In 2018, director Carl Rinsch was courted by multiple studios due to high demand for content, despite his first film being a flop. He pitched a sci-fi series about artificial humans providing aid worldwide, but who are eventually rejected by humans. After a bidding war, Netflix signed an $61 million deal for the unnamed project, giving Rinsch final cut privilege and rights to future seasons – highly unusual moves.
Soon after, Rinsch’s behavior grew concerning as he claimed to discover COVID’s transmission and predict lightning, and he gambled away millions from Netflix on stocks and crypto, The New York Times reported Wednesday. His wife Gabriela Roses worried about his amphetamine use and tried intervening, but he refused rehab. In 2020, Netflix gave Rinsch another $11 million, which he also lost much of on risky bets.
By mid-2021, Roses informed Netflix executives about Rinsch’s state and filed for divorce, the Times