey now serves as writer and producer on her own biopic, she’s no longer expected to star in the lead role, which was initially the plan when she sold the rights to her story to Paramount. Rousey and other producers behind the film are now expected to meet with potential candidates to play her in the coming months as the film gets closer to production.
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