An indie. Interesting take. A different indie approach: we meet the Vogels when they bought the piece of art that made them think - we can't take care of it. Then the struggle of deciding to donate it and the huge problem and focus of the picture: who shall receive it? For dramatic purposes we could have two strong contenders, one an honest museum and the other a unscrupulous museum that wants to do something like in the 2009 documentary "The Art of the Steal" Quoting Wikipedia: The Art of the Steal is a 2009 documentary film about the alleged theft of what is generally considered to be the world's best collection of post-Impressionist art (valued in 2009 at least $25-billion), theft by the second and later generations of the foundation's board, after the Pew Trust, Annenberg Foundation, and Philadelphia politicians, including Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, violated the clear intent of the written will of the collector and owner, Doctor Albert C. Barnes. It describes the successful effort by Philadelphia's leading aristocrats to break Barnes's will and move the collection away from the setting and arrangement that Barnes had painstakingly established for it in Lower Merion to downtown Philadelphia.[1] The film presents a blow-by-blow account of the breaking of Barnes' will, a decades-long process that was initiated by Philadelphia aristocrats who were enemies of Dr. Barnes while he was alive, and that was continued by the heirs of those aristocrats. Of course, to create suspense we, the audience would know the evil museum's plan right from the beginning. So they try to trick the Vogels, they play dirty so other museums aren't considered by the Vogels. And of course, the only competing museum that remains is the underdog, the one nobody thought they would be awarded the collection. And they would have to close if they don't increase the number of visitors - having the Vogel collection not only means having more art to show to the public, it's the museum's survival at stake. The larger museum? A con artist buys legitimate art, orders perfect copies, then exhibits the copies and sells the originals - it isn't about art for him, it's pure profit. And of course there will be discussions about how art makes a better world, the role of art in our lives, etc. A different approach: a rom-com. What if we meet Herb and Dorothy when they're young and single. All they're interested is in art, they are very similar: not-so-interesting jobs, they use all of their savings to buy art. They're dating other people and of course, their couples hate the fact that they prefer to buy art instead of let's say a TV. Now, what happens is that their tastes are very similar and they start as competitors. They like the same pieces of art and they hate each other because one buys exactly the paintings the other wanted. And as with any rom-com they start to know about the other, fall in love and end up together with one big happy art collection. Think "You've Got Mail" but maybe they write under pseudonyms for art magazines instead of e-mail pen-pals.

Because of the value of the collection it could also inspire a heist movie. Maybe some art thief thinks it would be far easier to steal from an apartment than from a museum. But he may be way, way wrong and the owners of the art collection have state of the art security equipment that either results in a comedy or in a failed heist drama/action.

This one took a little more time to ponder... my immediate thought was maybe a Ladykillers type thing where a silver fox con man tries to charm this old lady out of her late husband's art collection. This extensive private collection reminded me of a documentary I had seen about a city taking possession of a private collection for itself, I forget the title (it was long ago.. but it definitely had this sinister feel to it. And that made me realize that there might be plenty of people after this collection, and I started thinking of all these character actors I like, a lot of Christopher Guest people, so maybe it's something like that, a comedy about all these people trying to get their hands on this art collection for their own reasons, you have the dotty old widow, you have the uptight son (Michael Hitchcock), Jim Piddock the guy who wants to sell 'em at auction (with Fred Willard as the auctioneer "Lot #1001, 'Portrait of the Artist's Mother' and boy is she ugly, just a face that could stop a clock, am I right folks?"), Bob Balaban wants to get the collection into the city's museum collection, Ed Begley Jr is his lawyer... just a mess of people with their own agendas clashing against each other. I do see some problems with that, though, it just... if you follow the idea that a script is an invitation, then this one would be a forged invitation to a party that you weren't invited to that's already over. It might make a good talent showcase, but I don't know the odds of it getting made, it seems like a "write it just because you want to read it" script. And it does feel, to me, a bit old fashioned, it's "following the puck," to use a hockey term. You don't follow the puck, you go to where the puck is going to be. And I haven't factored that in yet. I'm concerned about that because I think that was one of the issues with "Family Tree," Christopher Guest's HBO series... shows like The Office and Modern Family followed his mockumentary example and built on it, but Guest didn't build on top of them when he came to TV (or at least, it didn't feel like it). It felt like "me too" instead of "no no, check THIS out." And I think my idea has that same problem.

"The Art Of The Steal!" Thank you, I was trying to remember that documentary (2009... no wonder I couldn't remember it!)

It helps that you'd have several obstacles and objectives: they need to stake the place out (maybe they move in, pretend to be a young married couple), they have to identify the paintings, figure out the value, steal them, get them authenticated, and fence them. I imagine it's actually quite hard to fence stolen artwork, of course, if the thieves are young and dumb, maybe they don't know that. Did you see "The Brass Teapot?" I can totally picture that young couple (Michael Angarano and Juno Temple) being poor schmucks who get a this hairbrained idea to pull off that little heist.

What if the art collectors have one or several offspring that think they'll become billionaires when they inherit the collection. But uh-oh... their parents decided to donate the valuable collection, so all they are going to get is an empty apartment. They would try to convince them, then steal, and finally even murder them before they sign the donation.

And when they're all dead, and a new couple moves into the apartment, they knock down a wall... and it's lined with several copies of "Action Comics No 1."

Good one!

I thought about a heist angle, too, before opting for the more indie dramedy. Ladykillers would be a fun take, though.

No, haven't watched "The Brass Teapot?" But I could imagine this as a kind of successful heist that ends up bad. Have you watched Jean-Pierre Melville's "Le Cercle Rouge" Sorry for using caps, but it's an AMAZING heist sequence.