Description

The Team

We're Mario and Roxy, the founders of All You Can Eat Productions and the writers of Madame X. We're also best friends of almost 10 years with a demonstrated history of collaboration. Our web series, Filthy Rich, is available for viewing on Amazon Prime Video. We both wrote and starred in that project and Roxy co-directed alongside Bree Fleck and Andrew Gillespie. Roxy also starred in a reading of Mario's play, The Second Coming, at Mabou Mines. Most recently, we both adapted Stefan Zweig's novella, The Royal Game, into a one-man show that premiered at Wild Project, with Mario starring in it and Roxy directing. We've been working on Madame X for almost three years and we're so excited to finally step into the roles of John Singer Sargent and Amelie Gautreau.

Why should we make this film? 

• A contemporary take on an outdated genre: Most period pieces can be quite stuffy and inaccessible to a younger audience. We’re prioritizing humor with witty, fast-paced dialogue and contemporary language to capture our target audience’s attention and expose them to an impactful artist and moment in art history that they may have otherwise missed entirely. 
• The first to tell the story: Though described as the “leading portrait painter of his generation,"John Singer Sargent is relatively untouched in the current media landscape besides some books, a couple of small-scale theater pieces, and a brief cameo in HBO’s The Gilded Age. Madame X will put the spotlight on this brilliant artist, his scandal, and, more importantly, the subject of his painting in a way that has never been done before. 

Tone & Style

Sharp, contemporary dialogue with period aesthetics. Think The Favourite...

The Great...

and Dickinson !

Themes

• Autonomy vs. Image Ownership: Amélie believes her appearance is the only part of her life she truly controls. Sitting for a portrait means surrendering that control to someone else’s interpretation. The film tracks how catastrophic that surrender becomes when society owns the narrative more than she does.
• Gendered Double Standards: Male desire is celebrated while female desire is punished. Dr. Pozzi’s erotically charged portrait makes him more famous, while Amélie’s similarly provocative image ruins her. The same artist, similar sensual cues, and opposite outcomes expose how men and women are judged by wildly different standards for the same behavior.
• Artistic Vision vs. Responsibility: Can creative integrity exist under social and financial pressure? John sees the fallen strap as an honest, electrifying detail that makes the
  painting great. The film interrogates whether an artist’s commitment to “truth” absolves them of responsibility for the real-world consequences experienced by their subjects.
• Scandal & Legacy: The contrast between immediate outrage and historical reverence.
  What was once obscene becomes canonical. By ending in 2026 with the painting safely enshrined at the Met, the film explores how time and institutions can sanitize scandal, and how the subject’s suffering is often forgotten while the artist’s genius is celebrated.

Funding 

We've received a $5,000 grant from the Inwood Film Festival Filmmaker Fund!

We need your help with raising the rest of our budget, which prioritizes period-accurate sets, costumes, and props so audiences feel fully immersed in Belle Epoque Paris.

This is an ambitious yet producible 15 minute short designed for festival submission and as a proof of concept for an already-written feature expanding on Sargent and Amélie’s friendship, their personal relationships, and how the scandal impacted both of their lives.