Imagineers

MacGyver meets Extreme Makeover. 

LOGLINE
Based on MIT’s IDEA competition, Imagineers is a reality series that will pit the challenges of nature against human ingenuity.
Each weekly episode will tackle one of the world’s most pressing technical problems, and present two teams composed of the brightest minds from America’s top universities compete against each other, to provide the best solution within very limited timeframes and budgets.
Anchored by socially-engaged celebrities, Imagineers will command attention both from its theme as well as the personalities involved.

PREMISE
Many of the challenges that developing nations currently face are utterly solvable, if only the brightest minds had the time and resources to tackle them. The show will pair up world-class engineering talent with real-world challenges that can be met through innovative, out-of-the-box solutions. By incentivizing the companies that employ the world’s brightest minds with large-scale public recognition, we get them to loan their engineers to work for the benefit of society and showcase how technology, combined with ingenuity and vision, can really make the world a better place.

LOOK & FEEL
A cross between McGyver and Extreme Makeover, imagineers will blend the roll-up your sleeves, cut-to-the-chase attitude of competitive engineers with the feel-good, make-a difference tone of Oprah’s Angel Network. Featuring dynamic photography and an original soundtrack, imagineers will deliver contemporary content with high production value aimed at broadcasting nationally to U.S. audiences.

FORMAT
Shot in full HD, the show will feature four acts in a 26-minute show.

AUDIENCE
The show is directed to M/F, 18-49, A/B.

TRANSMEDIA CONTENT

Throughout its season, the show’s Facebook page will display images of the creative development underway as well as time-lapse footage of the devices being developed and built.

A website will also feature extended profiles of the characters, a map of the Campi profiled and details about the engineering traditions of each team’s affiliations.

Its YouTube channel will feature additional clips shot in the workshops and videos of the institution’s previous inventions and achievements.

On Twitter imagineers will send updates of milestones achieved in the development process, spotlighting the contributions of each participant and commentaries from each judge.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
America will vote for their favorite solution on Facebook, and a Corporate sponsor will match the number of votes to a Dollar value to fund for the project’s implementation. In addition, throughout the season, on the show’s website the audience may suggest future issues to be tackled.

THE CAST
To tackle some of the world’s most pressing technical problems, imagineers will bring together some of the brightest minds from the Corporate and Academic worlds along with socially-engaged celebrities, attracting attention from the media and private institutions to sponsor the show.

THE CONCEPT
Each week the show presents two teams of five highly accomplished individuals – two corporate engineers, 2 academics, and 1 real-world maverick/hacker – who will compete with each other in their attempt to solve a well-defined technical problem with far-reaching social consequences.
Their goal will be to develop a solution that is carbon-neutral and self-sustaining from an economic point of view – in 4 weeks.
This is not about how $2/a day can feed a starving child for a week. That type of solution requires a constant influx of cash to keep going. This is about developing a system that the local population is able to sustain unaided.

THE MECHANICS
The four episodes of each cycle will be hosted by a celebrity guest that is interested in the issue Addressed in that module of the show. The show will feature a community afflicted by the issue at hand. It will focus on a particular family, and picture the hardships it endures due to the problem concerned. A panel of 5 experts/mentors will help guide the teams and pick the best solution. They will be composed of:

• Three permanent guests who are world-class Engineers/Designers – such as Bill Moggridge, IDEO Founder; Bill McDonough, architect and author of Cradle to Cradle; and Amy Smith, MIT Professor, co-founder of the IDEAS Competition– who will judge the merits of each team’s solution and help tweak them for maximum performance.
• A rotating cultural expert who is an authority on the featured region. This mentor is present to ensure that the solutions take into account the social, political, and physical conditions of the region.

• A rotating financial expert who is an entrepreneur with a history of supporting the charitable cause that is addressed in that show. This mentor is present to assist the teams in making sure their solutions are cost-effective and financially more sensible than previous attempts to address that problem.

AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION
The time then comes for America to vote. The judges cast their secret votes, and America votes via phone, text messaging and the web. For every vote cast, a Corporation or Foundation pledges to give a nominal dollar contribution for the production, distribution and implementation of the chosen solution.

THE SUSPENSE
With the vote underway, we follow both teams to the airport with their bags packed and their loved ones in tow. The judges explain how the winning team members will each receive $10,000 to leave on their 3-month mission to implement what they have designed. We reveal the votes of the judges, the audience’s vote tally and how much money America raised for the cause. The judges explain how this amount of money will enable the solution to be implemented in the region.

THE OUTCOME
Everyone wins! Celebrities and corporate sponsors get the satisfaction of helping solve one of the world’s problems as well as priceless positive publicity. The problem-solving teams get the privilege of putting their talents to help disenfranchised people, and see their ideas materialized in the real world. Viewers get the satisfaction of knowing they’re making a difference by supporting a show that is making the world a better place, one show at a time. And communities all over the world benefit from the improvements made.

© 2014 S. Grossmann