Adam In Fragments Reveals the Hidden World of Los Angeles’ Sex Trade

Savas Abadsidis November 17, 2022

The subscription service for gay men called Dekkoo will begin streaming its new original series, Adam in Fragments, on November 17.

Conjuring Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch and Steven Soderbergh all at once, Fragments delivers a small taste of the transgressive sights and sounds of Los Angeles’ gay underground sex trade.

Inspired by crime thrillers of the ’70s, this provocative, gritty drama tells the story of one hustler’s odyssey.

The provocative, gritty drama follows Adam (Beau Swartz), a sex worker who has never had to worry about anyone but himself until he meets Lucy (Keiva Bradley).

Adam’s urge to guide the young and naïve aspiring adult film starlet and protect her from their terrorizing handler, Felix (Francisco Antonio), triggers a series of events that sends violent ripples through the Los Angeles underground sex-trade. Adam in Fragments is produced by Dekkoo Films and The Arbor Company.

“Most television shows and films about sex work either glorify the trade or exploit it,” says Omar Salas Zamora. He wrote and directed the series with Calvin Picou. “In Adam in Fragments, we aim to examine the profession, not by sensationalizing it, but through exploring the main character and his interactions with drug dealers and johns.”

Zamora and Picou drew inspiration from 70’s crime thrillers. “We incorporated that same coarse-grained aesthetic for a story aimed at a queer male audience,” Picou explains.

Each episode of Adam in Fragments builds a new picture of Adam. In the premiere, “Crawling Back”, the young man returns to his former life as a sex worker and quickly re-engages with his seedy and often dangerous male clients. In episode two, “Meal Ticket”, viewers are introduced to Lucy and witness the burgeoning relationship between the girl and Adam as they prepare for another night of work. In the third episode, “One Hundred & Fifty”, Adam is set up on a date where he meets a young hustler who opens his eyes to playing the sex trade by different rules. “In Through the Out Door” is the fourth episode in the series; Lucy reveals the abuse she’s endured at the hands of their pimp, Felix, and she and Adam begin planning their escape. In the series finale, “Fear Eats the Soul,” Adam struggles with the price he must pay for a safe and comfortable life.

“Throughout the series, Adam remains enigmatic,” says Brian Sokel, President of Dekkoo who executive produces along with Derek Curl. He selected Adam in Fragments as an exclusive series for Dekkoo. “The moment viewers think they have a handle on him, they realize that they do not. Adam’s ability to maintain his anonymity by never getting too close to johns, pimps, drug dealers, and even viewers, allows him some level of control, and it makes the series a fascinating and almost immersive experience for the audience.”

“Mainstream society will view Adam and the characters in Adam in Fragments as irredeemable, but these veterans of the underground are, in most cases, comfortable in their skin and together, they form something of a family unit,” Omar Salas Zamora adds. “It is only when a fresh new face comes along, with unattainable dreams and false illusions about life, that chaos ensues. Adam’s mistake is that he allows himself to become emotionally accessible to Lucy.”

The following is an excerpt of a Q&A with Zamora over at the The Rainbow Times:

Q: How true-to-life is Adam in Fragments?
“Adam in Fragments” poster
Omar Salas Zamora: Santa Monica Boulevard as a hub for sex work is pretty much extinct today. The sex industry has gone completely digital. It’s done through location-based apps. That’s great for the safety of sex workers but it is not exactly cinematic to look at cell phone screens so we leaned into our own reality.
Q: Interesting. So, it takes place in modern-day Los Angeles, but as if we were back in the 1990s.
A: Yes, maybe even earlier. Adam in Fragments is a hustler’s odyssey with a grim 70s cinema aesthetic. Santa Monica Boulevard was so much more of a community in the 70s and 80s. Hustlers protected each other and especially looked after the teenagers that would join them. They shared condoms and kept violent johns away. Now, sex workers operate on their own terms, inside whatever safe space they’ve created for themselves. So, the need for comradery isn’t there anymore.
Q: From where did you draw inspiration for the series?
A: Calvin (Picou) and I studied the photography of Eve Fowler and Philip-Lorca diCorcia who framed their hustlers in a romantic, otherworldly way. We also watched as many documentaries as we could get our hands on. It was fascinating to witness the subjects trying to grapple with the situation they’re in.
Q: The series is reminiscent of My Own Private Idaho.
A: Gus Van Sant’s _My Own Private Idaho_ is so iconic that you can’t really escape it when you’re dealing with material about hustlers. Also, Pasolini directed a fantastic movie called Attacone, about a pimp that becomes destitute when his only prostitute is sent to prison, which though not the story of Adam, has some parallels.
Q: Who is Adam?
A: Adam is an actor. He must be in order to survive. He decompartmentalizes himself and shows only pieces of himself to the person paying for his company. He is someone that has shed his own personal desires and goals and has become a cipher for the enjoyment of others. The goal was for the audience to observe him at arms-length until the final moments, questioning his choices but understanding that he must do what he does to survive.
Q: Why does he hide his identity from johns?
A: Practically, it’s for his own safety. But Adam also protects his anonymity so fiercely because he likes his ability to transform into the most desirable version of himself to each john.
Q: Is he gay?
A: I don’t think anyone could really know. Adam was abused from an early age. He never had a say on his own sexual preferences. Someone that’s struggling so hard just to survive another day doesn’t have time for such desires.
Q: Why does he reveal himself to Lucy?
A: He finds a real human connection with her. Lucy’s younger, with faith in the future. She hasn’t been poisoned yet by the business. Every other relationship in Adam’s life is transactional but he finds a friend in Lucy and for the first time in his life, puts another human being before himself. He begins to question his place in the industry.
Q: How did you choose Beau Swartz for the role of Adam?
A: It was never not going to be Beau. I collaborated with him on the short film version of Adam In Fragments in 2019. Even though the short is its own encapsulated story, it always felt like that character had more to him. When this project became more realistic, I called Beau because if he weren’t on board, I would have never done it.

Zamora adds:

Just a few years ago, sex workers were impulsively characterized as wounded people and victims. As a society, we’re beginning to understand there’s a healthy side to this world. The sex trade has been destigmatized in recent years and that’s a good thing for the Adams of the world.

Adam in Fragments stars Beau Swartz, Keiva Bradley, and Ryan Ruffing, and features supporting performances from Jonathan Miller, Francisco Antonio, Nick Flaig, Joe Garcia, and Tara Emerson.

Watch the trailer below.

“We hope viewers find the humanity in these difficult characters,” Zamora and Picou agree. “They’re not heroes, villains, or victims. They merely exist.”