SYNOPSIS:

Pitch: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants meets Sex and the City and Girls re-imagined for the 2020s with a diverse cast and fresh setups, interwoven with a parallel storyline set in 1950’s Hollywood. Suddenly Cinderella is a romantic dramedy series adapted from the bestselling novels by Hope Tarr about three millennial Manhattanites (Macie, Francesca and Stefanie) whose friendship is forged through passing around a pair of vintage red velvet heels first worn by a legendary 1950s Hollywood movie star. The shoes put each woman, in turn, on the path to her romantic soulmate and career calling. While the various romantic entanglements and pairings provide the underpinning for each episode, Suddenly Cinderella is, at its core, a female buddy series—the girlfriend relationships that challenge us and see us through life’s toughest times. The stories will be broken down into thirty-minute episodes. Season one focuses on Macie and her undercover muckraking mission: Operation Cinderella. The Deputy Mayor is out to bulldoze an historic hotel and Macie’s determined to bring his dirty dealings to light. When she spots his listing on a private job board for a live-in housekeeper, she has her in. Only she knows squat about cooking or cleaning. And her urban street style doesn’t exactly scream wholesome housekeeper. Fortunately, her partners in shoes, Francesca (a fashion photographer) and Stefanie (an event planner) have her covered. Fighting her feelings for her sexy subject, who may or may not be the S.O.B. she’s made him out to be, will take a bit more doing. Macie will get to return the favor in subsequent seasons when Francesca (Season two) and Stefanie (Season three) each have their turn with the shoes. Pilot Synopsis: Act I: Octogenarian screen legend, IMOGENE MURPHY is living as a recluse at The Plaza Hotel. She decides to donate her RED SHOES (vintage red velvet heels) to a celebrity charity auction. Working the event is MACIE GRAHAM (27) – multiple piercings, long black hair with blue tips and a wardrobe that lists toward leather – an A&E reporter who has her eye on Imogene’s shoes. The bidding winnows to three: Macie, FRANCESCA KHURODY-DOWNS (31), a photographer for Vogue and STEFANIE STEFANAPOULOUS (29), the event planner. Macie prevails but once the adrenalin of the competition peters, reality returns. No way will her bank balance cover the check she’s expected to cut that night. She ducks into the bar for liquid courage. She’s on her second martini when Francesca and then Stefanie walk in. The trio bonds over a shared love of Imogene Murphy films and their 6.5 shoe size. A couple cocktails in, they hatch a plan to timeshare the shoes at one-month intervals. Macie will go first, then Francesca and finally Stefanie. ACT II: The next day, Macie is hungover as hell as well as $300 short on her rent. She and her bestie, BENJI RYDELL (30), a stylist from Sydney, brainstorm possible side hustles. He sends her a link to a private job board for high-end personal assistants and they scroll through the posts – BDSM party planner, personal chef for labradoodle and live-in housekeeper for the widowed Deputy Mayor, ROSS MANNON. Besides sucking at housework, Macie doesn’t much like Ross’s stance on the Mary Washington Hotel, an iconic Beaux Arts building that housed the National Women’s Suffrage Council headquarters in the early 1900s. These days, the ground floor of the Grand Old Girl is home to BLUESTOCKING BOOKS & BAR. Running for mayor in the upcoming election, Ross is pushing to demo the hotel to make way for a new community arts center. The proposal has earned him a slew of endorsements from high-ranking officials including the sitting mayor. Just days earlier, the hotel owner inexplicably withdrew his application for protected status as an historically contributing structure. Commercial tenants have 30 days to clear out before the bulldozers show up. Ross must be behind the pulled app – it’s a no-brainer. Macie is still fuming when her managing editor, STARR (mid-30s), calls her into the office. Macie is being laid off, her A&E beat farmed out to freelancers. Macie swears she can write more than celebrity puff pieces. Starr challenges her to pitch something else – a big, edgy feature. Macie is stalling when a text comes in from Benji. The message jogs her brain back to the hotel – and Ross. She pitches a gritty insider exposé on the hotel and gets Starr to give her 30 days to break the story. The live-in gig is her way in. Only her appearance doesn’t exactly scream wholesome housekeeper. Macie sits in the stylist chair at Benji’s salon while he chops off her hair – bye-bye blue tips. Staring back at her is Martha Jane Gray (her legal name), the Nowheresville, Ohio girl she thought she’d left behind for good. ACT III: Macie, sans piercings and wearing Anne Taylor Loft separates, meets Ross for a lunch interview. The shellfish may be raw but the vibe between them sizzles like a hibachi grill. The Meet Cute is cut short by a pissy, tough talking teenager: Ross’s daughter, SAMANTHA - SAM (15). The food arrives, and Sam “accidentally” squirts Macie with ketchup – a bright red bullseye on her left boob. Macie meets up with Francesca and Stefanie at BLUESTOCKING BOOKS & BAR. She’s just finished filling them in on the shit show interview when Ross calls to apologize—and offer her the job. The trio toast the launch of Macie’s muckraking mission, which they dub “Operation Cinderella.” Cut to Imogene leafing through an old scrapbook, which triggers a flashback to THE BROWN DERBY circa 1955. Wearing the Red Shoes, a YOUNG IMOGENE sits at a booth with her MANAGER and MGM mogul LOUIS B. MAYER. A handsome Hollywood power broker walks up and interrupts their conversation – CARLOS BANKS. In the present, Macie dances around her packed-up apartment to Cardi B’s “She Bad” wearing a camisole, silk boxers – and the Red Shoes. It’s Day One of Operation Cinderella. With a little help from her friends and the shoes, she’s got this – or else. Main Character Descriptions: Macie Graham (African-American, 27), A&E reporter at ON TOP Media, a shoeaholic and black-and-white movie buff. Launching her undercover muckraking mission, “Operation Cinderella” mandates ditching her urban street style for a makeover-in-reverse that draws on her small town Ohio roots. Francesca Khurody-Downs (31, Indian Brit), a fashion photographer for Vogue. Sleekly styled, effortlessly elegant and unabashedly sex positive, she is the “Samantha” of the trio. Stefanie Stefanapoulous (29, Greek-American), owner of an event planning business. Throughout the first two seasons, Stefanie hides her plus-size glory beneath conservative clothing but in season three she dares to shine. Imogene Murphy (Irish-born, 80’s), the toast of Tinseltown in the 1950’s. In the present, she lives as a recluse at The Plaza Hotel. Donating her vintage scarlet velvet stilettos to the charity auction sets the series in motion.