Victoria Blade wrote/directed, and stars in the indie comedy pilot Vicky Wakes Up premiering at Slamdance Film Festival in 2026. The story follows Vicky, stuck in a dead-end office job, who lives an uninspired existence until she’s confronted by a mystical pop star through vivid dreams and visions. When a mysterious gift arrives, Vicky takes a step to face her fears and discover her true calling.
Joined by Nandita Joshi to discuss her work and career, Victoria is a multi-hyphenate talent who stars in Donald Glover’s Emmy-nominated Swarm opposite Billie Eilish and recurs in Emmy-winning Wandavision. She stars in the hit comedy feature Merv opposite Zooey Deschanel and she appears on The Chosen.
Music videos are so inspiring. How could I incorporate these beautifully produced music videos in an office comedy? So it started from there, and I started falling in love with this idea of this woman stuck in this office, but she has these big, vivid dreams…that was 2020. I wrote the first full pilot version of ‘Vicky Wakes Up,’ and it’s been several versions later that I then pared it down to a 10-page proof of concept.
The episode recently had its World Premiere at the Slamdance 2026 Film Festival.
Feature Image credit to Victoria Blade and Slamdance Film Festival
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Victoria Blade Website, IMDb, Instagram
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Nandita Joshi