TD

In 2026, fifteen-year-old Melody Bateman lives her life split strictly down the middle, partitioned by a highly irregular, fiercely litigated custody agreement. One week, she resides in a stark, glass Upper East Side penthouse with her mother, Evelyn Williams—now a deeply bitter high-society fixture who numbs her anger with pilates, green juice, and expensive lawsuits. The next week, Melody crosses town to a brutally minimalist, hyper-sanitized Tribeca loft.This is the domain of her father, Patrick Bateman.Now in his mid-60s, Patrick is a ghost of Wall Street past. He has survived the decades by retreating behind massive nondisclosure agreements, ironclad legal shielding, and an ever-evolving mask of corporate sanity. To the public, they are a divorced, elite Manhattan family. To Melody, life is a competitive audition. Both parents view her not as a child, but as a ultimate status symbol to manipulate, brand, and control.The Inciting IncidentThe custody split is a toxic psychological chess match. At Evelyn’s, Melody is pushed to be the ultimate modern alpha girl at the Spence School—flawless, digital, and dripping in niche luxury perfumes. At Patrick’s, she is subjected to a terrifyingly precise domestic regimen. Patrick demands total, clinical perfection: her posture, her tennis swing, her dietary macros, and her flawless knowledge of luxury branding are constantly critiqued.