FADE IN:
“I've always believed that the best marketing doesn't feel like marketing. It feels like entertainment.” — Ryan Reynolds
ONE
THE MIDDLE
INT. VANCOUVER APARTMENT — NIGHT — 1994
A small apartment in Vancouver. RYAN REYNOLDS (17) sits on the floor watching television. He's just been cast in a Canadian teen soap opera called “Hillside.” His father — a retired RCMP officer, tough, stoic, Irish-Canadian — stands in the doorway.
RYAN'S FATHER
You're serious about this acting thing?
YOUNG RYAN
I got the part, Dad. It's a real show. On Nickelodeon.
RYAN'S FATHER
Nickelodeon isn't a career. It's a channel for children.
YOUNG RYAN
Everybody starts somewhere. Nickelodeon is my somewhere.
His father says nothing. He turns and walks away. The silence is louder than any argument.
INT. HOLLYWOOD AGENT'S OFFICE — LOS ANGELES — DAY — 2002
Ryan sits across from his agent. He's been in Hollywood for years now. Van Wilder just came out. He's funny, he's charming, and he's stuck — firmly in the “mid-level comedy actor” category. Not a movie star. Not a nobody. Just... in the middle.
AGENT
Ryan, Van Wilder did okay. Not great. You're getting offered more comedies. Same tier. Same budget. Same box office.
RYAN
The same tier? I've been in the same tier for six years. That's not a career — that's a holding pattern.
AGENT
You're not a leading man, Ryan. You're a character guy. A very funny character guy. But the A-list is the A-list.
RYAN
(standing)
Then I'll build my own list.
INT. 20TH CENTURY FOX — EXECUTIVE OFFICE — DAY — 2010
Ryan pitches the Deadpool movie. He's been trying to get this film made for eleven years. The studio has a script. They have test footage. They have Ryan's absolute obsession.
STUDIO EXECUTIVE
Ryan, we love Deadpool. But an R-rated superhero movie? The math doesn't work. PG-13 is where the money is. Every MCU film is PG-13.
RYAN
Deadpool isn't an MCU character. He's a loudmouth who breaks the fourth wall, makes dirty jokes, and chops people in half. You can't make that PG-13. It'd be like making a G-rated version of Pulp Fiction. It defeats the purpose.
STUDIO EXECUTIVE
The answer is no. For now.
RYAN
Then I'll wait. I've been waiting eleven years. What's a few more?
INT. RYAN'S HOME — LOS ANGELES — DAY — 2014
Ryan and BLAKE LIVELY sit on the couch. Ryan's phone explodes with notifications. Someone has “leaked” the Deadpool test footage online. It's going massively viral. Millions of views in hours.
BLAKE
Did you leak that footage?
RYAN
(with carefully calibrated innocence)
I would never do something like that. That would be highly unprofessional and probably a breach of contract.
BLAKE
Ryan.
RYAN
I can neither confirm nor deny —
BLAKE
Ryan.
RYAN
(grinning)
The point is, the internet is losing its mind, the studio's phone is ringing off the hook, and Deadpool is getting made. Does it matter how the footage got out?
The “leaked” Deadpool test footage received over 27 million views in 24 hours. Fox greenlit the film within weeks. Ryan Reynolds would later neither confirm nor deny his involvement in the leak.
INT. MOVIE THEATER — OPENING NIGHT — FEBRUARY 12, 2016
Deadpool opens on Valentine's Day weekend. Budget: $58 million.
Opening night. Ryan stands in the back of a movie theater in disguise, watching the audience react. They are screaming with laughter. They are cheering at the violence. They are texting their friends to come see it.
His phone buzzes. A text from the studio: “$132 million opening weekend. Biggest R-rated opening in history.”
He takes a photo of the laughing audience and sends it to Blake with the caption: “Eleven years.”
Deadpool earned $782 million worldwide on a $58 million budget. It was the highest-grossing R-rated film in history at the time. Ryan Reynolds had spent eleven years getting it made.
RYAN (V.O.) (breaking the fourth wall)
Deadpool taught me something I should have learned earlier: the audience doesn't want polished. They want authentic. They want someone who talks to them like a human being, not like a press release. I spent fifteen years trying to be what Hollywood wanted. Deadpool worked because I finally stopped trying and just... was myself. With a mask on. And swords.
TWO
THE MOGUL
INT. AVIATION GIN DISTILLERY — PORTLAND, OREGON — DAY — 2018
Ryan walks through a small craft gin distillery. He has just purchased an ownership stake in Aviation American Gin. He picks up a bottle. Examines it.
DISTILLERY MANAGER
Mr. Reynolds, what's your plan for the brand?
RYAN
Same plan as everything: make people laugh, and the money follows. I'm going to market this gin the way I market myself — with jokes, self-deprecation, and the understanding that nobody needs another gin brand. They need a reason to pick this gin over the other fifty gins on the shelf. The reason is going to be me.
DISTILLERY MANAGER
You're going to sell gin... with comedy?
RYAN
I'm going to sell everything with comedy. Humor is the ultimate trust builder. If I make you laugh, you like me. If you like me, you buy my gin. Marketing isn't complicated. People just overthink it.
INT. RYAN'S HOME OFFICE — NIGHT — 2019
Ryan sits at his desk, recording a social media ad for Aviation Gin on his phone. No crew. No script. Just him, a bottle of gin, and his face.
RYAN
(into phone camera)
Hi. I'm Ryan Reynolds. You may know me from such films as... well, Deadpool. Mostly Deadpool. This is Aviation Gin. I own it. I didn't make it — I'm not a distiller, I'm an actor with anxiety — but I own it, and it's genuinely delicious. I'm not saying that because I own it. I'm saying it because it's true. Coincidence? Probably not.
He posts it. Within hours: 10 million views. Aviation Gin sales spike 50%.
In August 2020, Diageo acquired Aviation Gin for up to $610 million. Ryan's initial investment was a fraction of that amount.
INT. MINT MOBILE HEADQUARTERS — DAY — 2019
Ryan has invested in Mint Mobile, a budget wireless carrier. He sits in a conference room with the founding team.
RYAN
Here's what I want to do. I want to make the ads myself. On my phone. In my house. No agency. No production company. Just me talking to the camera about how wireless companies are ripping people off and Mint Mobile charges fifteen dollars a month.
MINT MOBILE FOUNDER
You want to be the face of a budget phone company?
RYAN
I want to be the face of an honest phone company. There's a difference. People hate their wireless carrier. Everyone. It's the one thing that unites America. If I can make them laugh while telling them they're being robbed, they'll switch. Watch.
INT. RYAN AND BLAKE'S HOME — NEW YORK — NIGHT — 2020
Ryan reads a text from ROB McELHENNEY. He turns to Blake.
RYAN
Blake, I need to tell you something, and I need you to hear me out before you respond.
BLAKE
That's never a good opening.
RYAN
Rob McElhenney wants me to co-buy a football club. In Wales.
BLAKE
A football club. In Wales. As in, the country next to England?
RYAN
Wrexham AFC. Fifth tier of English football. It's the third-oldest professional club in the world. And it costs basically nothing.
BLAKE
Why would you buy a football club in the fifth tier of anything?
RYAN
Because it's the greatest content play imaginable. Two Hollywood guys buying the worst team in professional football and trying to get them promoted? That's a show. That's a documentary. That's a brand. This is Aviation Gin all over again, but with a whole town.
BLAKE
(long pause)
You're going to be the owner of a Welsh football team.
RYAN
We are going to be the owners of a Welsh football team.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney purchased Wrexham AFC in February 2021. The FX documentary “Welcome to Wrexham” won an Emmy. The club has been promoted twice.
INT. T-MOBILE BOARDROOM — DAY — 2023
THE T-MOBILE EXECUTIVE sits across from Ryan. On the table: an acquisition offer for Mint Mobile.
T-MOBILE EXECUTIVE
Mr. Reynolds, we'd like to acquire Mint Mobile. Our offer is $1.35 billion.
Ryan stares at the number. $1.35 billion. For a budget phone company he marketed with iPhone videos shot in his living room.
RYAN
Can I ask you something? Why? You're T-Mobile. You don't need us.
T-MOBILE EXECUTIVE
We need the brand. We need the marketing approach. We need... you. Your Mint Mobile ads have a higher engagement rate than any wireless campaign in the industry. You've proven that authenticity sells. We want to buy that.
RYAN
(long beat)
Well. That's maximum effort.
T-Mobile acquired Mint Mobile for $1.35 billion in 2023. Ryan Reynolds retained an ownership stake and continued as the brand's spokesperson.
RYAN (V.O.) (breaking the fourth wall)
People think I got lucky. That Deadpool was luck, that Aviation was luck, that Mint Mobile was luck. Here's the truth: I spent fifteen years being a middling actor nobody took seriously. I got rejected from every A-list movie for a decade. I had Green Lantern on my résumé — which is basically a criminal record in Hollywood. Every “overnight success” I've had took about ten years of groundwork. The difference is, I made the groundwork funny. And funny is the most underrated business strategy on Earth.
THREE
THE BRAND
INT. MAXIMUM EFFORT PRODUCTIONS — NEW YORK — DAY — 2024
Ryan's production and marketing company, Maximum Effort, occupies a floor in a Manhattan office building. The team creates content for Ryan's personal brands and for outside clients. The walls are covered in campaign posters, viral moments, and a framed screenshot of the Deadpool test footage.
RYAN
(to his team)
Every piece of content we make should pass one test: would you send this to a friend? Not would you click on it. Not would you watch it. Would you actively send it to someone you care about? If the answer is no, it's not good enough. Start over.
EXT. WREXHAM, WALES — RACECOURSE GROUND — DAY — 2023
Wrexham AFC has just been promoted. The crowd of 10,000 is delirious. Ryan and Rob sit in the stands, surrounded by Welsh fans in red scarves. Ryan is crying. Openly, genuinely crying.
ROB
You're crying.
RYAN
I'm not crying. I have allergies. Welsh allergies. Very common.
ROB
Ryan, you're on camera. The whole world can see you crying.
RYAN
(wiping his eyes)
Good. Let them see. This is real. This town is real. These people are real. This is the best investment I've ever made, and it has nothing to do with money.
INT. HUGH JACKMAN'S TRAILER — FILM SET — DAY — 2024
Ryan and HUGH JACKMAN sit in director's chairs, about to film a scene for Deadpool & Wolverine. They've been doing their public “feud” for years — mock insults on social media, fake attack ads, birthday roasts. It's made both of them millions in free publicity.
HUGH
You know, when we started this fake feud, I thought it would last a month.
RYAN
Eight years and counting. It's the longest-running marketing campaign in Hollywood history. And it cost us nothing.
HUGH
It cost me my dignity. Repeatedly.
RYAN
Your dignity was a small price to pay for what I got out of it.
HUGH
(laughing)
I hate you so much.
RYAN
I know. That's the bit.
INT. RYAN AND BLAKE'S HOME — NEW YORK — NIGHT
Late at night. The kids are asleep. Ryan and Blake sit on the couch. He's on his phone, drafting a tweet for Aviation Gin. She's reading a script.
BLAKE
You're still working.
RYAN
I'm composing a tweet. It's not work. It's... art.
BLAKE
It's a gin ad.
RYAN
It's a gin ad that's also art. That's my whole thing. The line between content and commerce doesn't exist anymore. I just erased it earlier than most people.
BLAKE
(smiling)
You know you're exhausting, right?
RYAN
That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.
EXT. VANCOUVER — THE OLD NEIGHBORHOOD — DAY
Ryan walks through the Vancouver neighborhood where he grew up. Past the apartment building. Past the park where he played street hockey. Past the school where he was a middling student with a big mouth.
He stops at a corner store. Buys a bottle of Aviation Gin from the shelf. His own face stares back at him from the label. He smiles.
A TEENAGER recognizes him.
TEENAGER
You're Deadpool!
RYAN
I'm also the gin guy. And the phone guy. And the Welsh football guy. But sure — Deadpool works.
He signs an autograph, takes a selfie, and walks down the street. A Canadian kid from a modest neighborhood who figured out that in the modern world, the funniest person wins.
FADE TO BLACK.
Ryan Reynolds sold Aviation Gin for up to $610 million and Mint Mobile for $1.35 billion. Deadpool is the highest-grossing R-rated film franchise in history. Wrexham AFC has been promoted twice since Reynolds and McElhenney took over. The documentary won an Emmy. Maximum Effort Productions is now one of the most innovative marketing companies in the world. He still shoots most of his ads on his phone.
THE END