Ladies of Versailles

AN INDEPENDENT PILOT

Ladies of Versailles is a half hour independent pilot for a potential television series.

When their favorite venue is taken over by an evil ex, four girls decide to host their own DIY concert in the decrepit mansion they share with a grouchy old woman.

Principal photography is set for July 2026, and we're currently fundraising to meet our proposed budget. Our production is fiscally sponsored by From the Heart Productions and all donations are tax deductible.

DONATE ON ALLYRA

synopsis

In the pilot episode, we’re introduced to four roommates—Val, Marie, Serena, and Luce—as they get settled in their new home: a dilapidated Brooklyn mansion they share with Serena’s aunt, the eccentric Kathleen.

In an effort to cheer up Val after a job rejection from the school radio, 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, surviving a disastrous bathroom mishap, and escaping a violent mosh pit, 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, and Versailles is back in business.

At the reopening party, everyone has a great time besides our heroines themselves who are more concerned with impressing some select friends and enemies. After a stern pep talk from Kathleen, the ladies of Versailles must shake their personal afflictions and dance to the music.

CHARACTERS

Val

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).

Serena

Serena follows in her aunt Kathleen’s footsteps and is a total flower child. She loves a party, but knows how to clean up her own messes. She tends to wear rose-colored glasses and can’t wait to have a homey backyard wedding with her girlfriend Grace.

Marie

While Marie's fun-loving and creative, she puts on a guarded front. 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.

Luce

Luce has changed her major a dozen times, taken up nude modeling, and will definitely use your shampoo without asking. She’s a killer musician (but don’t tell anyone). She's too busy being aloof to actually practice.

Kathleen

Matron of the Versailles household, Kathleen owns the place and lets the girls run wild. Fiercely independent, yet incapable of taking care of herself, Kathleen is a total firecracker. She partied with the Stones and keeps a stash of stale weed in her closet.

Max

Max is Marie's ex and the new host of the Foyer. His hospitality and choice in company leaves much to be desired.

dae2cc915628ccce38201126ff5c4083_edited_

Spike

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.

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, I frequented the Chicago DIY scene, showing up at strangers’ apartments and abandoned churches to listen to bands I’d never heard of. I loved it. The energy was electric; the crowd was wild yet welcoming. There was something magic about the live music. When we signed the lease on our first apartment, my college roommates and I decided to start our own underground music venue. We called it Versailles.

Over the course of a few years, we 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 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. I wrote 'Ladies of Versailles' as an homage to this time in my 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. Her passion for storytelling and entertainment has grown from recording skits on her family’s desktop computer as a kid to producing Regional Emmy Award-winning short film Indecision (2022), being selected for The Gotham EDU’s 2023 Film & Media Career Development Program, and working 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.

6782ef81bfedc303887d2d41_camila-min_edit

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. She is currently in post-production for her thesis film "Chashmish," a 20 minute coming of age story set in a magical realist Queens. While studying, she worked for Universal Music Group as an 1824 Content Creator. 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 is in pre-production with principal photography scheduled for summer of 2026. As we assemble our cast and crew, we're seeking grant and financing opportunities.

PITCH DECK

production timeline

FALL
2025

DEVELOPMENT

Crew attachments, budget finalization, and final script revisions

WINTER
2026

FUNDRAISING

Concert fundraisers and crowdfunding campaign launch

SPRING
2026

Pre-PRODUCTION

Casting, securing final locations, and hiring additional crew members

SUMMER
2026

PRODUCTION

Rehearsals, test shoots, and principal photography

FALL
2026

POST-PRODUCTION

Editing, sound, music, and color correction. Festival submissions and premiere to follow

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.