Aaron Sorkin is set to step behind the camera for the first time, to adapt the memoir Molly’s Game, about a former skier who wound up managing the world’s most exclusive poker game.

According to Deadline, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of The Social Network will work alongside ex-Sony head Amy Pascal as producer. Sorkin will also write the script.

It will be Sorkin’s first film as director, though he does boast producing credits on TV shows The Newsroom, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Sports Night and The West Wing.

Molly’s Game will tell the story of Molly Bloom, also known as the “poker princess”, who started out as a world-class skier but, once she failed to make the Olympic grade, used her smarts to run a high-stakes weekly poker game.

It attracted Hollywood A-listers such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Affleck and Tobey Maguire, whom she refers to in her book as a moody player and a poor tipper. Her luck ran out when she became the subject of an FBI investigation. She was ultimately fined $1,000 and sentenced to a year’s probation.

Sorkin’s latest screenplay, for the film Steve Jobs, has him in the running for awards glory, having picked up Bafta and Golden Globe nominations. He is also set to write the script for a biopic of the US actor Lucille Ball, with Cate Blanchett attached.