If proof were needed of how much faster and smaller the world is as a result of social media, it comes in the form of this story. Without the social news network Reddit, it seems likely James Erwin would still be writing software manuals in Des Moines, Iowa.

Instead, he is writing a Hollywood movie treatment. The process began when he answered one of the hypothetical questions people often post on Reddit. In this case the user calling himself "The_Quiet_Earth" asked essentially how a group of time-traveling U.S. Marines would fare against a Roman legion.

Wired tells the story in lengthy, and gripping detail.

In response to The_Quiet_Earth's question about time-traveling marines, Erwin started typing. He posted his answer in a series of comments in the thread. Within an hour, he was an online celebrity. Within three hours, a film producer had reached out to him. Within two weeks, he was offered a deal to write a movie based on his Reddit comments. Within two months, he had taken a leave from his job to become a full-time Hollywood screenwriter.

Of course, Mr. Erwin is not a completely ordinary Joe. He had shown somewhat offbeat interests running a website about strange and tiny nations, publishing an encyclopedia of American secessionist movements and and another covering every U.S. military action in history.

These activities may not have made him rich, but they did provide him with skills. He could remember enough facts to win $23,598 on the U.S. quiz show "Jeopardy". And he learned to write fast.

On Reddit, which has a voting system for users to show their appreciation or otherwise of posts, his name was "Prufrock451". His writing was displayed in an area of Reddit dubbed "RomeSweetRome".

Erwin dribbled out his story over the course of the afternoon, switching back and forth between Reddit and work. Normally, a popular comment on a front-page thread might get 400 to 500 points, but by now each segment of Prufrock451′s story was racking up thousands of points. He was an instant Reddit celebrity. By the end of the day, his comment karma would nearly double, from 25,000 to over 40,000, and more than 250,000 people would view the thread. Whenever he reloaded the page he saw dozens of new replies...

That same afternoon, August 31, while James Erwin was doing his best to keep the mob happy, a man in Beverly Hills named Adam Kolbrenner happened to be scanning Reddit. Kolbrenner, who at 37 is the same age as Erwin, runs a literary management and production company called Madhouse Entertainment...

On September 9, Erwin made a final announcement, thanking Reddit for its support. He said that he had made some tough decisions, and one of them was to stop posting on RomeSweetRome...

Four days later, two weeks after that fateful lunch hour, Erwin learned that Warner Bros. had made an offer for him to write a treatment—a condensed version of a screenplay—and a first draft of a full screenplay.

It seems Mr. Erwin is the first star created by Reddit. But there are plenty of others who have discovered some fame and, perhaps, a little fortune through social networks such as YouTube. It would not have happened even a few years ago.

Wired: How One Response to a Reddit Query Became a Big Budget Flick