"After 18 months of shopping the script, the proposed Lionsgate Television series based on the gambling scandal involving Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani 's interpreter is in development at Starz. The project will spotlight the audacious theft by Ippei Mizuhara of $16 million from Ohtani to pay off staggering gambling debts. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers after the crimes came to light in March 2024. A year later, he was convicted of defrauding Ohtani in federal court and sentenced to 57 months in prison."
"The series will be produced by Tony Award winner Scott Delman, known for "The Book of Mormon" and "A Raisin in the Sun," and sports journalist Albert Chen. Alex Convery, who wrote "Air," is on board as showrunner and screenwriter while Justin Lin (the "Fast and Furious" franchise) will direct, according to the Hollywood Reporter. "This is Major League Baseball's biggest sports gambling scandal since Pete Rose - and at its center is its biggest star, one that MLB has hitched its wagon on," Chen said in a statement to The Times. "We'll get to the heart of the story - a story of trust, betrayal and the trappings of wealth and fame.""
"Lionsgate was having trouble selling the project to companies with media rights agreements with Major League Baseball - Disney, Warner Bros., Discovery, Apple, Netflix and Comcast - because the companies didn't want to jeopardize their relationships with the league, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Lionsgate is the former parent company of Starz, but the two formally separated in May."
A Lionsgate Television series is in development at Starz dramatizing the gambling scandal involving Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani's interpreter. The project centers on Ippei Mizuhara's theft of $16 million from Ohtani to pay gambling debts. Mizuhara was fired by the Dodgers in March 2024, later convicted in federal court and sentenced to 57 months in prison. The series will be produced by Scott Delman and Albert Chen, with Alex Convery as showrunner and Justin Lin directing. Lionsgate encountered resistance selling the project to companies with MLB media rights that feared jeopardizing league relationships. Mizuhara befriended Ohtani in Japan when Ohtani was an 18-year-old rookie; Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2018 at age 23.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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