CAN YOU WIN BETTING ON YOURSELF?
LOGLINE:
Life in Silicon Valley is crazy – just ask Thomas, a Boodle programmer by day job and a struggling app coder/developer on his own time. But things aren’t going so great for Thomas. He’s on the verge of being evicted from his tech incubator apartment, unless he can figure out a way to make his own app – Pied Piper – financially successful. When Thomas realizes Pied Piper has the potential to be the next big thing to hit Silicon Valley, it’s not long before everyone suddenly wants a piece of it. Now Thomas is having to survive a partnership with his incubator-running landlord, high-level corporate trickery, and being pulled in different direction by a bevy of socially awkward tech titans. Oh, and in his spare time Thomas needs to get his Pied Piper app to actually work.
COMMENT SUMMARY:
Strong writing and comedic chops deliver a fresh take on modern nerd-dom. Laugh out loud funny, this is what another Mike Judge hit looks like on paper. On a map, Silicon Valley is somewhere between Northern and Southern California – but it plays out in this hilarious script as a completely different planet where incredible intelligence and stupidity collide with technology to spectacularly absurd effect. STRONG CONSIDER.
SYNOPSIS:
Silicon Valley is a place like no other. Here, tech rules all. The nonsensical is commonplace. And, everyone is obsessed with pursuing the next big thing. They don’t know what it is, or when it will be invented, but it’s sure to happen in Silicon Valley where an absurdity of venture capital money and an overabundance of snake oil salesmen converge. It’s a crazy place - populated by idiot savants and wanna-bes.
The Hacker House is a house like any other in a nondescript, suburban neighborhood with an ill-tended yard. It is an incubator where coders live for free in exchange for equity in their projects. Living there are DINESH – east Indian, rugby shirts, CALVIN – black guy, with braces, ROLAND – fat white guy, pony tail, all black everything, JIN YANG – skinny Asian, swears non-stop, THOMAS – main character, awkward, endearing and BIG HEAD – Thomas’ best friend, slacker personified.
Thomas is hard at work on a new coding application that recognizes music and can tell you whether it is licensed or not. Thomas asks his friends and housemates for some help with his code. Dinesh looks it over and is quickly impressed with Thomas’ ability to compress large file sizes into smaller file sizes while maintaining the quality of the original file. Thomas might actually be on to something. Is this the next big thing?
ERLICH – owner of the Hacker House, former coder himself - informs Thomas he must vacate the premises. Thomas is being evicted because his project - Piper Piper - isn’t yielding much success. Erlich advises Thomas to take a cue from Big Head’s application – Nip Alert: an app that locates when women’s erect nipples are in your proximity. It’s a terrible and ridiculous idea, but right in Erlich’s sophomoric wheelhouse. Could be a real moneymaker.
Erlich waxes nostalgic, explaining he knows what it is to be in Thomas’ shoes. Erlich was once a coder himself, when his company IPO’d, he cashed out and bought this house, turning it into an incubator as a way to “give back” to the community. The reality is Erlich is a lazy sponge who is playing the lottery, betting on other people’s projects to be sold for big money. Erlich can’t abide having Thomas there if his application doesn’t start demonstrating its potential for financial success. Erlich reminds Thomas he billed his Pied Piper app as the Google of music. Those are big shoes to fill. The clock is ticking for Thomas – he will need to show some success with his app or Erlich is going to kick him out.
The next morning – Big Head and Thomas commute to work at BOODLE. Inside the bus the corporate TV channel plays a message from Boodle founder - GAVIN BELSON (tech millionaire, eccentric, strange). Gavin’s topic? Making the world a better place. At Boodle it is their mission to “make happy” – the kind of phrase that sounds vague enough to be incredibly profitable. On the other hand you also get the impression that entire Silicon Valley scene is a scam – a very, very lucrative scam.
Thomas and Big Head discuss the possibility of having to move out. Thomas is on the chopping block, but Big Head is likely next. Neither of them wants to move back to the Midwest. Rent is too expensive to live here. They need a plan.
They discuss the recent IPO of Goolybib – a Boodle competitor who makes “some app, that does something”. What is clear is there’s a large amount of money floating around Silicon Valley and any idiot with an app or a half-baked idea can get make millions. The highs are high, and as Thomas is finding, the lows are lows.
On the Boodle campus we see climbing walls, paintball, fitness stations – all going unused. Engineers stand around drinking energy drinks instead. Thomas and Big Head discuss PETER GREGORY – another successful tech millionaire who’s building an island and creating his own currency. The power and money associated with success in the world of tech billionaires is grotesque and obscene. Gregory is running a contest whose winner will receive $100k stipend to drop out of college and pursue their idea full-time. Turns out Peter Gregory is speaking that evening. Big Head suggests they attend his talk in Palo Alto. Thomas considers the contest ; he believes Pied Piper is a good idea. Maybe he could win?
At the Boodle offices – Thomas takes a break from work, leaves his brightly colored, modern cubicle area. In the snack area he’s confronted by a pair of brogrammers – meathead textbook douche bag coder bros. They make fun of Thomas, asking him questions and pretending not to care about his answers. Thomas explains his dire situation at the Hacker House. He’s on the verge of eviction and desperately needs a place to live. Thomas would appreciate any help finding a new place to live. Thomas talks about his website, Pied Pie. Even though Thomas is awkward and shy, he has lot of faith in his own work. He believes his application might be huge - even though nobody seems to understand it but him. The brogrammers snicker at the name of Thomas’ site, but offer to take a look at it for him. The moment Thomas emails the link he realizes the brogrammers are just fucking with him and clearly have no intention of helping him.
That evening Big Head and Thomas attend Peter Gregory’s speaking engagement at the Four Seasons Palo Alto. During his speech Gregory references other the giants of the tech industry – Jobs, Gates, Ellison, Dell. He reveals each of those pioneers were college dropouts. Gregory encourages innovation and innovators, and rails against the classroom, asserting college strangles creativity through conformity. A man in the audience accuses Gregory of spewing ignorance and dangerous rhetoric. Gregory continues: “college only turns out unemployed debtors and the value of a higher education these days is dubious at best.” They argue back and forth – the man contends a college education is invaluable. Gregory assures him the value of snake oil is also invaluable. Fed up, the man calls Gregory a fascist and storms out of the lecture hall. Peter Gregory is a controversial figure.
After the speaking engagement – Big Head and Thomas approach Peter Gregory as he waits for his car being valeted. Gregory’s assistant – MONICA (attractive, smart) – a woman in a macho tech industry. Thomas attempts to elevator pitch Gregory on his Pied Piper idea. And that this will be his last ditch effort to sell his new idea before giving up on it and going back to college. The mere mention of college alarms Gregory – now he’s suddenly interested in Thomas. Gregory tells Thomas to do anything but go back to college – get a job at Burger King. Forage for nuts and berries in the forest. But DO NOT go to college. Gregory agrees to give Thomas until his car arrives to pitch him on Pied Piper. Thomas explains his idea – Pied Piper: a website that allows you to search whether your music infringes upon existing copyright laws. Monica smartly inserts herself suggesting the ability to search all of that music would require an unprecedented ability to process data flow. Gregory’s car arrives – a weird pre-concept, techster car. Gregory drives off. Monica offers to look at Thomas’ project – however, in a power move, she refuses to give Thomas her email address asking instead for his site’s address. Thomas, feeling blown off, reluctantly gives Monica the Pied Piper site address. He already expects nothing to come of all this.
Back at the Hacker House, later that evening – a defeated Thomas returns home to find Erlich still interviewing potential renters for his room. Erlich listens to each pitch in turn. The best one, the idea with the most potential (financial potential for Erlich) will get Thomas’ room. Erlich listens to a hapless wannabe pitch an idea for alphabit soup – a variation of traditional alphabet soup but instead of letters, the pasta is in the shape of one’s and zero’s. Erlich becomes incensed. “I need you thinking about code, not soup. This is Silicon Valley!” Dejected, Thomas retreats to his room – which won’t be his much longer unless something turns around.
Entering his room, Thomas interrupts a ridiculous discussion between Dinesh and Big Head regarding an obscure, primitive version of the trombone called the sacbut. Thomas explains meeting Peter Gregory outside his lecture and Monica’s invitation for him to send her his link. Big Head reminds everyone how attractive Monica is and laments his missed opportunity to post her to his Nip Alert app.
In an LA yoga studio, LANGDON and TANDY discuss their plight as attractive modern women in Los Angeles. There’s no money in non-profits anymore. Social media is messing everything up. All of the eligible bachelor’s in LA are old and fat, unless they’re professional athletes in which case they’re either Christians or rapists.
In the yoga studio café after class – Tandy laments having not married Tom. She could be living in Malibu and taken care of by now. On TV Tandy and Langdon see a story about the young and rich in Silicon Valley featuring wealthy bachelors who are their age - but nerds. The ladies resolve to meet “guys like that. After all, they’re only a half hour plane ride from LA.
Meanwhile, back at BOODLE – the brogrammers who made fun of Thomas look at the Pied Piper website. They quickly realize Thomas is on to something – something that has nothing to do with music, but has really important repercussions when it comes to file size, compression, and fidelity. This is something big. This could be the next big thing - but Thomas doesn’t seem to really know what he has on his hands. A crowd gathers around the brogrammers. Including JARED DUNN (young Boodle business exec) – he leans in, interesting.
Jared takes the information directly to a concerned Gavin Belson. Gavin understands the applications/implications of this new, improved compression rate – a game-changer that solves data storage and flow problems. Recognizing this is the next big thing, Gavin resolves to acquire Thomas’ Pied Piper technology.
The next day, at the Hacker House - Thomas has packed up all his stuff, he’s ready to vacate his bedroom so Erlich can give it to another app coder. Erlich continues to interview new prospect tenants to replace Thomas – in front of Thomas.
Thomas’ phone rings. He is so dejected he ignores a repeated phone call from a Boogle number –it’s probably just those brogrammer dickheads calling to make fun of him again. Finally, at rock bottom, Thomas picks up the call thinking wanting to get his humiliation over with. But no! It’s Gavin Belson – he wants to have a meeting about Pied Piper. He looked at the site and he likes it! You must come to Boodle immediately, Thomas. This is the call Thomas has been waiting for all his life. This is the next big thing and it is happening to him!
Overhearing Thomas’ phone call, Erlich inserts himself into the situation. Erlich insists that any code Thomas made while living here, entitles Erlich to 10% of its profits when sold. Meaning, by default Erlich owns 10% of Pied Piper. Ten seconds ago, Pied Piper was a shitty idea. Now it has the potential to be a multi-million dollar idea and Erlich wants in. Hoping this is the next big thing, Erlich invites himself along to the meeting.
At Boodle – Thomas sits in the waiting area, surrounded by executives and Jared. Jared tells Thomas Gavin is running a half hour late. Thomas points out Gavin is already 40 minutes late so is this half hour an additional half hour starting now? The other executives in the waiting room, repeatedly tell Thomas how excited Gavin is by the Pied Piper website. They talk up Gavin’s brilliance - any time even spent in his presence is a gift. It’s creepy and cult-y to say the least. Welcome to Silicon Valley.
Inside Gavin’s office - giant portraiture of Gavin adorns his office. It is a monument to himself. Gavin works with a designer tasked with filling a space on campus with an inspirational visual. Gavin recommends: “Get a shot of me innovating.”
Erlich and Big Head show up unannounced on the Boodle campus. Erlich is dressed in what he thinks passes for professional meeting attire – he is clearly out of his depth.
Thomas continues to wait for Gavin – this is surely a power negotiation tactic – but mostly it’s just annoying. Thomas’ phone rings - it’s Peter Gregory.
In Gavin’s office, Gavin stares out the window during a meeting with PowerAde executives. He remarks that all the Boodle employees travel in packs of 5 programmers of various sizes and ethnicities. A senior VP rushes in to inform Gavin Thomas is talking to Peter Gregory on the phone. If Gavin wants to acquire Pied Piper he’s going to have to do it now of get edged out of a lucrative deal by his biggest competition. Somehow, Thomas finds himself now locked in a bidding war for control of his app between two of tech’s titans.
Gavin finally appears in the waiting room. After introducing himself to the wrong person – he finally finding Thomas and complimenting him on his website. Jared presents terms of an agreement on Gavin’s behalf. Because Thomas created Pied Piper while a Boodle employee, the application actually belongs – in part - to Boodle. Gavin is generously willing to give Thomas a raise and a promotion.
Thomas corrects Jared – in fact, Thomas created Pied Piper months before taking his job at Boodle. Erlich inserts himself into the conversation. Thomas created Pied Piper while living in Erlich’s incubator – it is Erlich who has entitled rights to a portion of the application if it is sold.
Gavin offers Thomas $600k for Pied Piper on the spot. Gavin pries at Thomas, promising the entire weight of Boodle behind the Pied Piper project. Muscle, resources, global scale. It is a compelling offer.
Suddenly, Big Head’s phone rings. It’s Peter Gregory – how’d he even get this number? Gavin compulsively blurts out an offer of $10million for Pied Piper. Thomas relays that offer to Peter on the phone.
Peter comes back with a counter offer of one hundred thousand and a pitch for Thomas. Peter understands the potential value of Thomas’ compression algorithm, but he challenges him to greatness instead. Gregory explains - you could take ten million dollars and disappear, or you could take the $100 thousand dollars he’s offering and try to leave your mark on Silicon Valley in your own way.
Thomas offers to do the music website with Gavin and the compression software with Peter Gregory. Gavin corrects him – the only thing worth any amount of money is the compression algorithm. Gavin restates his offer of ten million dollars.
Ten million dollars? Thomas, overwhelmed, looks for a bathroom – he’s going to be sick.
Back at the Hacker House, everyone is abuzz about all these crazy and unforeseen offers on Thomas’ Pied Piper app. The housemates pepper Thomas with questions and unsolicited advice. Jared explains what Thomas’ position would be like working at Boodle. His only job would be to come up with another genius idea for Boodle to own. The agreement has a catch, though. Boodle would pay out the $10 million dollars over 30 years. If Thomas agrees, there is also a restraining order component to the agreement that basically gives Thomas the money for him to fuck off.
That night, Thomas returns to the Hacker House to find Monica waiting for him on his porch. Now in street clothes, she’s lost her business techy vibe and is much more approachable – and still attractive.
Monica came by to let Thomas know everything is going to be fine. That whatever he decides to do with Pied Piper moving forward will be fine. He has the two biggest players in Silicon Valley fighting over his idea. Thomas explains he’s good at making little, technical decisions – but has trouble with big deal life stuff. He’s not a big picture guy. Thomas inquires whether Peter Gregory sent Monica to come talk to him. She insists she came of her own accord and encourages Thomas to not pass up the opportunities that are right in front of his eyes.
The next day, on a conference call, at Gavin’s office - Thomas is still trying to make sense of the offer from Boodle. What would Thomas do all day? Gavin doesn’t care. Grow a ponytail, play D&D – it doesn’t matter. Jared explains Thomas would have complete freedom within the organization. IT’s very clear he would also be letting himself put up on a shelf.
Most people would take the money and run, but Thomas firmly believes he wants to be part of something. Perhaps if he partnered with Gavin…. the word partner makes Gavin bristle. Unaware they are off mute, Gavin complains that he’d give Thomas $30million just to never see him again – and then hangs up.
At the Four Seasons Palo Alto – Langdon and Tandy work the hotel bar scene in search of tech billionaires to lasso. Everyone here is working, on laptops, on tablets, etc. – this is not like the LA scene at all. They are out of their element. A drunk tech nerd bumbles into the girls. He introduces himself as James, a programmer whose company just secured $2 million in startup funding. Far too drunk to hold his liquor, James is escorted out of the bar by security. Tandy and Langdon are baffled. Are they in the right place? This is Palo Alto, right?
In search of real tech billionaires, Langdon and Tandy wander into the brewpub across the street. Jin Yiang and Roland sit at the bar. Jin Yiang complains about buying a celebratory beer for Thomas – “why should I pay when he just got $30 million from Boodle!” Overhearing this, Langdon becomes instantly interested in Thomas. Tandy wants to go back to LA – but Langdon informs her they are not going anywhere.
At the Hacker House at night – Thomas sits alone in the kitchen. He doesn’t know what to do. Erlich wanders into the kitchen to make himself a late night cup of noodle ramen.
Unexpectedly, Erlich is understanding of Thomas’ dilemma. Thomas doesn’t want to work for assholes, he wants to make something for himself. Strangely, Erlich gets it.
At the Boodle offices the next day - a stunned Gavin Belson hangs up the phone. Thomas has just turned down Boodle’s offer of $30 million. It makes no sense. Thomas could have earned enough money for several life times, instead his refusal has earned him a new enemy. Gavin vows to destroy Thomas.
Back at the Hacker House, that evening – Thomas, Big Head, Erlich and the rest of the hacker gang celebrate an eventful day with pizza and beer. Thomas insists their first order of business is to change the name of the company. Pied Piper is a terrible name.
Jared comes over Thomas reiterates that his decision to turn down the Boodle money is final. Jared explains how Thomas impressed him by turning down the Boodle offer out of principle – choosing instead to go his own way rather than doing the easy thing. Jared says he wants to quit Boodle and work for Thomas instead. This looks like the start of something new - something that will let Thomas finally make his mark. This is just the beginning for upstart company Pied Piper and the future looks bright.
GENERAL COMMENTS:
The best comedy is current. That is Silicon’s Valley’s principle strength: it’s timeliness. Tech is so hot right now. The writing is crisp and tight, but effortless and extremely well paced. The jokes are current and topical. Characters - quirky and deeply eccentric. Thomas’ underdog/awkwardness makes him a reluctant hero the audience can root for. This story is already funny on paper. This story is already funny. Direction and quality comedic talent will only benefit an excellent script. STRONG CONSIDER
STRENGTHS OF MATERIAL:
Mike Judge’s comedy pedigree is unparalleled. This script provides his signature blend of insight, absurdity, and sarcasm. He’s delivered on simple, unique premises before. Head-banging slackers who watch MTV. The mundane travails of a propane salesman in suburban Texas. A red stapler cradling corporate cog. His characters are always fresh and memorable. Absurdity is what he does best. This script’s take on “the modern nerd” carves out a fresh space in the Revenge of the Nerds and Big Bang Theory genre. The humor is rewarding and far more intelligent, observational and – most importantly - human. The script shines in its minutiae. Both Erlich’s ramen noodle habit and the absurdity of Thomas’ Boodle bus commute ring satisfyingly true.
WEAKNESSES OF MATERIAL:
Strong language narrows distribution potential to cable or streaming. Someone will say the premise is too narrow, “too inside baseball”, that the niche humor of Palo Alto is too obscure. Perhaps, but it’s smart and earns my laughter in a way Big Bang Theory never will. That said, any attempt to water this down for a more mass audience would be a mistake and miss the point of its current charm.
POTENTIAL FOR DEVELOPMENT/IMPROVEMENT:
Let Mike Judge do what Mike Judge does. Characters are his forte and have been the key to his success in the half-hour sitcom space. His take is unique – facilitate it. Explore the idea of condensing the cast of characters, particularly the Hacker House gang. The tighter the circle of characters, the better. This will also help differentiate characters from one another. Consider adding stronger female character representation.
