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Logline: When an awkward high schooler discovers the girl he’s dating is really a member of a hostile alien species, he must team up with his alien loathing teacher, party loving best friend, and even the deadly alien herself to rescue the planet from destruction. Synopsis: Two hundred years ago, the war torn and as a result predominantly female Minotion alien species descended to earth to harness human males for reproduction. A militaristic faction of powerful Minotions started developing biological weapons, using humans as test subjects. Zach was the first human to uncover the alien presence by exposing the beautiful Minotion rebel Ariadne. Zach eventually joins Ariadne’s rebel group, who want to stop the experimentation. Mr. Delus, his teacher and surrogate father who was abducted by them ten years ago, also joins but he struggles to work with the creatures he has sworn revenge against. “Icarus” has 13 hour long episodes for the first season.

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“Icarus” is perfect for MTV because it fits with the preexisting line up. Like “Teen Wolf”, it has strong supernatural elements and it often incorporates comedy of a similar style to “Awkward.” “Icarus” primarily targets females 18-24 years old but then goes after the males, who watch other MTV shows like the upcoming “The Inbetweeners,” as a secondary audience. “Icarus” has strong female appeal just like the supernatural dramas “Charmed,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “The Vampire Diaries,” and “Being Human.” “Icarus” has a diverse cast of female characters as “Charmed” and “Buffy” did, which each consistently pulled in 4-5 million viewers during their tenure at The WB. “The Vampire Diaries” set the record for the most watched series primer ever on The CW and just had its fourth season picked up early. “Being Human” was Syfy’s most successful scripted series launch in six years and has a male main character but a majority female audience like “Icarus.” “Icarus” will build upon its female base with a strong male following exactly as “Supernatural” has done over their soon to be eight seasons. “Supernatural” saw a 73% increase in male viewers from its first to second seasons and went on rank eighth out of all major network series in its third year. “Icarus” doesn’t just carry on from previous supernatural television successes. It adds its own fresh ingredient of aliens and flavors it with Greek mythology. Aliens has already found monstrous success at the box office with “Avatar,” which is about have three sequels shot back to back, and with “Prometheus,” which is the highest grossing film so far of the “Alien” franchise. Incorporating aliens also works to attract our secondary male audience which made up the majority of “Prometheus” filmgoers while cementing its appeal to women, which were the majority “Avatar” audience. Greek mythology has proved popular in the theater as well with the first “Percy Jackson” film of the franchise setting an opening weekend box office record, and the “Clash of the Titans” franchise developing a third installment even before the sequel’s release. “Icarus” does modern adaptations of Greek mythology like “Grimm” and “Once Upon a Time” do for fairy tales. When “Grimm” premiered it was the number one new drama on ABC, CBS, NBC, or Fox and its 18-49 year old audience grew by 49% over the course of its first season. “Once Upon a Time” was the highest rated drama debut for ABC in five years and was the second highest rated drama debut for 18-49 year olds. Incorporating modern adaptations of Greek mythology will only strengthen the appeal to our 18-24 year old target audience. My partner and I are great producers for this project because we are both heavily invested in the supernatural genre while holding a unique appreciation for the alien angle. We both enjoy aliens in media but found that often times the alien angle overpowers an otherwise character driven show. “Icarus” is focused on its characters, not the alien invasion storyline. This series grapples with the issue of teens feeling like an alien of their own species just as much as it addresses the aliens themselves. The teens in “Icarus” struggle to resist fighting against the aliens and must instead work alongside them in order to save the planet. The drama in “Icarus” is often generated by the humans having to deal with aliens who act even more human than they do at times.

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Episode Ideas Zach wakes up the morning after a wild Halloween party remembering nothing and finds that the girl he was with the night before, Ariane, is missing from school. His memory slowly returns and he can remember attacking Ariane for some unknown reason. Mr. Delus, his chemistry teacher and surrogate father, confesses to being abducted by aliens but this only pushes Zach away. All the while, another kid who was at the party gets increasingly ill. After Zach finds Ariane’s house totally empty and unsuccessfully tries to reach her on the phone, she appears out of thin air. Suddenly Zach can remember everything from that night. He saw Ariane’s skin and eyes change in an inhuman way. Mr. Delus was right; aliens are here on earth. Zach shows Mr. Delus a bottle of odd pills he found in Ariane’s empty house. Mr. Delus examines the pills and concludes they are memory inhibitors. Ariane doesn’t realize Zach knows she’s not human and asks him out on a date . Zach accepts and afterwards he secretly follows into the woods where he finds a damaged alien device. Mr. Delus discovers it’s for reading minds but is in need of repair before it will work. Meanwhile, more people in the school are mysteriously falling ill and Zach’s friend Maddie is suspiciously interested in the disease. Zach discovers that the Aliens, now known as the Minotions, teleported to earth and even finds a working teleporter in the woods. He, Mr. Delus, and Ariane figure out that the illness going around the school is actually a biological weapon developed by the Minotions and Maddie was in charge of testing it on the school. Mr. Delus figures out that the disease is temporarily debilitating for humans but it can only kill the Minotions. Mr. Delus wants to take the disease back through the transporter and unleash it on the aliens as revenge for abducting him. Zach must find a way to stop him from whipping out his new found friends.

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Character Descriptions

Zach An awkward yet intelligent teen who’s just trying to survive high school. He is torn between being with the alien he loves and protecting his family and friends from the aliens. His father’s been out of the picture since he was little and so he relies on his gentle and understanding mom, Kathy, for support.

Trey An easy going boy with a swagger in his step. His parents are frequently away on business or vacation but he doesn’t mind since they always leave him with lots of money and a large empty house to party in. Since getting to high school he’s joined the wrestling team while Zach is still wrestling with his own teenage awkwardness but their bond reminds tight as ever. Trey loves his girlfriend Maddie and would never dream of some of the things she’s capable of.

Maddie A fierce girl who isn’t afraid to take what she wants. Secretly she’s an alien who was sent to the school in order to oversee the testing of biological weapons. Maddie isn’t a cruel being but sees humans as lesser than her species and uses that to rationalize experimenting on them.

Ariane A sweet girl who has a flirty side. She’s had a crush on Zach for as long as he’s been crushing on her. She is secretly an alien who’s part of a rebel group that objects to using humans as test subjects. Once Zach finds out her secret she brings him into her group and they work together to save the earth.

Mr. Delus A warm man with a good heart who has known Zach since he was little. He teaches chemistry at the high school and often gives Zach fatherly guidance. He was abducted by the aliens years ago and has been trying to get revenge since. Mr. Delus is usually a logical man but his emotions prevent him from working well alongside the aliens.

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Character Types

Zach

Josh Hutcherson

Maddie

Alexandra Daddario

Ariane

Molly Quinn

Logan Lerman

Alexandra Chando

Britt Robertson

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Trey

Daryl Sabara

Mr. Delus

Brent Sexton

Jean-Luc Bilodeau

Kurt Fuller

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The Alien Group Jonathan Bademian Veronica DeSantis Juniors at NYU

TV Series for MTV Head of Programming David Janollari