Ladies of Versailles
A coming-of-age comedy
Ladies of Versailles is a proof of concept short and independent pilot for a potential television series.
When a night out at their favorite venue is ruined, four girls decide to host their own DIY concert in the Brooklyn mansion they share with an aloof older woman.
Principal photography has wrapped, and we're currently fundraising to support our post-production expenses. Our production is fiscally sponsored by From the Heart Productions and all donations are tax deductible.
synopsis
After a recent breakup leaves Marie without housing, she shows up unannounced at her friends' doorstep: a Brooklyn mansion that Serena, Luce, and Val share with Serena’s aunt, the eccentric Kathleen.
In an effort to cheer herself up, Marie and the girls plan a night out at The Foyer, their favorite underground music venue. Upon arrival, they’re struck with horror as they discover it’s been taken over by a hoard of performative Bushwick boys and Marie’s ex, Max. After enduring droning male ego and surviving a disastrous bathroom mishap, the roommates decide to host their own shows and vow to be the best venue in the city.
Before their first show, the girls seek the blessing of their fifth roommate, Kathleen, who surprises them by revealing that she, too, hosted shows back in the day. She entrusts the makeshift venue to the next generation, but at Versailles' grand reopening, a heated confrontation proves that hosting may be harder than the girls thought.
CHARACTERS
Marie
Played by Jessica Kantorowitz
While Marie's fun-loving and creative, she's a businesswoman at heart. She's determined to make Versailles the best venue in the city so she can get revenge against her ex and brag about it in her autobiography.
Serena
Played by Sophia Inez
Serena's desire to be a free-spirited flower child is at war with her ardent sense of responsibility. She loves a party, but knows how to clean up her own messes. Her dreamy long-term relationship with Grace may not be as perfect as it seems.
Val
Played by Sophie Falvey
Val has a passion for music with a finger on the pulse of the city's underground music scene. She loves a good house show and knows all of the bands in the area. She can shotgun a beer in 10 seconds (no joke).
Luce
Played by Xi Ling
Luce has a new job every week, hosts nude modeling in the living room, and will definitely use your shampoo without asking. Her lack of direction is just a poor excuse to put off on working towards her creative ambitions.
Kathleen
Played by Caren Skibell
Matron of the Versailles household, Kathleen owns the place and lets the girls run wild. She's fiercely independent, yet incapable of taking care of herself. She partied with the Ramones and keeps a stash of stale weed in her closet.
Max
Played by James Azzaretti
Max is Marie's ex and the new host of the Foyer. His hospitality and choice in company leaves much to be desired.
Spike
Played by Rueben Clement
While Spike is well-meaning, his enthusiasm for the underground music scene comes off as shallow and pretentious. As it turns out he's actually a pretty good musician.
Dean
Played by David Kopriva
As the guitarist for his band, Dean has talent, charm, and good looks on his side. He takes notice in Luce who harbors a crush on him with a weird way of showing it.
Jo
Played by Vann Dukes
Jo is the head programmer for a local radio. They’ve got a pervasive knowledge of all things music, and they will fight you about it.
WITH MUSIC FROM
DEJIMA
LADY LYCHEE
SERIES ARC & TONE
While Ladies of Versailles works as a succinct short film, our aim is to produce this project as a pilot for a potential television series. The rest of the season follows our four heroines as they work to make Versailles the top venue in the Brooklyn DIY scene. As a group, they face conflict with rival venues, neighbors, rude partygoers, and law enforcement. Realizing their power, the girls start to curate their headliners, choosing to spotlight artists outside of the stereotypical scene. They find themselves in the unique position to change their community for the better.
As individuals, Marie realizes that her hell-bent revenge plot against Max is just another version of centering men. Serena's idealistic relationship crumbles after she's caught cheating. Val tries to build her reputation as a music curator and event organizer. Luce struggles with her identity, caught between who she is and how people see her. Kathleen's world is brightened by the girls' presence. She begins to put more effort into herself and the house.
The show’s themes circle around music, community, and the messiness of young adulthood. Ladies of Versailles serves as a microcosm: as the girls learn to use their platform to showcase underrepresented voices, the show itself serves the same purpose, providing a stage for independent and lesser-known artists.
Visually, the show is highly stylized, paying particular attention to art direction and music selection. While the setting is modern day Brooklyn, the aesthetics blend influences from 1960s rock and roll, Romanticism, and the 90s punk movement, highlighting the bridges between different art forms and eras.
Music selection plays heavily into the plot and overall tone of the series. In the spirit of DIY, the soundtrack and diegetic music will feature up-and-coming bands and musicians playing as themselves with an emphasis on grungy, reverberant, and ethereal sounds with female voices
Ladies of Versailles’ visual aesthetic falls in trend with the resurgence of indie sleaze. Its queer and female forward characters bring a fresh perspective to storytelling while remaining a universal tale of music and friendship.
HISTORY
In the mid-2010s, writer Julie Ivers frequented the Chicago DIY scene, showing up at strangers’ apartments and abandoned churches to listen to bands she'd never heard of. The energy was electric; the crowd was wild, yet welcoming. There was something magical about the live music. When Julie signed the lease on her first apartment, she and her college roommates decided to start our their underground music venue. It was called Versailles.
Over the course of a few years, they hosted shows and block parties with bands including Whitney, Twin Peaks, Modern Vices, and Hot Like Mars, had the cops called several times, got broken into, dragged dry old Christmas trees from the alley into the living room as decoration, had a seance in the vacant upstairs apartment, fell in love, fell out of love, got wasted, made art, and had fun. Julie wrote Ladies of Versailles as an homage to this time in her life: the music, friendships, and messiness of young adulthood.
The aim of this project is to create a platform for local independent music, tell a story of joy and friendship, and convey the beauty of creative community and the power in a collective coming together for a common cause.
Meet the Filmmakers
Julie Ivers
Writer | Creative Producer
Julie is a designer and writer with over eight years of experience in the entertainment industry. She currently works as a graphic designer for Saturday Night Live's film unit, contributing to Emmy Award-winning production design. With a wicked sense of humor, her work often features themes of absurdity and community with a focus on rich world-building. She wrote "Ladies of Versailles" based on her own experience hosting house shows in Chicago, and the script has received accolades from several screenwriting contests.
Katrina Lee
Producer
Katrina is a Brooklyn-based writer and producer. She produced Regional Emmy Award-winning short film Indecision (2022), was selected for The Gotham EDU’s 2023 Film & Media Career Development Program, and worked on the Film Unit Production Staff for Saturday Night Live. The latest short film she produced, Dirty Towel (2023) was selected to premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival. She is fueled by her love of filmmaking, connecting audiences, and sharing the unique stories of traditionally underrepresented communities.
Camila Grimaldi
Director | Producer
Camila Grimaldi is an Argentinean-American filmmaker based in Brooklyn. Her most recent short film Breadwinner — a horror short about a blood-thirsty sourdough starter — screened at Academy-Award qualifying festivals across the US before premiering on Short of the Week. She has also directed music videos for artists James the Seventh and Janani K. Jha. She produces under her banner Ser Nocturna, a production company she co-founded, and has produced award-winning shorts which have screened at Sundance, SXSW, Raindance, and Woodstock Film Festival, among others. She is a Film Independent producing fellow.
Savannah Miller
Producer
Savannah Miller Brooklyn based writer, director, and producer. She graduated from Emerson College with a BA in film and performance in 2023, and has since worked on several productions, like Eleanor the Great, American Love Story, Pokerface, and Saturday Night Live. In her time at Emerson she frequented the Boston DIY scene, and can’t wait to hop back into that world with Ladies of Versailles. She’s drawn to stories that center women and underrepresented communities. Her most recent short film 'Strawberry Week,' is currently in post-production and will premiere in 2026.
Zane Z. Peña
Cinematographer
Zane Z. Peña is a NYC based Cinematographer. His love for visual storytelling was developed at an early age through his deep love of film and television. This affinity has then been honed over his many years of experience, shooting 30+ short films and countless commercial and music video projects for notable clients such as New York streetwear brand OnlyNY and record labels such as Atlantic Records, Universal Music Group, and ROC Nation. Zane has always had a passion for bringing together different art forms through collaboration.
Ilina Bhatia
Production Designer
Ilina is a filmmaker and visual artist living in New York City. She studied film and television production at NYU Tisch, concentrating in production design and editing. Her thesis film "Chashmish," is a 20 minute coming of age story set in a magical realist Queens. She is heavily influenced by Absurdism, Surrealism, and her South Asian culture. Her work has been exhibited at the Dock of the Bay Music Doc Film Festival, Houston Asian American Pacific Islander Film Festival, Film Diary NYC, Sonder Exhibition, and the Leslie-Lohman Museum.
PRODUCTION
Ladies of Versailles is a visually stunning comedy-drama. Comparable projects include Almost Famous, Broad City, Girls, and Daisy Jones & The Six. Featured bands and music will showcase up-and-coming talent local to NYC with an emphasis on grungy, reverberant, and ethereal sounds with female voices.
The pilot episode wrapped production in summer of 2026. As we move into post-production, we're seeking financial support and help in spreading the word!
IMPACT
While diving into the DIY scene in New York, we've met so many talented individuals and created lasting connections with creatives and music-lovers alike.
At our first concert fundraiser in September, we partnered with the DIY basement venue, Third Rail and featured performances by Dallas Wax, Hipsy Gap, and Wetsuit along with a vinyl DJ set by Maximilian.
In February, we gathered an even bigger crowd at Nublu where Dejima, Lady Lychee, and Caroline Meade took the stage. Check out our reel from the show by Fran Ierulli and photos by Koby Garcia.
We plan to continue hosting shows to foster the wonderful community we've created and grow an audience for our production and independent musicians.
