Margo’s Got Money Troubles
OnlyFans is so ingrained in our culture now that there are TV shows about it. Elle Fanning, alongside an all-star cast including Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer and Nicole Kidman feature in this drama-comedy series about a girl whose promising future is suddenly turned upside down after unexpectedly falling pregnant. Elle’s character comes from white trash stock, as she’s the daughter of an ex-Hooters waitress (Pfeiffer) and ex-pro wrestler (Offerman).
The father of her baby is not someone she wants anything to do with, and bills are mounting up, so she turns to the one thing she thinks might turn her a quick buck, OnlyFans.
Rufi Thorpe wrote Margo’s Got Money Troubles in 2024, and the manuscript quickly got snaffled up shortly after its release. “I got my hands on [the book] and got to read it early on and was so taken with it,” Fanning told Elle (the magazine, not herself). “I could see how it could be made into just a fantastic show.”
Offerman had already read the book, so getting him to sign up to the project didn’t take any effort at all.
You could draw loose similarities to Margaret Qualley’s standout show, Maid. Both are based on books, except Maid is based on a true account and is, frankly, sorta harrowing as reality normally is. Margo, on the other hand, is a little more light-hearted while dealing with dire circumstances, and has moments where Elle’s Margo reconnects with her Mum and estranged Dad in sweet ways, as he shows her the ropes of showmanship despite being uncomfortable with her new career choice. The show is about family, and destigmatising sex work in a crushing gig economy. It’s touching and snarky.
Speaking of Qualley, Fanning had to consult her for her breastfeeding scenes. I’m kind of flat,” Fanning laughed to Elle. “We had to pad me up. I talked to [fellow actress and friend] Margaret Qualley about that because I knew she wore fake prosthetics for The Substance. I was like, ‘How does this work?’ We were tracking a lot of boob sizes for everyone.”
Fanning has a fresh new production house she runs with her sister Dakota, Lewellen Pictures, named after their family dog. This project was also supported by A24, which always knows a good production when they see one. Her ability to pull together so much talent for this project shows their dedication to making something so truly excellent, Fanning had to star in it herself.
“Some projects, when you go into an adaptation process, you see the seed of a good series that you can add to – maybe a zig here or a zag there,” says showrunner David E. Kelley. “But, with this book, the architecture was very sound. The characters were well-drawn. They were people I wanted to spend time with, and that’s why I dived in.”
“For viewers, it’s going to be very hard to say goodbye to these characters – if we do our jobs right,” Kelley says. “Because they’re going to feel like family members.”