‘Margo’s Got Money Troubles’ created a real OnlyFans account for investigation

SPOILER ALERT: This post contains details of Episode 6 of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” now streaming on Apple TV.

Margo has an OnlyFans account – and that was always the plan.

While the title character Margo (Elle Fanning) from the David E. Kelley-created drama series “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” started an OnlyFans when she ran out of options to make money as a single mother, her creator went about the process in reverse.

Rufi Thorpe, who wrote the 2024 novel of the same name from which the Apple TV show was adapted, tells Variety that she “started with the idea of ​​wanting to write about a mother who was a sex worker.” Thorpe says she was drawn to exploring the stigma surrounding sex work and motherhood, which have haunted Margo throughout the season and come to a head in episode 6, when her real identity is doxxed online. One by one, viewers saw Margo’s friends and family disappointed by her choices, whether it be her mothering techniques or her decision to start posting on OnlyFans, the subscription-based platform that allows creators to monetize their work directly from fans through tips and pay-per-view content, most of which is typically explicit in nature.

Writing about an OnlyFans creator was an idea Thorpe had for years, but when the time came to write the novel, there was one major problem: OnlyFans is a confusing, complex website, and one that Thorpe needed prior knowledge to fully understand. Ultimately, she created a client account for research purposes, a move that Eva Anderson, an executive producer of “Margo’s Got Money Troubles,” would repeat during the series’ development.

Thorpe had a list of creators she had followed while writing the book, a mix of “cool, funny girls, pregnant women, realistic OnlyFans models” that she passed on to Anderson and the show’s other writers, who followed the creators on their newly created accounts.

“We would have these circular conversations,” says Anderson, explaining that the writers’ room was initially reluctant to source specific photos or references and did not want to cross boundaries. “There was a day where we all said, ‘This is getting ridiculous. We’re all going to put the pictures in [group] chat so we don’t have to do this. ”

All of the inspirations found their way to Anderson’s list of followed accounts. Later, when they started shooting, she was able to show Fanning a kind of mood board. Fanning, who immediately reviewed the accounts, told Anderson, “Okay, I understand this on a level I didn’t understand before.”

Margo’s brand of OnlyFans content (think alien cosplay, neon paint, comparing penis photos to different Pokémon) might not be what comes to mind when you typically think of the website. While there are plenty of creators without gimmicks – “classic” as Thorpe calls them – those with a unique style stood out to the writer from the sea of ​​risqué bedroom pictures.

Certain creators such as TooTurntTony, BigHonkinCaboose and HarperTheFox helped Thorpe realize that there were ways to integrate humor and personality into the profession. “Part of what makes OnlyFans sexy is when it feels authentic and real, as opposed to hyper-produced pornography that makes it feel less intimate,” says Thorpe, who is also executive producer of the show. “That humor is something that makes a girl sexy to a guy was definitely part of what I thought.”

Likewise, there were elements of videos that Anderson and the writing team drew inspiration from, whether it was someone’s mannerisms, costumes, or language.

“Something we realized once we got into creating the series is that the average Apple TV audience is much older than the average person who picks up Rufi’s book,” says Anderson. While Thorpe’s readership tended to cater to a younger demographic (those who were aware of OnlyFans and who had the basic understanding of how it worked), the show had to take its viewers through the site ‘step by step’, similar to the way Margo slowly begins to learn the ins and outs of the platform.

The production team has brought in an OnlyFans creator named HankSirStinki to serve as a consultant; alerting production to the language Margo might not use when captioning a promotional Instagram post and advising them at various points in the story how many followers she would have and how much money she would realistically make.

To make the show even more accurate, the OnlyFans interface was graphically recreated for on-screen use, right down to the chat boxes Margo opens when she DMs creators, looking for tips on how to grow her fanbase.

“The OnlyFans search algorithm is bizarre. It’s really hard to find an account unless you know the exact account name,” says Thorpe. “If you want to be found within the OnlyFans ecosystem, the easiest way to do that is to partner with someone so that their followers are exposed to you, and you and them are exposed to your followers.”

“Working together is necessary for Margo to move forward, but Rose [Lindsey Normington] and KC [Rico Nasty] are so important to her as friends, both creatively and as people she just needs in the world,” Anderson adds of the creators Margo is starting to make content with. “It could just be about capitalism, but ultimately it’s about community and friendship and making collective art.”

Understandably, the creators of OnlyFans, which Thorpe contacted via social media while writing, were unresponsive, closed off to requests from strangers wanting to talk. Eventually, Thorpe found a way to reach out through her own OnlyFans account: “I would send a $50 tip and say, ‘Hey, I’m a novelist. These are the books I’ve published. I’m writing a book about a character who starts an OnlyFans. I want to portray sex work as work. The book has no moral agenda. I can’t make it good unless the research is good. And I can’t do good research unless some of you talk to me. Please let me interview. I’ll pay. you per question.”

Thorpe’s real-life method was written into the show by Anderson, with Margo sending the models a $50 tip with her questions. It wasn’t always the smoothest process, Thorpe recalls. He said: ‘A lot of girls have the chat function automated so that everything you send they say, ‘Ooh, I’m thinking of you.’ And then it just is [explicit] photos. I would have to say, “No, seriously, I want to talk to you.”

The questions Thorpe asked the creators varied depending on what stage of her writing process she was at. Most focused on the elements of the website that she could not answer herself.

“Say I’m looking at a creator’s account, I can’t see what other people are saying,” says Thorpe. “A big part of what I asked was, ‘What do guys call their profiles? What’s their handle? What photos do they use? How do you get your money out? What does your screen look like when you look at your earnings?'”

While creators were less likely to open up about the emotional or psychological ramifications of doing OnlyFans, Thorpe read several think pieces written by models who had been doxxed or stalked, along with the messages of hate they received.

“There’s a reason why I decided to write and keep the framework of just starting out, because I knew I could think in that way authentically,” says Thorpe, who feels she wouldn’t have the personal experience to portray someone who has been in the industry for years.

The fact that Margo was also a writer was a way for Thorpe to connect with her character. She has written Margo’s story with the same careful and detail-oriented consideration she set out to achieve, right down to the “HungryGhost” username the young mother chooses.

“There’s a way in which Margo looks at the world and feels somewhat separate from it, which is part of her identity as a writer, but also as a person. It made sense to me that she would think of herself as an alien visiting this beautiful country,” says Thorpe. Her complicated relationship with her parents and the fact that she is an only child contributes to this, as does the fact that she is becoming a mother for the first time. “All these things made the alien make sense to Margo from the very beginning, but maybe [her baby] Bodhi amplified that feeling a little, and it made sense that she leaned into it.

As episode 6 ends with Margo being challenged for custody, it becomes clear to viewers the consequences a controversial job like OnlyFans can have. Despite wanting to portray the negative side of the platform, both Thorpe and Anderson intended for Margo’s story not to be “misery porn,” as Anderson puts it.

“We didn’t want to judge Margo,” says Anderson. “That’s up to the assholes in the book and the show.”