HACKERS
By: Tim Housey

LOGLINE:

Hackers will give you an insider’s look on the minds of teenage hackers. Learn how they think, how they react under pressure and what it’s like living as a hacker.

LEAVEBEHIND:

Max isn’t the popular kid in high school, nor was the smartest kid in the school, but
there was one thing he knows he’s good at: computers and technology.  Max learned his passion for computers and technology through his experiences with an old computer that his mother and father used to own, until they decided that it was junk and threw it away. Going a year without his computer, Max decided to take up running has a sport and compete in his school’s track and field team. Four months into his successful running career, his parents decide to divorce and go their own ways. Ever since Max’s parents got a divorce, he lost interest in running. He has now jumped back into his previous hobby of computers and technology.
Having remembered very little about computers and technology from his past, Max chose to relearn his previous talents. Using the internet as his sidekick, he begins surfing the web for information and connects to his first Internet Relay Chat Server. (IRC Server)

CHARACTERS:

Max “Madmax” Dagger is a 16-year-old teenager living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. His parents had recently divorce, forcing him to make a decision on whom to live with. Max chose his mother, solely because she had a computer. Computers aren’t the only thing Max has a passion for. Max likes to run, read books, engage in normal teenage activities and yes that does include porn. What Max doesn’t have are friends. Max was the quiet one in school. People knew him by name, but never really got to know him as a person. Computers intrigued Max,
they offered him a new challenge in life. With the introduction to Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Max started a new life, a life that would change him forever, a life of computer hacking.

        Julie Dagger is Max’s mother and is the only adult in the household. Recently divorced, Julie takes the responsibility of raising Max and financially supporting him. Each month the phone bill arrives and, well, lets say that Julie isn’t too happy.

        Darkviper is the first person Madmax meets while in an IRC chat room. He’s been in the hacking scene for more than a decade and is “definitely one of the nerds” on IRC. Darkviper spends his time learning new ways to improve his hacks, and teaching some of the newbies on IRC a thing or two about hacking.

        Prometheus is the next person Madmax meets on IRC. Prometheus has been in the hacking scene for fifteen years and is known as the “old school hacker”.  Prometheus started his hacking career when he was 12 years old, and from then on has fostered a hatred against dumb people on the net.  If Prometheus found a vulnerable website that had not been updated with the latest security patches, he would exploit it, deleting anything he could on that server, and leaving a message of stupidity on the main page. If an administrator wasn’t smart enough to update his servers, he shouldn’t be an administrator.


THE “PILOT” EPISODE

Ever since Max returned to computers and technology, he’s been very lazy with his school work and his running career. His first connection to IRC changed his life. IRC is like communication via phone, the only differences being that you’re communicating electronically through a computer. Max’s mother works two jobs, one at a nursing home tending the elderly
and, the other working as a cashier for a grocery story from 4pm – 9pm. She arrives home late, which gives Max enough time after school to play around on the net.

(Present) As Max connects to an IRC address found on the local BBS in Green Bay, he immediately puts out a question in public chat about information about hacking that can be found online. No one replies to his question of curiosity. Fifteen minutes later, his connection is dropped and he is unable to connect back onto the net for a few hours.  Three hours after this mysterious disconnection, Max is able to connect back up to the IRC server. Joining the same channel as before, Max receives a private message from someone named Darkviper. Darkviper explains what just happened as a Nuke War and that Max was an innocent bystander that just got nuked. Darkviper explains that getting nuked really sucks, because your internet connection is down for several hours even though those several hours could be used for something resourceful. But anyway, Darkviper continues to explain that in order to survive on IRC Max will need to mask his IP Addresses so these hacker groups cannot get it.  But for now, its time to plan retaliation!

EPISODE IDEAS

1. “Now Hiring: Hackers” (pilot episode) – The “electric underground” is undergoing what is called a NukeWar against several different rival hacking groups. Madmax becomes the first victim of a Nuke attack and is forced to retaliate with the assistance of another hacker in the underground.

2. “Hack This” – Max gets his hands dirty when, DarkViper tells him about a contest hack that’ll win them $500 dollars. Darkviper must teach Max the tricks of the trade to ensure that they will triumph.

3.  “DDOS” – After winning the contest for $500 dollars, a hacker group known as EH2K begins to seek vengeance for losing in the contest. Max and Darkviper must seek an ally to help retaliate against these attacks.

4. “Offline” - Julie finds out that Max has been skipping track practice and his grades have been slipping and is forced to disconnect Max from the net.  In order for Max to regain his network connection he needs to complete a project to earn a higher grade in school.

5. “The Three Amigos” - Max organizes a meeting with DarkViper and Prometheus about starting a hacking group. Their first real test is to takedown a company who has been mass mailing their e-mail accounts with unsolicited spam for penis enlargement pills.