P-Gen

My first ten pages are attached in PDF format.

P-Gen series bible

Logline: In an overpopulated alt present where euthanizing the elderly is presented as one aspect of a perfect world, a group of idealistic young adults risk their lives by resisting the propaganda to protect their beloved grandparents.

Genre and format: P-Gen is a sci-fi dystopian series 30 min format. Series 1 will have 10-12 episodes.

It is in the vein of Humans with the pacing of Homecoming.

Inspiration and themes

It was inspired by the British government’s handling of care homes during the first Covid 19 lockdown in 2020. Elderly people were sent back to care homes after being in hospital without being tested for Covid. Moreover, while the government were spouting ‘Save our NHS’, care homes did not receive the same consideration and were struggling to access PPE. As a consequence, there were many preventable deaths in care homes. Whether intentional or not, it felt like there was a ‘conspiracy’ to rid the country of the burden of old people.

P-Gen’s story arc will explore themes that arose out of this time including the value of all life and standing up against injustice. In the actions of the young adults seeking to protect the older generation, we will see the determination to pursue what’s right as opposed to what’s expedient. In the way that propaganda is used in the fictional world, where good values of protecting the environment are thrown into the mix with elderly eugenics, we will see the importance of knowing how to separate truth from lies.

Series concept

Dominic’s grandfather is considered dispensable because he has dementia and is being prepped for euthanasia in a ‘Hero Home’, but Dominic wants to protect his freedom.

In an alternative present, the P-Gen (or perfect generation) programme has been implemented in many nations. Its values include populist ideas such as peace and environmentalism but also involves a world where elderly people are seen as unproductive, and ‘freely-chosen’ universal euthanasia is deemed the kindest solution. A group of idealistic and seemingly disconnected young people from around the world form a network to resist this ideological onslaught and to protect their beloved grandparents. In doing so, they risk their jobs, their reputation and even their lives.

Our five protagonists - Jung from China, Mahesh from India, Dominic from the USA, Peter from Britain and Susie from Australia - battle against political and ideological forces that have built up a groundswell of support over the years. These forces are led by American thoughtleader and politician, Gerard Hoffmann, who is key to the development of the P-Gen agenda. Hoffmann’s agenda is funded by governments and big business, so he’ll go to any extent to blackmail and intimidate to achieve his moneymaking ends.

World building

From age 80 old people are not allowed to live with their relatives anymore. They are moved into Hero Homes where they are given therapy to encourage them to freely accept the P-Gen agenda. The euphemistic term is ‘life prepping’ rather than ‘forced euthanasia’, It is framed as a free decision, but the reality is that is a form of brainwashing – encouraging the older generation to focus on the benefits of giving. For example, free university places are being funded by the savings being made on old people. Those who decide not to euthanise are made to feel guilty and selfish that they haven’t sacrificed for the next generation. And eventually, within five years if they have not made the decision for themselves the decision will be made for them.

Our story is set in the following five nations (although filming could potentially be done in one place):

• The USA
• China
• India
• Britain
• Australia

Marketability

The premise of the story with the idea of elderly people being considered dispensable in a way that is considered right by a significant proportion of the world’s population is unique. There are some similarities to the TV series Logan’s Run, but that is over forty years’ old and P-Gen’s concept is a fresh approach. The fact that it is set in different countries shows the global impact of the agenda. It could be marketed towards the audience of other dystopian dramas like The Handmaid’s Tale, Brave New World or Humans. It would also be of interest to people who have a passion for social justice issues, and those with an interest in political sciences or recent history. They will watch it because they are hungry for stories and characters that explore the themes covered in a fresh way.

Pilot synopsis

In the pilot episode, Dominic attempts to rescue his grandfather, who is a dementia patient, from one of the so-called Hero Homes and is arrested. His grandfather has dementia. Initially, Dominic’s grandfather denies knowledge of Dominic who is held at the police station overnight. The following morning, he is lucid and tells the police that he colluded with Dominic to be taken away from the Hero Home. Subsequently, Dominic is released and his grandfather is taken back to the Hero Home, only to slip out of awareness. Fearful of being found out, Dominic makes his escape.

In the meantime, Jung is attending an international conference in China. Hoffmann unveils his P-Gen agenda for the first time in a public context, and Jung is horrified, but chickens out of confronting Hoffmann in the boardroom with a handful of other journalists. At a conference party, she meets Hayma, a Burmese American UN special envoy, who takes her into her trust and reveals to her about a secret network called the Bright Web, which can be used as a way of fighting against this agenda in a covert way.

In India, Mahesh also learns about the reality of the agenda. Wanting to be of help in the resisting this, he signs up to a programme called Bright Young Minds ostensibly to be part of a steering group to advance the P-Gen forward in India, but really to develop his knowledge to figure out how to undermine it.

Series 1 synopsis beyond pilot

Mahesh meets Hayma at the Bright Young Minds Conference in Delhi. Hayma is looking for new recruits to the elderly rights campaign and identifies Mahesh as being someone suitable. She asks him to examine the Bright Web software and consider how the system can be more effective.

In the meantime, Dominic places a remote-controlled camera outside his grandad’s Hero Home in a tree using drone technology to gather evidence about the P Gen agenda to expose to the rest of the world. He begins to capture some moments such as the staff mocking the ‘Heroes’ using a different IP address to avoid detection. However, the security team at the home are suspicious about some new micro signals in the location and start tracking down the location of the transmission. Using thermo detectors, Dominic spots signs that he is being tracked down. Before they trace him, he manages to turn off his devices, store the data and remove himself from the key location where he’s hiding.

On one social media site, Dominic sees some photos of Mahesh posting photos of his grandad. He sees genuine love between him and his grandad giving Dominic confidence to make initial contact with him. Dominic asks Mahesh about a secure storage place and Mahesh points him towards some friends who have some cloud storage in an Indian village. In the meantime, Mahesh begins developing the Bright Web software so that it can have a broader reach and enable targeted and cohesive action from a broadening network of P Gen opponents. Off the back of Dominic’s spying on the activities of his grandad’s Hero Home, Hoffmann begins to develop a system of intimidation and infiltration to ascertain who his opponents are and to crack down on them.

Hoffmann is backed into a corner by a large pharma company who are funding the elderly euthanasia drugs (pressured by key government figures wanting to get their budgets lined up by a certain date). They accuse him of prevaricating over the rollout of the next stage of P Gen to speed up elderly euthanising. Hoffmann’s wife comes up with an idea, which he implements, of using Hero Parades to honour the elderly heroes after they die with the aim of pushing the propaganda forward.

In Australia, Susie’s dad finds out about the Hero Parades and starts dreaming of being a hero. He feels like he’s a lost cause, having missed out on the opportunity to be an engaged and loving father when his children were younger, and believes that becoming a hero will redeem him. He turns himself into a Hero Home in a different town to the one where Susie works and dies under the P Gen programme. When Susie finds this out, she is saddened and enraged. In the meantime, her Hero Home receive lots of thank you cards from children and young people around the country to say thank you for the support for the younger generation. These cards are fake thankyous produced by Hoffmann’s team.

In the UK, Peter’s grandparents, Benita and Leroy, are in their nineties now but still sprightly. As young people they suffered from the injustices brought about by the Windrush Scandal and are stirred by the P Gen propaganda into thinking that becoming a Hero will make a difference to their sense of self-worth. Peter finds out that they are wanting to turn themselves in to a Hero Home and berates them passionately for thinking this way. To make him happy, they decide to honour his wishes to stay alive. A few days after their decision, while walking in a park, they are harassed and spat upon by a group of children and teenagers wearing ‘Be a Hero’ badges. Benita and Leroy are humiliated, believing that this happened because they didn’t turn themselves in. They keep the park incident hidden from Peter, but he discovers what happened anyway as a sympathetic observer posts a video on social media depicting the incident.

Working undercover as an investigator and using sources from the Bright Web, with collated information from around the world including material from Mahesh and Dominic, Jung produces a documentary (under an assumed name) exposing Hoffman’s money grabbing motives. This documentary goes viral and people around the world start rising up in resistance to Hoffmann. Knowing he’s been exposed, Hoffmann dithers around trying to defend himself. At this point, it is revealed to the audience that Hoffmann has been keeping his own elderly parents in a safe place to protect them. Despite the pathos of this situation, Hoffmann is so crushed by his humiliation that he commits suicide. P Gen is not completely defeated, as there are others to take on the banner, but has suffered a significant setback. This leaves room for future series.