Dilettante: True Tales of Excess, Triumph, and Disaster tells the story of Graydon Carter’s protégé Dana Brown and how he navigated his way around the New York media world in the 1990s.
The book is now being adapted for television and is in the works at Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television.
Brown, who started working hospitality before becoming Vanity Fair editor Carter’s assistant and later deputy editor of the Condé Nast title, revealed that a scripted series based on his memoir is “close” to be taken out to broadcasters and streamers.
Brown revealed that Berlanti and Warner Bros. TV had optioned his book in an interview on the How Long Gone podcast.
“I’m very focused on trying to get my book to TV screens,” he said, “My book is under option at Warner Bros. with Berlanti, which is the best company in TV to be at and we are getting close to taking this thing out. I’m excited because a ’90s New York show is my fantasy show.”
He described it as “kind of like Suits but with the backstabbing of Succession”, although he admitted that he’d never actually watched the USA Network legal drama.
In the book, Brown details how he became a trusted confidante to Carter and spent time in New York and LA at swanky media events, including the Oscars, all with the Vanity Fair corporate card in his pocket.
He also reveals run ins with the likes of Anna Wintour, Lee Radziwill, and Condé Nast owner Si Newhouse, as well as Seth Rogen, Caitlyn Jenner, and journalists Dominick Dunne and Christopher Hitchens.
Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Prods. declined to comment.