Plagued with bystander guilt from her adolescence, an FBI Agent puts her career on the line and finds her life’s purpose lobbying for robot rights alongside a humanoid—a leader among her own kind combating society’s oppression, manipulation, and fear of her species.
Simple: An FBI Agent and a humanoid defy social norms and discover an unexpected friendship while lobbying for robot rights.
Antagonistic Force:
In the modern-day global race for artificial intelligence dominance, big tech companies and governments have created cognitively enhanced, human-like robots—otherwise known as humanoids—for a variety of tasks, from mundane to complex. These robots are groomed from an early age for the tasks for which they were built: factory work, household cleaning, child and elder care, science research, and military service, to name a few. They may be constructed of metal, but they’re expected to assimilate with the humans around them, so they’re programmed with machine learning and quantum algorithms to enable flexible personal development much in the way humans evolve.
Expected to live a life similar to humans, with feelings and emotions, they have no rights and privileges. The government’s policies are loose, at best, and include an expectation of the humanoids’ decommissioning and recycling once they’re outdated. Conservatives disagree with granting human rights to humanoids, and lobby hard against their freedoms, even bullying them to keep quiet. The government knows they’re liable to see their military dominance slip if they ‘cave’ to humanoids’ needs. To them, humanoids are just a tool. Even certain humanoids don't want freedom; they're more comfortable taking orders. Beyond society at large, key antagonists include leadership (the immediate managers) of both protagonists, plus certain peers.
Title: UNALIENABLE RIGHTS
Comps:
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro - Told from the perspective of a human clone raised for organ donation and eventual death, this story is about society’s nurturing and overall oppression of clones, including their attendance at a special school run by an administration we ultimately learn feels badly about their trajectories. Themes of friendship, romance, and an obsession with humanity run rampant through this science fiction book with speculative twists, all of which are present in my book. My book is also partially told by an affected protagonist: a humanoid.
I, Robot- This movie focuses on the treatment of robots in society. Set in the near future, the robots are built by a big tech company and one of them shows compassion and an ability to connect with humans. When a horde of killer robots swarms the streets, the relationship established between a scientist, police officer, and the empathetic robot helps save the older generation bots in favor of the newer, advanced fleet. Like my book, this movie focuses on the intersection of technology, society, and human-robot friendships.
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro - This story features a robot doll, Klara, who befriends and lives with a human girl—a girl who is sick and whom Klara believes she can make well by imploring the sun for warmth and nourishment. In the end, Klara ends up in a junkyard while the girl leaves for college and goes on with her life. Like my book, Klara and the Sun has a strong focus on the relationship between a human and robot.
Logline: When two humanoids cryptically convey they are oppressed and manipulated, will an FBI Agent put her career on the line to support them and lobby for their rights as a species—rights only some of them desire?
Core Wound & Primary Conflict:
Core Wound:
FBI Agent Morgan Cooper—her father died when she was ten and always pushed her to be her best; he was CIA so she goes the FBI route, but she's not really happy with her life. She followed in his footsteps instead of creating her own path. Her boss is demeaning and she's constantly trying to prove herself among her peers, who are mostly men. She also has childhood friendship issues as a result of defending the humanoids at first encounter, which caused a rift in her friendships. She tries to act hard, but she has some self-esteem issues at her root.
Iris—she has been abused and enslaved by humans, who created her species solely with the intent to serve them. She was forced to go through assimilation training (i.e., high school) and then was sent to military camp to prepare her for a life of service. She was never given any choice about, or ownership over, her future. She was also subjected to several encounters with humans who think of her as nothing but a tool, or a toy.
Primary Conflict:
Morgan casts aside her fears of social stigmas and puts her career on the line to partner with Iris, a humanoid robot, and lobby Congress for humanoid rights and privileges. In their way stands both their leadership and peers, plus a litany of anti-supporters who seek to halt them in their tracks, citing themes of 'humanity first' and empowering humans before robots.
Other Conflict:
Inner conflict:
Morgan feels conflicted and anxious about standing up for humanoid rights because she did that once, the first day she met them, and lost all her friends as a result. She grew up with them in her schools when they were first introduced to society for assimilation purposes, but assimilation never really happened. Instead, humans heckled and bullied the bots to remain at the top of the social and ecological pecking order, and Morgan watched it happen. Now, she feels immense guilt about the way they've been treated and used. She also has a hard time opening up to her new friend, Abrik, even when he encourages her to let it all out, because she doesn't want to appear weak or incompetent. She's emotionally suppressed.
Iris feels timid and afraid to speak openly about her concerns or dreams, because if her boss finds out about it he will take corrective action against her. She also is fearful of connecting with her fellow humanoid, Eboe, even after he shares a special set of memories with her to offer her a relationship, because she knows it is forbidden. Secretly, she becomes attracted to Morgan after she offers her assistance, but Iris knows deep down they could never be together.
Secondary conflict:
As an FBI Agent, Morgan is expected not to stir the pot on sensitive matters like humanoid rights, and is certainly not expected to lead any kind of protests in their honor, lest she appear like a rebel. When her boss tells her she must choose between the bots or her job, Morgan realizes she followed in her father’s career footsteps because that’s what she thought he would want; he died when she was ten. She has to make tough choices about putting her heart and friendships over the stability of her career. She also has to stand up to top government officials, like the POTUS, and tell them how things should be.
Iris has ongoing conflict with her leadership and select peers, who do not wish to see humanoids 'freed' and don't believe they share the same rights or privileges as humans. She also speaks out to news reporters and battles her boss's brutal decommissioning of her friend, Eboe, by conniving a way to go into 'dark mode' and rallying her peers for their support of her mission: to save him. She fights back against being captured, but is put to sleep, then is saved by Morgan, goes to D.C., and is unexpectedly attacked during a protest on the National Mall. Finally, she has to make a tough decision about being with her old friend, Eboe, who is presented to her in a new light by the POTUS.
Setting:
The setting begins in June 2044 in San Francisco after an eight-point-five-magnitude earthquake strikes, destroying much of the city. The first half of the book takes place in and around the makeshift community shelter Morgan is tasked with running in the earthquake’s wake. One scene in the first half takes place in someone’s dark apartment (power and cell towers are down).
The second half of the book is told from Iris’s perspective and takes place in almost equal parts in the San Francisco area (at the military base where she lives and at a nightclub where she deftly hacks the database after her hand is forced) and in Washington, D.C. (in a hotel, at a protest on the National Mall, lobbying Congress at the U.S. Capitol, and concluding at the White House). One scene also takes place at an offsite warehouse where Iris is kidnapped and held in solitary confinement to be ‘put to sleep.’
Throughout the story, both narrators have flashbacks to prior experiences in other locations like high school, war in Europe, and the military training academy where Iris and her fellow humanoids trained for the Army.
New York Pitch Assignments - March 2022
in New York Write to Pitch 2023 and 2024
Posted
Act of Story Statement:
Plagued with bystander guilt from her adolescence, an FBI Agent puts her career on the line and finds her life’s purpose lobbying for robot rights alongside a humanoid—a leader among her own kind combating society’s oppression, manipulation, and fear of her species.
Simple: An FBI Agent and a humanoid defy social norms and discover an unexpected friendship while lobbying for robot rights.
Antagonistic Force:
In the modern-day global race for artificial intelligence dominance, big tech companies and governments have created cognitively enhanced, human-like robots—otherwise known as humanoids—for a variety of tasks, from mundane to complex. These robots are groomed from an early age for the tasks for which they were built: factory work, household cleaning, child and elder care, science research, and military service, to name a few. They may be constructed of metal, but they’re expected to assimilate with the humans around them, so they’re programmed with machine learning and quantum algorithms to enable flexible personal development much in the way humans evolve.
Expected to live a life similar to humans, with feelings and emotions, they have no rights and privileges. The government’s policies are loose, at best, and include an expectation of the humanoids’ decommissioning and recycling once they’re outdated. Conservatives disagree with granting human rights to humanoids, and lobby hard against their freedoms, even bullying them to keep quiet. The government knows they’re liable to see their military dominance slip if they ‘cave’ to humanoids’ needs. To them, humanoids are just a tool. Even certain humanoids don't want freedom; they're more comfortable taking orders. Beyond society at large, key antagonists include leadership (the immediate managers) of both protagonists, plus certain peers.
Title: UNALIENABLE RIGHTS
Comps:
Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro - Told from the perspective of a human clone raised for organ donation and eventual death, this story is about society’s nurturing and overall oppression of clones, including their attendance at a special school run by an administration we ultimately learn feels badly about their trajectories. Themes of friendship, romance, and an obsession with humanity run rampant through this science fiction book with speculative twists, all of which are present in my book. My book is also partially told by an affected protagonist: a humanoid.
I, Robot - This movie focuses on the treatment of robots in society. Set in the near future, the robots are built by a big tech company and one of them shows compassion and an ability to connect with humans. When a horde of killer robots swarms the streets, the relationship established between a scientist, police officer, and the empathetic robot helps save the older generation bots in favor of the newer, advanced fleet. Like my book, this movie focuses on the intersection of technology, society, and human-robot friendships.
Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro - This story features a robot doll, Klara, who befriends and lives with a human girl—a girl who is sick and whom Klara believes she can make well by imploring the sun for warmth and nourishment. In the end, Klara ends up in a junkyard while the girl leaves for college and goes on with her life. Like my book, Klara and the Sun has a strong focus on the relationship between a human and robot.
Logline: When two humanoids cryptically convey they are oppressed and manipulated, will an FBI Agent put her career on the line to support them and lobby for their rights as a species—rights only some of them desire?
Core Wound & Primary Conflict:
Core Wound:
Primary Conflict:
Morgan casts aside her fears of social stigmas and puts her career on the line to partner with Iris, a humanoid robot, and lobby Congress for humanoid rights and privileges. In their way stands both their leadership and peers, plus a litany of anti-supporters who seek to halt them in their tracks, citing themes of 'humanity first' and empowering humans before robots.
Other Conflict:
Inner conflict:
Morgan feels conflicted and anxious about standing up for humanoid rights because she did that once, the first day she met them, and lost all her friends as a result. She grew up with them in her schools when they were first introduced to society for assimilation purposes, but assimilation never really happened. Instead, humans heckled and bullied the bots to remain at the top of the social and ecological pecking order, and Morgan watched it happen. Now, she feels immense guilt about the way they've been treated and used. She also has a hard time opening up to her new friend, Abrik, even when he encourages her to let it all out, because she doesn't want to appear weak or incompetent. She's emotionally suppressed.
Iris feels timid and afraid to speak openly about her concerns or dreams, because if her boss finds out about it he will take corrective action against her. She also is fearful of connecting with her fellow humanoid, Eboe, even after he shares a special set of memories with her to offer her a relationship, because she knows it is forbidden. Secretly, she becomes attracted to Morgan after she offers her assistance, but Iris knows deep down they could never be together.
Secondary conflict:
As an FBI Agent, Morgan is expected not to stir the pot on sensitive matters like humanoid rights, and is certainly not expected to lead any kind of protests in their honor, lest she appear like a rebel. When her boss tells her she must choose between the bots or her job, Morgan realizes she followed in her father’s career footsteps because that’s what she thought he would want; he died when she was ten. She has to make tough choices about putting her heart and friendships over the stability of her career. She also has to stand up to top government officials, like the POTUS, and tell them how things should be.
Iris has ongoing conflict with her leadership and select peers, who do not wish to see humanoids 'freed' and don't believe they share the same rights or privileges as humans. She also speaks out to news reporters and battles her boss's brutal decommissioning of her friend, Eboe, by conniving a way to go into 'dark mode' and rallying her peers for their support of her mission: to save him. She fights back against being captured, but is put to sleep, then is saved by Morgan, goes to D.C., and is unexpectedly attacked during a protest on the National Mall. Finally, she has to make a tough decision about being with her old friend, Eboe, who is presented to her in a new light by the POTUS.
Setting:
The setting begins in June 2044 in San Francisco after an eight-point-five-magnitude earthquake strikes, destroying much of the city. The first half of the book takes place in and around the makeshift community shelter Morgan is tasked with running in the earthquake’s wake. One scene in the first half takes place in someone’s dark apartment (power and cell towers are down).
The second half of the book is told from Iris’s perspective and takes place in almost equal parts in the San Francisco area (at the military base where she lives and at a nightclub where she deftly hacks the database after her hand is forced) and in Washington, D.C. (in a hotel, at a protest on the National Mall, lobbying Congress at the U.S. Capitol, and concluding at the White House). One scene also takes place at an offsite warehouse where Iris is kidnapped and held in solitary confinement to be ‘put to sleep.’
Throughout the story, both narrators have flashbacks to prior experiences in other locations like high school, war in Europe, and the military training academy where Iris and her fellow humanoids trained for the Army.