Dollhouse Pictures has announced it will adapt Australian best-selling book “The Work” for TV.
The indie collective and production company confirmed the news on Thursday after it secured the screen option for the book from Bri Lee, originally published by Allen & Unwin in 2024.
“The Work,” set between New York, Brisbane and Sydney, “follows Lally, an ambitious New York gallerist, and Patrick, a Sydney-based junior antiques appraiser, two young professionals, both desperately trying to establish themselves in the contemporary art world. When they meet, their chemistry is instant, beginning a turbulent long distant relationship. As their personal and professional lives become increasingly entangled, they begin to question if their love can survive distance, ambition and their cut-throat workplace.”
Screenwriter Hannah Lehman will create the series, while Lee and Dollhouse Pictures’ Jessica Carrera will serve as executive producers.
“I’ve always admired Bri Lee’s writing and her willingness to question power, privilege and the institutions that shape us,” Carrera said.
“What excites me about ‘The Work’ is its seductive world, where everything has a value and the rules are constantly shifting. At its heart is a complicated relationship that asks what if the person you desire most is also the person who costs you the most. Hannah Lehmann brings a sharp and assured voice to the adaptation.”
Lee added: “I am so excited that ‘The Work’ has found a production and writing team that are committed to making this show properly gutsy, hella sexy, and seriously funny. This novel was always so cinematic in my head, and Dollhouse Productions are going to take the words off the page and build a magnetic, can’t-look-away spectacle. Hannah is a genius who understands these characters’ deepest fears and desires.”
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The TV adaptation is now in development following the recent round of new funding from Screen Australia.