LOGLINE: A woman battles her shyness, local malice and bureaucracy in order to open a pole-dancing fitness studio in her town.
Way back in 2009, when I was still in film school, we had to bring in two ideas for a thesis project. One of my ideas eventually became my thesis script Children of Others. The other idea was to write a dance movie–because I love dance movies–with a dance that hadn’t yet been done in a traditional dance movie: pole dancing.
I liked the idea of a single woman, maybe fresh from a divorce, in a smaller town, starting a pole dancing studio for women. But what would happen next? A rivalry with a hot young pole dancing team from a neighboring town? A dance-off? I hadn’t yet decided, and was randomly researching when I came across an article about Stephanie Babines, a woman who tried to open a pole dance fitness studio in Pennsylvania, only to have her town’s zoning board decide that it was an “adult business.” This was after she’d already invested thousands of dollars in renovating a studio space.
I thought this could be a good story, so I reached out to Stephanie and after a few conversations, she agreed to option her story to me. It was a slow start. I made a trip to Pennsylvania to meet her in April of 2011. I was just on the verge of graduating, and about to start a new full time job. She’s had infinite patience as we’ve both had some life ups and downs…but I’ve just finished a third draft that I think isn’t too bad and I’m pretty excited to send it into the world this coming year.
