Time was that business news was found almost exclusively on the business pages of newspapers. If those stories had an after-life, it was more likely that they would turn into a heavyweight business book, rather than a film, let alone a whole television series.
In the past five years, though, tales of business triumph and (more often) disaster have burst out of newsprint and hardcovers into audio, video and movie form. Streaming services have proliferated and with them a desire for new material to feed the audience appetite for the next binge-watch. The popularity of fictional series such as Succession, about a family-owned media empire, and Billions, about the hedge fund world, have added fuel to the boom in screen adaptations of long-form business news.
“The streaming business has increased the demand for stories and, it may be counter-intuitive, but it has also increased demand for quality characters and storylines that are truthful, and deep, and rich,” says Elizabeth Wachtel, based in Beverly Hills for WME, a talent agency. “I think complex characters have become particularly attractive and there are a preponderance [of them] in business.”