Abhiroop Das
Helmed by Matt Spicer, Netflix’s ‘Little Brother‘ begins with Rudd Landy, a hotshot real estate agent, hoping to leave an even bigger impression on New York City. To do that, he ties up with one of the biggest reality shows, ‘NYC Hustlers,’ and is overjoyed when he learns that they will be doing an episode-length feature on him. However, things soon begin to slip out of his control, especially with the arrival of Marcus, someone he only knew as a teen when he half-heartedly participated in the Big Brothers Little Brothers’ program. In the decades since, Marcus has come to believe that they are still true brothers, and as he arrives in the city, he brings a fair share of mischief, all of which is taped by the crew of ‘NYC Hustlers.’ The comedy movie thus creates a parallel narrative within itself, while the reality series crafts a tale of its own.
NYC Hustlers is a Fictional Reality Show in Line With Real-Life Business Docu-Series
‘NYC Hustlers’ is the name of a fictional TV series created by writers Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel specifically for ‘Little Brother.’ Depicted as one of the most famous reality shows in the world, ‘NYC Hustlers’ brings together several budding entrepreneurs and business talents in a serialized, documentary-style format, where the camera follows them on their day-to-day journey. While simple on the surface, this show very quickly becomes a powerful narrative device for the movie, allowing it to tackle complex subjects like the ethics of filmmaking and what it means to truly bring something to the screen. For the same reason, however, it makes sense for the creators to create something from scratch, rather than base it on an existing television series.
When we hear of reality TV and entrepreneurs, arguably the first show that comes to mind is ‘Shark Tank.’ Aside from these two keywords, however, there doesn’t seem to be much of an overlap, especially given that the show in ‘Little Brother’ is all about exploring the city and bringing the camera straight to participants’ workplaces. On that note, two reality shows that feel particularly close to ‘NYC Hustlers’ in style and structure are ‘Selling New York’ and ‘Million Dollar Listing New York.’ To begin with, both titles are heavily centered around business life in New York, and to top it off, both shows follow some of the premier real estate agents of The Big Apple as they try to seal multimillion-dollar property deals, something which can also be said about the character of Rudd in the movie.
NYC Hustlers Becomes a Vessel For the Movie’s Social Commentary
While there are some noticeable parallels between ‘Selling New York,’ ‘Million Dollar Listing New York,’ and ‘NYC Hustlers,’ the writers of the film have not spoken on these similarities as of writing. Still, it seems like the connection is superficial at best, given that ‘NYC Hustlers’ doesn’t appear to be a show specifically themed around property agents. Instead, its narrative focus seems to be on what has been dubbed the hustling culture at large, and on that note, there are other shows that they may have served as a reference for the movie’s creative team. The docu-series ‘Start Up,’ which features budding business owners on a quest to expand and learn, also has a lot in common with ‘NYC Hustlers,’ but whether it serves as a loose inspiration has neither been confirmed nor denied by the writing team.
What makes ‘NYC Hustlers,’ as a show-in-a-movie, truly stand out from any potential real-life antecedent is the fact that it’s used as a backdrop for the larger themes of the movie. Over the course of ‘Little Brother,’ the series helps shine a light on important subjects such as the mechanism of documentary-style filming and how truth can potentially be distorted for a dramatic effect. The depiction of ‘NYC Hustlers’ walks a fine, balanced line, where fictional plot beats speak to larger, real-life concerns. Fittingly, this also happens to be the modus operandi of the movie, where comedy is blended with a truly emotional tale about human relationships. While ‘NYC Hustlers’ may be a creative construct, it adds both a sense of humor and stark realism to the movie, completing the story’s message.
Read More: Where Was Netflix’s Little Brother Filmed?
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