FADE IN:
Act One
THE HUNGER
EXT. TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA — NIGHT — 1978
A beat-up Ford Fairmont parked in a dark lot behind the Tallahassee Democrat newspaper office. Inside the car: JIM CRAMER (23), Harvard College graduate, sleeping under a pile of newspapers. A notepad on the dashboard: stock picks scribbled in the margins of his reporter's notebook.
Tallahassee, Florida — 1978. Jim Cramer, Harvard '77, reporter. Salary: $15,000/year. Residence: his car.
Young Jim
(waking up, talking to himself)
OK. Crime beat at 7. County commission at noon. And somewhere between covering a triple homicide and a zoning hearing, I need to figure out why Tandy Corporation is trading at six times earnings when RadioShack is about to explode.
He pulls out a worn copy of the Wall Street Journal, circling stock prices with a red pen by the dome light.
Jim (present day) (breaking the fourth wall)
You want to know what drives a guy to succeed? Hunger. Literal hunger. I was sleeping in my car in Tallahassee, Florida, making $15,000 a year, covering murders for a local paper. But every night, I'd read the Journal cover to cover and pick stocks. I was obsessed. Not with the money — with the puzzle. Every stock is a puzzle. And I could not stop solving them.
INT. GOLDMAN SACHS — TRADING FLOOR — 1984
After Harvard Law and a stint at American Lawyer magazine, Cramer has talked his way onto the Goldman Sachs proprietary trading desk. The floor is chaos — phones ringing, traders screaming, ticker tape everywhere. Cramer is in his element.
Goldman MD
Cramer, you're the only person I've ever met who came to Goldman from a newspaper. What makes you think you can trade?
Young Jim
(already looking at three screens)
Because I've been picking stocks since I was in my car in Tallahassee. I've read every 10-K filing for every company in the S&P 500. I know what's cheap, what's expensive, and what's about to move. The only difference between me and the guys who went to Wharton is that I'm hungrier.
Goldman MD
(half-smiling)
Prove it.
He does. Within months, Cramer is one of the most profitable traders on the desk. His energy is inexhaustible. He arrives first, leaves last, and processes information faster than anyone they've ever seen.
Act Two
THE FUND
INT. CRAMER & COMPANY — NEW YORK — 1987
1987 — Jim Cramer founds Cramer & Company with $500,000. Over the next 14 years, he will average 24% annual returns.
A small office. Cramer on three phones simultaneously. Screens everywhere. His desk is a war zone of research reports, coffee cups, and Post-it notes. This is hedge fund management at its most raw and intense.
Jim
(into phone one)
Buy 50,000 shares of Intel. Yes, right now.
Jim
(switching to phone two)
Sell the puts on GE. The quarter's going to be better than consensus.
Jim
(switching to phone three)
Tell him I'll call him back. No, tell him there's always a bull market somewhere, and I just found it.
THERE'S ALWAYS A BULL MARKET SOMEWHERE
INT. CRAMER'S OFFICE — LATE NIGHT — 1998
The fund has been crushing it. 24% average annual returns. But the pace is killing him. Cramer is up at 4am, trading until 8pm, then reading research until midnight. Every day. For eleven years.
Jim
(on phone with his partner)
I had an idea last night. The internet is going to change everything about how people consume financial information. What if we built a website — real-time stock analysis, news, commentary — for regular people? Not just Wall Street. Everyone.
INT. THESTREET.COM LAUNCH PARTY — 1996
1996 — Jim Cramer and Marty Peretz co-found TheStreet.com. IPO in 1999.
Marty Peretz
Jim, half of America doesn't even have a computer.
Jim
They will. And when they do, they're going to want to know what stocks to buy. And we're going to tell them. In English. Not in Wall Street jargon. In plain, simple English that a schoolteacher in Iowa can understand.
Act Three
MAD MONEY
INT. CNBC STUDIOS — MARCH 2005
A set unlike anything on television. Buttons everywhere. Sound effects boards. A giant screen. Toy bulls and bears. And in the center: JIM CRAMER (50), sleeves rolled up, ready to launch the most unconventional financial show in history.
March 14, 2005 — "Mad Money with Jim Cramer" premieres on CNBC.
CNBC Executive
(watching from the control room)
He wants to throw chairs. He wants sound effects. He wants to scream "Booyah" at the camera. Are we really doing this?
Producer
The test audiences loved it. He makes stocks feel exciting. He makes regular people feel like they can invest. Nobody else does that.
Jim
(on air, first episode)
WELCOME TO MAD MONEY! I'm Jim Cramer, and I am here to make you money. Not the suits on Wall Street — YOU. The teachers, the firefighters, the small business owners. You deserve the same information the big boys have. And I'm going to give it to you. Every. Single. Night. BOOYAH!
He hits a button. A bull roars. The crowd goes wild. Financial television will never be the same.
INT. CNBC STUDIOS — LIVE BROADCAST — AUGUST 3, 2007
The subprime crisis is building. Bear Stearns is teetering. The entire financial system is starting to crack. And Jim Cramer is about to deliver the most famous rant in financial television history.
Jim
(leaning into the camera, veins visible on his neck)
THEY KNOW NOTHING! My people have been in this game for twenty-five years and these firms are going under and the Fed is ASLEEP! Bill Poole has NO IDEA what it's like out there! NONE! They have NO IDEA! THEY KNOW NOTHING!
The control room is frozen. Producers look at each other. This is not in the script. This is raw, unfiltered terror from a man who sees the financial system collapsing in real time.
Jim (breaking the fourth wall)
People made fun of that clip. They played it over and over. But you know what? I was right. The banks were in trouble. The Fed didn't understand the severity. Bear Stearns went under seven months later. Lehman Brothers nine months after that. I was screaming because nobody was listening. Sometimes the only way to get people's attention is to scream.
Act Four
THE LEGACY
INT. CNBC STUDIOS — FINAL EPISODE — DECEMBER 2023
December 2023 — Jim Cramer hosts his final Mad Money. Episode 4,713.
The set that has become an American institution. Jim (68) stands where he's stood for 4,713 episodes. Nineteen years. The buttons are worn. The sound effects boards are scratched. But the energy is still there.
Jim
(looking into the camera one last time)
You know, when I started this show, people told me nobody would watch a guy yell about stocks for an hour. Four thousand, seven hundred and thirteen episodes later... I think they were wrong.
He pauses. The manic energy softens. For a moment, the showman steps aside and the teacher appears.
Jim
(quietly, sincerely)
I never wanted to be famous. I wanted to help people. I wanted the schoolteacher in Iowa and the firefighter in Ohio and the nurse in Texas to feel like they could invest their money and build a future. Because they can. You just need to do your homework. Bulls make money, bears make money, pigs get slaughtered. There's always a bull market somewhere. And the key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.
He reaches for the button one last time. Looks at it. Smiles.
Jim
BOOYAH!
He hits the button. The bull roars. The crowd erupts. Confetti falls. Jim Cramer takes a bow, waves to the camera, and walks off the set for the last time.
Jim Cramer hosted Mad Money for 19 years and 4,713 episodes. His hedge fund returned 24% annually over 14 years. TheStreet.com, which he co-founded in 1996, pioneered online financial journalism. He holds degrees from both Harvard College (magna cum laude) and Harvard Law School. He is widely credited with democratizing stock market education for millions of Americans who had never before engaged with investing.
FADE TO BLACK.
"There's always a bull market somewhere." — Jim Cramer