Revenge of the Nerds
We live in “the age of the nerd”.
From Elon to Zuck, nerds are running the world. Whilst they may not be universally loved, the word ‘nerd’ is not the insult it once was. It’s now a badge of honour.
And in this new technological age, overshadowed by impending climate challenges, nerds may also be our greatest hope of saving the planet.
The show celebrates all things nerdy - from lab coats to glasses to bald heads - and allows us to see what makes theses strange creatures tick, and to see if they can rise to the challenge of saving us and the world.
Enter Anna…
Anna is not a nerd. But as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer, she has the job of communicating the nerds’ world-changing story to the wider public.
Glamorous and stylish, she is a cat amongst these geeky pigeons, and as such her presence often causes disruption and mayhem.
But she may be just what the nerds need to get themselves out of their shells and into the wider world.
“Anna is a curveball.”
DOUG, Chief Technology Officer
A GLOBAL STORY
Though the story is rooted in Britain, it has global proportions. It begins in a small town near Oxford where a group of nerds - made up of chemists and engineers - have created a sustainable fuel made from air and water that runs in any existing engine, replacing fossil fuel like for like. Put simply, their invention could save the world.
Battling against the huge vested interests of the fossil fuel industry, compounded by a political climate which is increasingly hostile to fighting climate change, they must raise investment to keep afloat.
The show follows the day-to-day struggles and antics of trying to save the world. While the show revolves around Zero’s workplace, across the course of a series we would also spend time with the characters in their London and LA offices, as well as on-site visits to random places to test their fuel.
STORIES
One of the ingenious things about the set up of the show is that its storylines can make everyday, petty workplace antics and tensions, typical of The Office operate both on the localised level and the global level. In other words, you get the best of both worlds - fun, comedic interpersonal office shenanigans but nested in a story where the stakes are ultimately very high, and serious.
Whether it's writing a letter to the King, receiving a visit from Paddy’s friends in Formula One, or attempting to train Billie the Dog to become a pilot, there are a huge amount of character-led storylines that drive the show.
SERIES ARC
At the current time, despite the potentially world changing nature of their eFuel, Zero are encountering challenges in terms of funding. This is actually a perfect opportunity for the docuseries, as it has the potential to chart their rise from zeros to heroes.
The perfect model for this is Welcome to Wrexham, which followed the rise of the club from a lowly league, up the ranks to their recent success.
“There is no reason why this technology cannot completely replace the fossil fuel industry.”
MATT, Corporate Development Officer
Why now?
Why now?
In a summer of sweltering heat, where climate change lurks in the background of the headlines - and in a period when geopolitics, and even wars, are deeply intertwined with the battle for oil [Venezula, Iran, Strait of Hormuz], this story is incredibly current. And the issues it encompasses aren’t going away any time soon.
While the actual experience of watching the show is light, entertaining and comedic, underneath the surface are deep, serious and global issues.
THE CHARACTERS
The cast of characters runs the full gamut of nerdism - from the Oxford type super-boffins to straight-talking engineers. Though this is primarily a British story, and there are brilliant British characters, there is also an ensemble of international characters - coming from countries as diverse as Peru, Russia, Poland and Iran.
THE STAKES
The show operates at two levels. There are the day-to-day stakes of whether the company can keep its dreams of saving the world alive by bringing in enough investment to halt the tide of redundancies which has squeezed the company over the last year. To do that need to make their fuel work, in different settings and conditions, and start to do that at scale.
On a broader level, these day-to-day business challenges are nested in much bigger stakes - the attempt to save the world. In a world that is heating up, the stakes couldn't be bigger.
SIMILAR SHOWS
NERDS: Saving the World is a fresh, original take on eco-themed docs, but it actually has much more in common with entertaining, humorous story led docs such as Welcome to Wrexham and Clarkson’s Farm.
THE FORMAT
While this show tells the unique story of how Zero may (or may not) save the world with their unique sustainable fuel, they are obviously one of many groups of nerds across the globe who are finding solutions to change the world for the better.
As such, the NERDS: Saving the World format is one that can be applied to many similar but distinct stories from different countries, delivered with the same humour and relatability that this story is told with.
Beyond formatting the show, we see huge potential to create and run conferences, podcasts, lectures and talks all under the NERDS: Saving the World brand.
