Film and television agents often regard the blue-chip contemporary art world as an unlikely subject for mainstream dramatization because it appears elitist and self-regarding. Popular shows that focus on the lives of the wealthy demonstrate enduring audience fascination with sequestered privilege, absurdities, and vanities. Two forthcoming projects—The Dealer and The Gallerist—center on gallerists entangled in high-stakes personal and ethical conflicts, including a plot to sell a dead body at Art Basel Miami Beach. The likely success of these productions in capturing the art world remains uncertain. Judging by their loglines, portrayals typically either subordinate the art setting to character psychology or sensationalize art-world excess.
It's a bubble, they say, too elitist and self-regarding to be of interest to mainstream audiences. And yet, as hit shows such as Succession (2018-23) and The White Lotus (2021-) have demonstrated, the sequestered lives of the rich and privileged have as much fascination now as they did in the heady, hyper-capitalist 1980s-the era of Dynasty (1981-89) and Dallas (1978-91)and Granada
Television's sumptuous adaptation of Brideshead Revisited (1981). The vanities, absurdities, and tragedies of those lives are a seemingly evergreen foil for normcore scenarios. Who wants the kitchen sink when you can have a gold toilet? This seems to be the impetus behind two forthcoming productions. In The Dealer, an Apple TV+ series currently in development, Jessica Chastain plays an "ambitious gallerist," paired with Adam Driver
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