Pantheon

Some notes on the first rough cut:
Title card at end is rough, but like the tagline.
Length is 4 minutes, could cut scenes.

PANTHEON

BESIEGED

12.11

OPEN ON A DARK ROOM. WE HEAR A SMARTPHONE RING. THE PHONE SCREEN GLOWS AND LIGHTS UP. WE SEE THAT IT’S ON A NIGHTSTAND. CUT TO A CLOSE UP, IT SAYS 5:43 AM. A HAND REACHES OUT AND FUMBLES FOR THE SPEAKER BUTTON, THE GUY IN BED, OUR HERO, RANDY, ANSWERS GROGGILY.

RANDY: Hello?

HIS NERVOUS CO-WORKER, STEVE, RESPONDS.

STEVE: Oh, Randy, oh hey you’re up. Cool, cool. Not sure if you’re headed to work yet, but need a super quickie fave.

RANDY: Steve?

STEVE: Yeah, hey, so we just heard that the client wants to make a few changes to the site pre today’s launch. I’m here at your computer…

OVER THE SPEAKER WE HEAR FRANTIC TYPING ON A KEYBOARD. RANDY QUICKLY POPS OUT OF BED TO GET READY. STEVE CONTINUES.

STEVE: …I’m trying to bring up Dreamweaver or somethin’ to fix it   (I’ve got Code for dummies). Maybe you could just talk me through it?

FROM HERE WE CUT TO A MONTAGE OF SCENES FROM RANDY’S DAY. DIFFERENT COWORKERS ASK HIM FOR FAVORS, ALL OF WHICH ARE SOMEWHAT UNINFORMED ON.

CUT TO RANDY Dropping back by his chair, about to sit down. A CO-WORKER, TIM, RUNS UP A BIT PANICKED.

TIM: Dude, dude, dude, dude. our wine client’s site is down again. Can you look into that first thing.

CUT TO THE OFFICE KITCHEN. RANDY IS POURING A CUP OF COFFEE. HE TAKES A BITE OF A DONUT RIGHT AS HIS COWORKER, DAWN, RUNS UP.

DAWN: Randy, I was just talking to my client. They think their site needs more UX. Oh, and I think they mentioned more UI too. You know, all that good stuff.

HE HOLDS UP A FINGER, AS HE IS CHEWING, BUT SHE RUNS OFF. TIM FROM EARLIER SHOW UP, AND GIVES HIM TWO THUMBS UP.

TIM: We are back up!

TIM HOLDS OUT HIS FIST. HE IS LEFT HANGING ON THE CUT.

CUT TO THE MEN’S BATHROOM. RANDY IS AT THE SINK, HIS CO-WORKER CRAIG, WALKS UP. HE IS ZIPPING HIS FLY AS HE ADDRESSES RANDY.

CRAIG: Rand-o, ‘sup, my man? You’re gonna love this…Just signed a new client. it’s Tinder meets Uber meets Periscope, except for pets. They just got funding and need a site stat.

CRAIG SLAPS HIM ON THE BACK WITH HIS UNWASHED HAND. BUT BEFORE RANDY CAN ANSWER TIM, FROM EARLIER, YELLS OUT FROM INSIDE A STALL.

TIM: Oh, Randy cool, I was just now emailing you, sites down again.

SFX: TOILET FLUSH

CUT TO RANDY BACK IN THE KITCHEN, HE’S EATING A BURGER AND FRIES. ONCE AGAIN, JUST AS HE TAKES A BITE ANOTHER COWORKER, ERIC, COMES UP AND ASKS HIM A FAVOR.

KEVIN: Randy, so I’m headed out with the CEO from Flipper to celebrate the site launch. He just has one small tweak, wants it to be “mobile first.”

HE PATS HIM ON THE BACK, AND TAKES ONE OF HIS FRIES AND WALKS AWAY. AGAIN BEFORE HE CAN RESPOND.

CUT TO RANDY PACKING UP FOR THE NIGHT. AS HE’S ABOUT TO LEAVE HIS BOSS, KEVIN, POPS HIS HEAD INTO HIS CUBE.

ERIC: Hey Randy, so the site seems to be loading slow on the CEO’s computer. Not his work computer, but his home computer. Could you look into that?

CUT TO RANDY SEATED BACK AT HIS DESK. HE GETS A CALL, IT’S STEVE FROM EARLIER. HE HITS SPEAKER.

STEVE: Hey man, Steve again. So just talked to the client, turns out we can’t move the launch date…

AS HE LISTENS TIM WALKS UP. HE DOESN’T WANT TO INTERRUPT SO HE GRABS A POST-IT, JOTS SOMETHING DOWN AND HANDS IT TO HIM. RANDY OPENS IT. IT’S AN ARROW POINTING TO THE RIGHT. HE TURNS IT UP AND DOWN, NOT SURE IF TIM IS INDICATING THAT THE SITE IS DOWN OR BACK UP.

STEVE: …Can you just put filler content in there? Just make sure it’s responsible design though, and none of that latin or greek copy.

DEFEATED, RANDY DROPS HIS HEAD ONTO HIS DESK WITH A THUD.

GRAPHIC LIGHTENING BOLT FLASH TRANSITIONS TO TEXT AND LOGO ON BLACK:

LOGO: Pantheon’s got your back.

CUT BACK TO BATHROOM STALL, AN UNSUSPECTING OFFICE WORKER WALKS IN, TIM, STILL HARD AT WORK, YELLS OUT FORM THE STALL

TIM: YEEEES!!!! IT’S UP. IT’S BACK UP!!!

PANTHEON

BESIEGED

Open on a dark room. We hear a smartphone ring. THE PHONE SCREEN glows and lights up. We see that it’s on a nightstand. Cut to a close up, it says 5:43 AM. A hand reaches out and fumbles for The speaker button, the guy in bed, our hero, randy, answers groggily.

RANDY: Hello?

HIS nervous co-worker, steve, RESPONDS.

STEVE: Oh, Randy, oh hey you’re up. Cool, cool. Not sure if you’re headed to work yet, but need a super quickie fave.

RANDY: Steve?

STEVE: Yeah, hey, great news, we just heard our wine client is two-weeks ahead of schedule on their product launch. Any chance you could head in early, to turn up the servers to support the bump in web hits. I’m here at your desk and I can’t find the server traffic knob.

OVER THE SPEAKER WE HEAR FRANTIC TYPING ON A KEYBOARD. Randy quickly pops out of bed and grabs for his backpack.

cut to a montage of scenes from Randy’s day. different coworkers ask him for favors, ALL OF WHICH ARE VERY UNINFORMED.

CUT TO THE OFFICE KITCHEN. Randy is pouring a cup of coffee. He takes a bite of a donut right as his coworker, Dawn, runs up.

DAWN: Randy, just the guy I was looking for. So, it’s easy to Drupalize an existing website right, I told my client we could show them something by EOD, east coast time. Thanks!

He holds up a finger, as he is chewing, but She RUNS OFF before he can swallow.

Cut to the men’s bathroom. Randy is at the sink, his co-worker Craig, walks up. He is zipping his fly AS HE ADDRESSES CRAIG.

CRAIG: Rand-o, ‘sup, my man? You’re gonna love this…Yours truly just convinced our beauty supply client that they need to turn their website into an app, you can just switch that on, right?

CRAING SLAPS HIM ON THE BACK WITH HIS UNWASHED HAND. BUT BEFORE CRAIG CAN ANSWER ANOTHER COWORKER, TIM, YELLS OUT FROM INSIDE A STALL.

TIM: Oh, Randy cool, I was just now emailing you. Turns out our new CRM client wants to A/B test both wireframes after all. Could you just skin and upload that additional one and kick it live by 4? I know you like to render stuff, so I could probably do you a solid and buy you an extra 30.

SFX: TOILET FLUSH

CUT TO RANDY BACK IN THE KITCHEN, HE’s EATING A BURGER AND FRIES. ONCE AGAIN, JUST AS HE TAKES A BITE ANOTHER COWORKER, BRENDA, COMES UP AND ASKS HIM A FAVOR.

BRENDA: Hey Randy, need a quick little fix, our pet care client wants to up the pop factor on their new site by at least 40%, if that’s not doable just go 20%, they won’t know the diff. Amiright?!?!

SHE PATS HIM ON THE BACK, IN RESPONSE TO HER JOKE ON THE CLIENT, AND TAKES ONE OF HIS FRIES AND WALKS AWAY. AGAIN PRE-SWALLOW AND RESPONSE.

CUT TO RANDY PACKING UP FOR THE NIGHT. AS HE’S ABOUT TO LEAVE AS HIS BOSS, KEVIN, POPS HIS HEAD INTO HIS CUBE.

KEVIN: Randy, just got back from a round of golf with the CEO from our insurance client. His wife think the website background would be more elegant…

KEVIN USES HIS FINGERS TO MAKE AIR QUOTES AS HE SAYS THE WORD, ELEGANT.

KEVIN: …in green, not like green green, like minty leafy green. You know the one . Just go live with a couple options and I’ll run them up the flagpole mañana.

DEFEATED, RANDY DROPS HIS HEAD ONTO HIS DESK WITH A THUD.

GRAPHIC LIGHTENING BOLT FLASH TRANSITIONS TO TEXT AND LOGO ON BLACK:

LOGO: GET IT ALL DONE WITH PANTHEON.

CUT BACK TO BATHROOM STALL, UNSUSPECTING OFFICE WORKER WALKS IN, TIM, STILL HARD AT WORK CALLS OUT FORM THE STALL

TIM: DAVID, YOU GET THAT EMAIL I JUST SENT?

Open on the office of our dev guy, Randy, he is packing up for the night. Just as he is zipping up his backpack to take off his boss comes in and asks him if he can work late. One of their customers is having a little web security emergency that needs to get resolved ASAP. As the boss turns to leave for the night, he says, with a smile, tonight’s pizza is on him. Cut to Randy at his desk eating the pizza, it’s late. Through a series of cuts, or an old school clock swipe dissolve we see that he’s been up all night trying to resolve the issue. He finally gets it done. But it’s now morning. Just as he is about to leave again, we see another one of his co-workers come in and say that one of their other customers is having an issue supporting a bump in web traffic and need to work it out right now. She holds up a big fresh pot of coffee. He takes his jacket off and sits back down.  We then cut through a series of Randy’s co-workers coming into his office, all with a smile, one holds take out Chinese, one has a 3 liter energy drink, another guy has a pizza box again, the next has donuts, the next one has a pizza box yet again, the next one has another coffee pot. We hear in VO all of the pain points that Randy’s co-workers are asking him to fix.

As this goes on and on, Randy looks more and more tired and disheveled. We stop the cuts and pan around his office; it has mountains of pizza boxes and empty energy drink bottles and coffee mugs.

After a brief lull, in which Randy quickly tries to gather his stuff to sneak out another co-worker, of course, pops right in. One of their clients is having an emergency issue, and they need his help. The guy looks around at the piles of pizza boxes and asks Randy if he would like some Greek food for a change. His treat! Randy just shakes his head in defeat and says that sounds fine.The guy leaves and instantly we hear a knock on the door.  The door opens on it’s on and through it, cloudy haze rolls in and some beams of light, through the myst walks a Zeus-like feature, he is carrying some Greek take out bags in one hand, He makes a motion with his free hand and Randy’s chair rolls away from in front of his computer, he makes another motion and the chair reclines. This Greek god-like figure moves into position in front of Randy’s computer and begins typing at an astounding rate, quickly resolving all of his web dev to-do’s and crossing them off the whiteboard with a swipe of his finger. We cut back to Randy, who is happily being handed grapes by a beautiful nymph.

We cut to our Greek god packing Randy’s backpack and giving it to him; he makes a motion with his hand, and the door opens. Randy walks off triumphantly into the sunset, or maybe it’s the sunrise, either way. It is a sweet victory.

Dialogue Sample

It’s easy to Drupalize an existing website right, I told the client we could show them something by EOD, east coast time. Cool? Tell you what, I’ll order you a pizza for lunch.

Yo, Randy, need a quick little fix. The client wants to up the pop factor on their new site by at least 40%, if that’s not doable just go 20, they won’t know the diff. Hey, here’s some coffee.

Great news, our wine client is two week ahead of schedule on their product launch, gonna be a huge traffic bump. Could you just turn up the servers before you head out. And get yourself some pizza, on me!

BOOM! I just convinced our beauty supply client they need to turn their website into an app, can you just switch that on…Right after you finish these donuts!!!

Great news, the client wants to AB test both full websites. Could you just skin and upload the additional wire frame tonight? If you need to stay late, get some Chinese food, my treat!

So the CEO’s wife thinks the background would look way better in green, not like green green, like minty leafy green. Just go live with a couple options and I’ll run them up the flagpole. In the meantime, anyone for a dozen donuts!?!?

We open on an agency break room, a guy walks up to the fridge, opens it and reaches for a bag that says, “Randy’s grapes – Do not touch.” But the bag is empty. He’s pissed, he shakes his head in a “not this again” kind of way and immediately turns and bee lines out of the room in a huff. Cut to him opening a door that says “Web Developers.” Lute music plays and it’s a bit misty as Randy starts yelling for a guy named Steve. We cut to our Hero, Steve, reclining in the corner of the room, on a day bed. He is being hand fed grapes by a beautiful woman dressed in a toga. There are a bunch of other empty bags on the ground that say Randy’s grapes. Randy goes into a tirade about how just because Steve was able to so easily build and manage a bunch of clients’ websites, up their numbers, increase their security at the touch of a button, and make them and their boss, Mr. Harvey, look amazing he is not god’s gift to developers. We hear a guy off to the side yell over to Randy to simmer down, we cut to him, it is the boss, Mr. Harvey, who has been playing the lute for Steve’s enjoyment, next to him is a fog machine that has been kicking out the mist. He tells Randy to cool his jets.

Open on the office of our dev guy, Randy, he is packing up for the night. Just as he is zipping up his backpack to take off his boss comes in and asks him if he can work late. One of their customers is having a little web security emergency that needs to get resolved ASAP. As the boss turns to leave for the night, he says, with a smile, tonight’s pizza is on him. Cut to Randy at his desk eating the pizza, it’s late. Through a series of cuts, or an old school clock swipe dissolve we see that he’s been up all night trying to resolve the issue. He finally gets it done. But it’s now morning. Just as he is about to leave again, we see another one of his co-workers come in and say that one of their other customers is having an issue supporting a bump in web traffic and need to work it out right now. She holds up a big fresh pot of coffee. He takes his jacket off and sits back down.  We then cut through a series of Randy’s co-workers coming into his office, all with a smile, one holds take out Chinese, one has a 3 liter energy drink, another guy has a pizza box again, the next has donuts, the next one has a pizza box yet again, the next one has another coffee pot. We hear in VO all of the pain points that Randy’s co-workers are asking him to fix.

As this goes on and on, Randy looks more and more tired and disheveled. We stop the cuts and pan around his office; it has mountains of pizza boxes and empty energy drink bottles and coffee mugs.

After a brief lull, in which Randy quickly tries to gather his stuff to sneak out another co-worker, of course, pops right in. One of their clients is having an emergency issue, and they need his help. The guy looks around at the piles of pizza boxes and asks Randy if he would like some Greek food for a change. His treat! Randy just shakes his head in defeat and says that sounds fine.

Dialogue Sample

It’s easy to Drupalize an existing website right, I told the client we could show them something by EOD, east coast time. Cool? Tell you what, I’ll order you a pizza for lunch.

Yo, Randy, need a quick little fix. The client wants to up the pop factor on their new site by at least 40%, if that’s not doable just go 20, they won’t know the diff. Hey, here’s some coffee.

Great news, our wine client is two week ahead of schedule on their product launch, gonna be a huge traffic bump. Could you just turn up the servers before you head out. And get yourself some pizza, on me!

BOOM! I just convinced our beauty supply client they need to turn their website into an app, can you just switch that on…Right after you finish these donuts!!!

Great news, the client wants to AB test both full websites. Could you just skin and upload the additional wire frame tonight? If you need to stay late, get some Chinese food, my treat!

So the CEO’s wife thinks the background would look way better in green, not like green green, like minty leafy green. Just go live with a couple options and I’ll run them up the flagpole. In the meantime, anyone for a dozen donuts!?!?

Let’s tell the story of how all of the individual aspects of website management used to be under the jurisdiction of different gods. Hermes was in charge of speed, Aphrodite was in charge of design and beauty, Athena was in charge of security, Demeter was in charge of analytics and growth, Poseidon was in charge of workflow, etc…All of these guys could never get together and be on the same page so they brought on a new god, Developus, The God of Information Technology, on his belt, next to his Golden beeper he has an bottomless flask of energy drink, He wears a crown with a built in headset. It turns out that this story is all being played out in the head of dev guy who is sleeping in his office as he has everything under control since he switched to running everything on Pantheon. We cut to his screen and see that his character name is some video game is Developus.

Let’s show our developers walking around offices (or one office) like they literally are God’s gift to web development. We’ll do it in a fun way where all of the effects are done in camera, in an artsy, tongue in cheek way. Cloud like objects made out of cotton balls glued to cut out cardboard announce their arrival, one of his minions rattles a sheet of metal to make a thunder like sound as another flashes a lightning like spotlight, as our head developer rolls out from between the clouds on a golden Segway. This could happen when he is called in to meet with the boss who is very happy with his work. Maybe he is actually lowered from the acoustical tile ceiling on a jerry rigged pulley system to help address a security issue at the push of a button. This could all be done in one scene for budget purposes or a montage of scenes.

What would be the implications if all website design and management was streamlined, and all of the downfalls of development were removed. energy drink sales would plummet, everyone would finish every online video game, developers would be outing the world during daylight hours and have tans, offices would be empty on weekends, etc. Is there some way we can show this in a cheaper way? Pans of energy drink shelves full of beverages, end screens of video games, sunscreen company stock prices are through the roof.

We’ve all seen (and secretly wept at) those video of lab beagles being released from their cages for the first time, feeling grass under their paws for the first time, a bit tentative, but then frolicking and playing with abandon. So let’s do the same thing with a couple (or one) web developers. We could have a VO over this announcing what is going on, web developers getting out before 5 PM, while it’s still light out, on a Thursday afternoon, unsure why to do, or what this strange light is. We could get a lot of the proof points in the VO. If we want to put a more godlike spin on this, maybe we speak to how this is a new dawn, or golden age for developers. We could have happy clients of bosses waving to them as they leave, they are, like the beagles, tentative to step foot out of their known environment, one runs back in but is gently prodded back out. It’s all very touching.