Core Narrative 6

TITLE: Silent Earth

CORRESPONDING MACRO-STORY BEAT: Soapbox Revisited

SHORT STORY SYNOPSIS/LOGLINE THAT INCLUDES A CLEAR BEGINNING, MIDDLE AND END:

The world is a quieter place. Removing a Bose from a human’s vicinity doesn't seem to solve anything; the connection remains between the humans and the gods no matter the distance, and humans sit comatose. Throughout the world non-techers are trying to find a way to break the connection. Living on the Barcelona Beach in old-Spain, Diego Goya accompanies his brother Luis in scavenging through people’s home as these people sit transfixed by their Bose. Any noise will get them caught.

At first the scavengers just got shushed—it was like talking in a church—but soon the Bose would stand and physically restrain a person interrupting the worship.

Even since the death of his father, head of the "IT Department" in this non-techer community, Diego is heavely moitored, not allowed to wander or approach a Bose, in the hopes of keeping him safe. On one trip, Diego finds a discarded Bose, seemingly broken. He doesn’t tell his brother. Diego returns to the Bose often to try and repair it. He knows about the gods, but he doesn’t really get the danger. Eventually, he gets the Bose working again, but with no one to call on the larger network, he just uses the Bose's internet connection to learn about the world. Soon, Luis finds him and pushes the Bose down an elevator shaft to save Diego from getting trapped.

Diego pleads with Luis to let me continue to learn even as Luis drags him back to his mother. Diego explains to Josefa and Luis that he has been using the Bose for months and did not have any sort of connection to a god. Josefa and Luis take the Bose to a local repair shop where they learn that, using a backdoor in the softwere implanted in the machines almost 200 years ago, Diego’s tampering had reworked the circuitry so it was no longer connected to the divine grace. Diego is allowed to continue to learn if he promises to pass on what he had learned about the backdoor.

GENRE: SciFi

PROTAGONIST: Diego Goya - a 14 year old, Spanish, non-techers. He has an affinity for machines and used to follow his father to work at his repair shop.

ANTAGONIST: Luis Goya - Diego's older brother. He wants to keep his little brother safe and refuses to let him tinker with machines, especially Bose. Overprotective and trying too hard to be his father.

MAIN SUPPORTING CHARACTERS W/ DESCRIPTIONS: Josefa Goya - Diego's mother. Supports Luis's idea of raising Diego. Depressed at loss of husband. Gains confidence back when Diego persuades her.

PRIMARY LOCATIONS WITH DESCRIPTIONS: Outside Barcelona, Spain

ADDITIVE COMPREHENSION: You learn that the robots can be hacked allowing the connection to the gods to be broken. Humanity has hope.

MEDIUM: Netflix Original Tv show

WHY IT WORKS IN THIS MEDIUM: In North America, 70% of Generation Z (those aged 14-19) watches Netflix each month, and worldwide, 25% of all Gen Z watches Netlifx. Gen Zers watch more online TV than other demographics, averaging 1 hour 11 minutes a day. Source

PLATFORM: Phone/tablet/smart tv/internet connected device

WHY IT WORKS IN THIS PLATFORM: Most everyone has a phone or at least an internet connection especially in our target demographic and spends a lot of time watching content. This will be easily accesible for all.