Ever wonder how the Hilton and the Marriott families feel about Air B&B?
What would happen if the heir to a hotel chain empire gets fed up and decides to rebrand the sharing economy… as the scaring economy?
Take two minutes to find out in THE INTERNET WANTS, our webseries concept trailer. This is a new project I’m hoping to make with Postopian Pictures, the guys I made Haphead with. Whether it gets the green-light depends on views, so please share if you like it!
There’s a longer synopsis of what it’s about below.
“The internet wants what the internet wants.”
This is Steve’s mantra. It’s got him through a lot of hard times. He’s a startup guy, but none of his projects have gotten any further than the start phase: they’ve been dead in the water. Good ideas, bad timing. The demand was there, but the tech wasn’t. The tech was there, but the demand wasn’t. Stillbirths, he thinks of them.
His angel investors no longer return his calls. Maybe reception in Heaven is bad.
It’s gotten to the point where he can’t look at social media until he’s had a few stiff drinks: he needs it before hearing about his peer’s healthy bouncing baby companies — look at our cute new logo! Can you believe we’re already at the IPO stage?
One day he sees a status update he relates to: It feels like insects are eating me alive.
He Likes it — not something he does a lot of lately — and scrolls by but then he remembers who Pierce Samson is: or more importantly, that his family owns a massive international hotel chain. He scrolls back but the update is gone.
He hadn’t seen Pierce much in the decade since they graduated high school, but it was worth a shot. Steve reaches out to Pierce to go for a drink, and this is where the story begins.
Steve convinces Pierce he can generate bad PR for the new “sharing economy” competitors, which are threatening Pierce’s family’s hotel chain. But what Steve delivers is a service that gives random users access to rental units before their legitimate customers show up. Each webisode features a different stay inspired by news stories and real reviews found on the internet at apartment rental services like Air B&B. Swipe right… for murder.
But murder is only one possibility. If you could do anything you want to someone, what would you do? Would you cover every inch of their apartment in tin foil? Would you spy on their intimate moments? Would you leave out a clue for a scavenger hunt through the apartment, with a million dollars as the prize? The suspense of each episode will hinge on this variety of human desire, from kindness to killing.
And alongside that we see the story of the two that started this anti-Social network. After a lifetime of neglect Pierce is being praised by his parents for saving the family business with his PR genius. After so many failures, Steve is captivated by the interest and engagement his new creation is getting. But as the body count rises so does the tension between them… and if Pierce’s conscience does get the better of him, is it even possible to put the bot back in the bottle?