Before Zoom, before TikTok, and way before OnlyFans…there was Babes4U.
The dramatic comedy series is based on the true story of how the internet was pioneered by babes in fishnets, not bros in hoodies.
It’s 1995: Silicon Alley is spreading the gospel of NYC’s rough, gritty, and disruptive impact on the tech world. NYU graduate student Madeleine Altmann and her wild crew at Babes4U are building the first-ever live streaming peep show on the internet – a playful and bold business endeavor that paved the way for the tech innovations we rely on today, from Amazon to Zoom.
When Madeleine, a fixture of the San Francisco rave scene, has her notoriously sexy and experimental TV show shut down, she accepts an invitation to NYU’s cutting-edge computer program run by fiery 70-year-old Red Burns. Madeleine struggles to succeed within the rigid pillars of NYU’s academia. Walking through Times Square, she has a eureka moment: put the strippers online and let them control the action and profits! We follow her unflappable enthusiasm and wild adventures as she builds Babes4U. A staff shortage at Babes4U pushes Madeleine into stripping online and the personal and professional challenges skyrocket. When she falls in love (in the real world), she struggles to reconcile her heart’s desires with her growing addiction to performing online.
Living a secret double life as a graduate student by day and sex entrepreneur by night, Madeleine lives in constant fear of being discovered by her mentor turn motherly nemesis Red, whose approval she secretly craves. Having built her innovative program in a male-dominated computer world, Red’s mission is to send female tech entrepreneurs on their maiden voyages into cyberspace. But a sex business, no matter how cutting edge, presents a major threat to her funding… and her values. Both women must resolve their moral and generational conflicts around feminism and sexuality and come to terms with their love/hate relationship or risk losing all they have worked so hard to achieve.
When business finally booms, Madeleine and her entourage are launched into the high-stakes world of big tech, hot sex, and fast money. Everything comes to a head when the explosion of media attention gets too big to hide. With publicity comes pressure from school, social scrutiny, and the corrupt forces of the sex industry.
The trials and tribulations of Babes4U serves up a parade of diverse babes, quirky programmers, and curious clients crossing paths and wires to comical and sometimes catastrophic effects. Seeing the world through their eyes — and 90’s screens — shows us how these women tapped into our primal urge to connect and be seen, and pushed the technological breakthroughs and sexual empowerment we take for granted today.