Happening Right Now: A fugitive group of seven exceptional twenty-year-olds, covertly bioengineered with evolved abilities by rogue extraterrestrials, must find a way to inspire humankind to begin living sustainably with Earth before the Alliance of Worlds’ countdown to humanity’s annihilation runs out.
(Pitch Deck available)

Comps: This is an ensemble-driven sci-fi with government intrigue similar to STRANGER THINGS, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, ALPHAS and THE TOMORROW PEOPLE.

Semifinalist: Stage 32’s 7th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Screenwriting Competition 2023.

SYNOPSIS:

Imagine, days after submitting an Ancestry DNA Test, an intense stranger tracks you down, urgently reveals you’re a hybrid-human, like them, and you’ve got to run, NOW! What would you do?

PILOT EPISODE SYNOPSIS -

Present Day: KATE EKLUND, 20, is the deep, dark and impatient leader of the Solarpunks. She’s an off-the-charts brilliant clean-energy designer. At 18 Kate became NASA’s youngest astronaut recruit ever. But a routine DNA test blew-up her life by revealing she’s a hybrid-human. On the run from NSA black-hat hard-ass, Agent Thorpe, Kate tracked down 5 more hybrid-humans, including Agent Thorpe’s own adopted son, Michael, who sacrificed himself so Kate could lead the Solarpunks to safety and search for who, or what, created them and why?

The pilot episode opens on BEN ROSHAN. He’s 20, adopted, naive yet cocky, and incredibly inventive. Ben can re-engineer just about anything into something new & marvelous. He has no idea the Ancestry DNA test he submitted, hoping to find his birth-parents, has alerted the Solarpunks as well as their nemesis, Agent Thorpe.

The Solarpunks rescue Ben from Thorpe. Indignant, and on the run with the Solarpunks, Ben quickly sees how each of them has an evolved ability which seems nearly super-human. In this same moment, the Solarpunks receive and decode an interstellar message directing them to meet the A.I. android sent to guide them.

Thorpe catches up again and nearly destroys the A.I. android as it arrives. Kate senses it's possible Michael is alive and helping Thorpe? The Solarpunks escape with the damaged android, but the only way to rescue the sentient A.I. is for Kate to allow the A.I. to upload into her brain. The process nearly kills her and won't last long before it kills them both.

The A.I. voice in Kate’s mind names herself, "Hope". Hope reveals the countdown to humanity’s annihilation has been initiated by the Alliance of Worlds who are intent on protecting Earth from humankind. Hope explains, the Solarpunks were merely infants, secretly bioengineered by the Delphinians, humanity's distant ancestors, and meant to grow up together, working to find ways to guide and inspire humankind to live sustainably with Earth, before it’s too late. Tragically, the Alliance of Worlds uncovered the Delphinian plan and the infants were abandoned.

With Kate's and Hope's time together running out, the Solarpunks track down the location of the long lost Delphinian Medical ship. Seized by the Air Force, it’s being held on the base where Ben’s Dad is stationed. This is their only chance to safely extract Hope from Kate's mind. Kate, Hope and Ben manage to sneak onto the base, locate the secret hanger, but they find the ship in rough shape. Inside they discover several systems have been stripped. The power core is drained. Three of the four Med-Pods are missing. Kate/Hope and Ben manage to restore power to the remaining Med-Pod. As the extraction begins, they’re discovered by Air Base Security led by Agent Thorpe. The hanger is surrounded. Air Base Commander, General Schafer, arrives, forces Thorpe to stand down, then orders Ben and Kate out of the ship. Air Base Security prepares to storm the hangar.

Kate survives Hope’s transfer into the ship’s Neural Network but it appears the Med Pod failed to upload Hope’s A.I. into the ship’s Neural Network.

Hope emerges as the ship’s new A.I. She takes control of the ship and prepares to escape with Kate and Ben. At this exact moment, a menacing Alliance Guard Ship arrives. Kate, Hope, and Ben are certain they’re dead.

The Guard Ship has been ordered to escort Hope, and the long lost Delphinian ship, back to Delphin to face the Alliance of Worlds, or else be destroyed. Hope surrenders to the Guard Ship. But first she flies Kate and Ben away to safety, then says, “Your mission is all that matters. Goodbye.”

Kate vows to find a way to rescue Hope. Meanwhile, together, the Solarpunks get to work to find ways of inspiring people to become the change the world needs.

Future Episodes - Kate leads the Solarpunks to work covertly with General Schafer infiltrating military bases around the world to steal components from the six other recovered Delphinian ships to aid in their primary mission but to also assemble their own interstellar ship so they might rescue AI Hope from the Alliance of Worlds.

2025 - On Coverfly's RED LIST for being in the Top 3% of all Sci-Fi scripts

Semifinalist, Stage 32’s 7th Annual Sci-Fi/Fantasy Screenwriting Competition 2023

Semifinalist, ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Competition 2021

Semifinalist, 2023 ScreenCraft Virtual Pitch Competition

Why Now - Solarpunks is meant to be an exciting and imaginative call-to-action to Generation Z, (13 - 28), who are smart, motivated by hope, and taking positive action to unite humanity, in all it’s diversity, into one community devoted to building a sustainable future. Win or lose, the Solarpunks are here to inspire and demonstrate, in exciting and dramatic ways, that if we work together, we can build a sustainable future, and save ourselves.

Why Me - Growing-up just outside of Philadelphia, I needed my wild imagination to create fun & mayhem. It got me into a lot of trouble though, like that time, when I was 10 and I stole my parents' car to take my little sister for ice-cream. (we made it as far as the neighbor’s front yard). In fact, my life’s misadventures, and years of being told what’s out of my reach, led me to discover my brand: Hope-Inspiring Dramedies for series and features about underdogs who defy expectations to become who they were always meant to be. Check out my Stage 32 Bio for more.

2021 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Competition Judge's Feedback -

"Overall, this was a great read, and I found it engaging and creative throughout. You have done a good job establishing a lighthearted and upbeat tone that will appeal to a wide age range of viewers and will be highly marketable. You also have a clear and distinct voice, and while reminiscent of other popular sci-fi stories, "Solarpunks" felt unique and interesting."

"On a deeper level, the real strength of this script is felt in the relationships between the characters, and the dialogue. The dialogue felt realistic throughout, and appropriate to the ages of the characters. It was also well balanced with moments of humor and slang juxtaposed with moments of deeper feeling and true emotion between the characters."