pinkbox.
a virtual reality series
sub·ver·sive : [səb-vûr′sĭv, -zĭv] adj. intending or intended to subvert an established order, especially to undermine or overthrow an established government. n. one who advocates or is regarded as advocating subversion
Pinkbox is an anthology; a thriller set in the near future of Manhattan’s Chinatown—now a neo-slum called Insomnia City—shot entirely at night;
Pinkbox, is a “love hotel”; a futuristic bordello; the stage where the lives of high-end escorts and their wealthy, ‘perverse’ clients intersect and clash as the characters resist the government’s threat to public freedom. The sorority of escorts is masterfully curated by the madam and they all have their own reasons for surrendering their lives to the oldest profession.
Pinkbox is an allegory, a mirror reflecting the consequences of control and further shaming of our dark sides after a new political party takes over and threatens to shutter Pinkbox forever.
Pinkbox follows Arlo, a streetwise hustler and loner; a naïve new recruit at Pinkbox with a murky past, compelled to come to the futuristic bordello in search of her beloved, long-lost sister, Evarran, who had worked there years before. Desperate to find her, Arlo will stop at nothing to solve the mystery surrounding her sister’s disappearance and in this dangerous world, for the first time, finds not only herself, but also a place in an unexpected family.
Arlo's story is only the beginning.
Pinkbox is a transcendental experience.
Teetering on the edge of overwhelming; every sense engaged at its highest level.
My deep passion and respect for analog heightens my awareness for what humans want to experience at our most animalistic level.
My constant pursuit for truth, justice, for evolution is evident throughout the series.
Some powerful influences:
What's Wrong with Prostitution? Evaluating Sex Work by Christine Overall
A Woman of this Century--Hannah Arendt, New York Times
oryx and crake. by MARGARET ATWOOD
I discovered Oryx and Crake in 2009, and read it in one sitting.
It is profound.
Prophetic.
Subversive.
Read it immediately, if you have not already.
I had already been a long-time fan of Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid’s Tale took my breath away and shaped my world view when I read it in my teens. I had dreamt of making Oryx and Crake into a television series for over twelve years (before the success of Handmaid's Tale) when, thinking I could not secure the rights myself, I took it to Darren Aronofsky's company. HBO immediately put the project in development until the option expired recently. Sadly (for me, not for Margaret!), because of the enormous success of HT and Alias Grace, my pockets were not deep enough to maintain the option and the rights went to the highest bidder. I can't wait to see the television adaptation. I am deeply grateful for the time I was able to spend with my hero, Margaret Atwood.
deadline.com - HBO has put in development drama series MaddAddam, executive produced by Oscar-nominated Black Swan helmer Darren Aronofsky through his Protozoa Pictures banner. The project, based on Margaret Atwood’s book trilogy Oryx and Crake (2003), Year Of The Flood (2009), and MaddAddam (2013), is being developed as a potential directing vehicle for Aronofsky. MaddAddam marks the first project to come out of the three-year first-look deal the filmmaker and his Protozoa Pictures inked with HBO in January.
The story in the MaddAddam books, part of Atwood’s self-described genre of “speculative fiction,” is set in the mid-21st century in a world where corporations have taken over for governments and the genetic modification of organisms is perversely ubiquitous. It centers on the events before and after a Waterless Flood that wipes out almost all of the world’s population and follows an extensive cast of characters, including those responsible for the apocalypse and those struggling to survive it. Producer Brandon Milbradt, brought the project to Protozoa and will serve as executive producer alongside Aronofsky and his longtime collaborator, Protozoa Pictures president Ari Handel. Atwood serves as consulting producer. Aronofsky and his team are currently meeting with writers. (the fiercely talented Eli Clark-Whedon has since been hired to pen the pilot)
Aronofsky is coming off the success of his most recent feature, biblical epic Noah, which has grossed $345M in worldwide box office. On the feature side, his Protozoa Pictures also has a deal with New Regency, also inked in January. Oryx and Crake is at once an unforgettable love story and a compelling vision of the future. Snowman, known as Jimmy before mankind was overwhelmed by a plague, is struggling to survive in a world where he may be the last human, and mourning the loss of his best friend, Crake, and the beautiful and elusive Oryx whom they both loved. In search of answers, Snowman embarks on a journey–with the help of the green-eyed Children of Crake–through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. Margaret Atwood projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.
anaïs nin.
TELEVISION SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT BASED ON ANAIS NIN'S FICTION
I'm still in awe of this new development—I optioned 35+ of Anaïs Nin's most acclaimed short-stories. Four collections: Delta of Venus, Waste of Timelessness, Under A Glass Bell, and Cities of the Interior— Ladders to Fire, Children of the Albatross, The Four-Chambered Heart, A Spy in the House of Love, Seduction of the Minotaur.
Anaïs Nin, French-born novelist, passionate eroticist and short story writer, is considered the “god-mother of female erotica”—one of its earliest and best writers. She was a feminist—a leader in establishing women as distinct figures with unique gifts, who have the right to freedom of expression.
As a feminist precursor to women like Gloria Steinem and Lena Dunham, Anaïs was controversial in her time and she has tremendous relevance today. She took risks, exploring female sexuality, writing explicitly about sex from a female point of view, acknowledging the struggles women had with sexual identity and expression in a patriarchal world, and discussing the role of women in society before anyone else. Her work included frank portrayals of illegal abortions, extramarital affairs and incest, all of which she wrote about without judging her female characters. That’s brave in 2016; in 1940, it was unheard of.
Anaïs’s curiosity, hunger for life, and passionate pursuit of the extraordinary is both frank and poetic. Her duality excites me—nothing is what it seems, everything oozes subtext. Since this became official, the interest from writers, directors, producers, and actresses whose lives have been touched by Anaïs has been extraordinary. I’m honored and humbled that the estate has trusted me with these collections.
(I was represented in the deal by Jake Levy of Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassal. They worked hard to make this happen for me and I'm forever grateful.)
la femme & la moto.
FILM IN DEVELOPMENT BASED ON LIFE OF ANNE-FRANCE DAUTHEVILLE, FIRST WOMAN TO RIDE A MOTORCYCLE AROUND THE WORLD
I'm thrilled to bring Anne-France Dautheville's adventures to the screen. After reading about her in the New York Times, I tracked her down. I've since journeyed to her lovely village, La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, and become a pen-pal. She does not think of herself as fearless, or extraordinary, but that's exactly who she is. Her story is unbelievable.
NYT: Dautheville spent most of her younger years trying to escape her hometown of Paris, before finally succeeding at the age of 28. After an unfulfilling period working as a copywriter, she sat on a motorcycle and her life was transformed. From 1972 to 1981, she motored across the globe: First across the Orion Raid, a motorcycle tour from Paris to Isfahan, Iran; then to Afghanistan. In 1973, she became the first woman to ride across the world solo on a motorcycle: Astride a Kawasaki 125, she trekked three continents and covered 12,500 miles.
Today she lives in a tiny village, La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, one hour east of Paris, where she was raised in the aftermath of World War II. She writes on gardening. Her hair is steel gray and her clothes are simple: Fashion isn’t, she says, in a richly accented French, part of her world: “I live in the countryside. Luxury is not my way of life. Even if I were rich I don’t think I would live in luxury.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/t-magazine/fashion/chloe-motorcycle-muse-clare-waight-keller.html
mayflower madam. NATIONAL BEST SELLER
TELEVISION SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT BASED ON THE TRUE STORY OF SYDNEY BARROWS' LIFE AND HER BOOK, THE MAYFLOWER MADAM
The sensational case of the "Mayflower Madam," as New York's tabloids have dubbed Barrows when she was arrested decades ago, offers more than a peep into the booming business of high-class prostitution, 80s style. Sydney Biddle Barrows was a preppie, a descendant of two Mayflower Pilgrims, a slender blond who wore designer clothes, vacationed in the Hamptons and contributed to charity. "Very WASP, very straight, very much the puritan," says a former boyfriend. An entrepreneur, the 32-year-old executive advertised her business in the Yellow Pages, noting "Credit Cards Welcome." The business, according to the Manhattan district attorney's office, was "the largest prostitution ring known to the organized crime control bureau of the police department . . . It grossed more than $1 million a year." When 10 police officers broke down the door of Barrows' Cachet II and Finesse escort services on West 74th Street with a sledgehammer, they confiscated extensive records, including a list of 3,000 clients, many of them business executives in prominent U.S., European and Asian corporations, police said. The story is remarkable.
I discovered the tattered book in a used bookstore, one of my favorite places to be. I was immediately drawn to her story and tracked her down in New York City! We went for a glass of champagne and I pitched her on turning her story into a television series. The material is ripe for a juicy, addictive drama and I can't wait to bring her character and her story to the small screen.
Sydney Biddle Barrows leaving the court room.
Linda is a 71year old woman with metastatic breast cancer.
the view from here.
A DIGITAL SERIES FOR TOPIC.COM AIRS DECEMBER 2018
WATCH HERE: https://www.topic.com/the-view-from-here
As we approach death, each of us encounters a unique set of experiences and impressions—the sum of our time spent and our choices. It has been said that a terminal diagnosis is like a wall; as we near the wall our instinct is to turn and face the past. For some of us the end of our lives will come suddenly, but for others it will appear on the horizon and march towards us with a terminal certainty. This affords an opportunity to reflect on where we have been and what we have done while we were here.
The perspective of the dying seems neglected in the public discourse on health and mortality. And yet it is in their ‘best interests’ that we seek to serve.
This project seeks to create an opportunity for people to relay their own thoughts and feelings of the approaching end. It gives them a platform for a final assessment. It creates an archive of what people think about…having lived. And it gives those who are living a window into what lies ahead.
Perhaps it will give some who are dying a connection to others in the same circumstance. Or, to a larger online community who can relieve them of their loneliness to some degree. It is clear that we are willing to do things for cameras and microphones that we are sometimes unwilling to do for ourselves.
It is our hope that this will allow people to look an unknown audience in the eye and illuminate the far end of our common experience.
Few things are as compelling as the words of a person at the end—be those words filled with inspiration and acceptance, or fear and regret.
About Brandon Milbradt: Brandon (Brandi-Ann) Milbradt is an Executive Producer/Writer/Director. Milbradt is currently show-running, writing and directing her episodic virtual reality series titled “Pinkbox”—a cyberpunk thriller set in the near future— for the Emmy-winning VR studio Felix & Paul.
She began her career in 2001, with comedic films and television series. She went on to produce a number of indie films, one of them winning Best Director and Best Screenplay at the HBO US Comedy Arts Festival.
Milbradt executive produced and co-show-ran IFC’s first scripted series, a comedy titled “The Festival”, which received both critical and ratings success. The series was renewed as a spin-off, "The Business," which starred Kathleen Robertson and ran for several seasons.
In recent years, Milbradt has moved into drama—inspired by strong female voices, she is developing a television series based on the works of French feminist author and “godmother of erotica”, Anais Nin, and has acquired the rights to develop a film about Anne-France Dautheville, the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world, set in the 1970s. She is also Executive Producing, alongside Darren Aronofsky, a series based on Margaret Atwood’s bestselling trilogy “Maddaddam”.
In addition, Milbradt is producing a docu-series for TOPIC/First Look Media, with Scott Z Burns (Contagion, The Informant, Bourne Ultimatum, Inconvenient Truth), about what it means to know that you are dying, a topic near and dear to both of them.
Milbradt is a thought leader and frequent speaker at industry events—including SXSW and Cannes Lions—and colleges, sharing her experience and insights on the art of virtual-reality and other new-media storytelling. She resides in Brooklyn, NY where she serves as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster children, and volunteers for the Bronx and Queens' Family Courts.
Collaborators:
HBO, IFC, ABC, Protozoa Pictures, VICE, TOPIC, First Look Media, Rogers Media, TMN, Movie Central, Telefilm, Conde Nast, Refinery29...
photo by qarim brown
