A Hostile Taxonomy of Pigeons
Trapped in the server room during a bizarre corporate raid, data analyst Morag discovers the attackers aren't after money, but data, and their method of extraction involves highly trained pigeons and a level of analogue ingenuity she can't comprehend.
# A Hostile Taxonomy of Pigeons
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
Trapped in a server room during a corporate lockdown, a quick-witted IT specialist must outsmart a flock of cyber-espionage pigeons physically stealing data before they escape with the company's most valuable secrets.
## Themes
* **Analogue vs. Digital:** The story explores the vulnerability of high-tech digital security to a primitive, untraceable analogue attack, highlighting the adage that the simplest solution is often the most effective.
* **The Absurdity of Modern Espionage:** Corporate warfare is taken to a ridiculous extreme, blending the high stakes of data theft with the comical, low-tech reality of using birds as couriers.
* **Resourcefulness Under Pressure:** In a crisis where conventional tools fail, the protagonist must abandon protocol and embrace creative, unconventional thinking to solve an equally unconventional problem.
## Stakes
The complete and untraceable theft of invaluable corporate data, which could lead to financial ruin, the exposure of trade secrets, and the collapse of the company.
## Synopsis
MORAG, a sharp IT professional, is working late on the nineteenth floor when she notices a strange pecking sound coming from a server room air vent. Suddenly, the power cuts, the emergency lights bathe the room in a red glow, and an automated lockdown traps her inside. The pecking sound intensifies, and the vent cover is pried open from the outside.
A sleek, well-groomed pigeon wearing a custom leather harness with a blinking USB drive lands silently in the opening. It is soon followed by a flock of similarly equipped pigeons. They move with unnerving purpose, ignoring Morag as they begin systematically plugging their drives into servers, initiating a mass data transfer.
On the phone with her panicked, ornithophobic colleague JORGE, Morag realizes the brilliance of the heist: it's a physical exfiltration, completely bypassing their state-of-the-art firewalls and leaving no digital trace. With the backup power draining and the pigeons making off with gigabytes of data, Morag knows she has only minutes to act. A desperate idea sparks. She gets patched through to HYGENIA, the unflappable head of security, and enacts a wild plan: use Hygenia's personal stash of industrial-grade birdseed on the building's roof to create a more tempting target than their servers.
## Character Breakdown
* **MORAG (30s):** A highly competent, logical, and pragmatic IT specialist. She is calm under pressure but initially baffled by the sheer absurdity of the situation. She thinks in terms of systems and protocols, but her greatest strength is her ability to adapt when those systems fail.
* **Psychological Arc:** Morag begins the story as a reactive problem-solver, confined by the logic of her digital world. Faced with an illogical, analogue threat, she is initially paralyzed by disbelief. Her journey sees her shed her reliance on digital solutions and embrace creative, lateral thinking, culminating in her fighting an absurd threat with an equally absurd, yet brilliant, countermeasure. She ends the story proactive and in command, having learned to think outside the server rack.
* **JORGE (40s):** The lead IT tech and Morag's colleague, heard only over the phone. He is a technical genius but is crippled by a severe case of ornithophobia (fear of birds). He acts as both a source of technical information and comic relief, his escalating panic contrasting with Morag's growing resolve.
* **HYGENIA (50s):** The head of security, heard only over the radio. Her voice is a beacon of calm and professionalism amidst the chaos. She is practical and unbothered by strange requests, immediately understanding and executing Morag's plan without question.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE PECKING:** In a sterile, humming server room, Morag is unsettled by a persistent pecking from a vent. The mundane annoyance hints at something deeply wrong.
2. **DARKNESS:** The power cuts. Emergency lights plunge the room into a claustrophobic red. Morag is locked in. The pecking stops, replaced by the squeal of metal being forced.
3. **THE BREACH:** The vent cover clatters to the floor. A single, sleek pigeon equipped with a tactical harness and a USB drive lands, its beady eye scanning the servers.
4. **THE INFILTRATION:** An entire flock follows, a silent, disciplined team. They hop from server to server, deftly inserting their drives with their beaks. LEDs blink, confirming data transfer.
5. **ANALOGUE BANDWIDTH:** Crouched behind a rack, Morag explains the untraceable analogue heist to a terrified Jorge over the phone. She watches helplessly as the first pigeon, its drive full, flies back into the vent.
6. **THE BIRDSEED GAMBIT:** With the backup power failing, Morag has an epiphany. She connects with Hygenia, the security guard, and asks about her "civic beautification project."
7. **THE COUNTERMEASURE:** Morag gives the order: take the industrial-sized bag of birdseed to the roof. Fight pigeons with what pigeons want most. A mad grin spreads across her face as she waits to see if her analogue solution will work.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style will be a study in contrasts. The film opens in the clean, cold, blue-and-white world of a modern server farm—all order, humming machinery, and blinking lights. This is violently interrupted by the shift to a hellish, pulsating red from the emergency lighting, creating a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere. Cinematography will use tight, focused shots on the pigeons, treating them not as animals but as skilled operatives. Close-ups on their harnesses, the blinking USBs, and their unnervingly intelligent eyes will build a sense of surreal menace.
The tone is a high-wire act between a high-stakes tech thriller and deadpan, absurd comedy. The tension is real, but the threat is inherently ridiculous. This juxtaposition creates a unique viewing experience that aligns with the techno-paranoia and dark satire of shows like **Black Mirror** and the sterile, unsettling corporate aesthetic of **Severance**, while embracing the bizarre logic of a Coen Brothers film.
**Format:** Short Film / Anthology Episode | **Est. Length:** 10-12 minutes
## Logline
Trapped in a server room during a corporate lockdown, a quick-witted IT specialist must outsmart a flock of cyber-espionage pigeons physically stealing data before they escape with the company's most valuable secrets.
## Themes
* **Analogue vs. Digital:** The story explores the vulnerability of high-tech digital security to a primitive, untraceable analogue attack, highlighting the adage that the simplest solution is often the most effective.
* **The Absurdity of Modern Espionage:** Corporate warfare is taken to a ridiculous extreme, blending the high stakes of data theft with the comical, low-tech reality of using birds as couriers.
* **Resourcefulness Under Pressure:** In a crisis where conventional tools fail, the protagonist must abandon protocol and embrace creative, unconventional thinking to solve an equally unconventional problem.
## Stakes
The complete and untraceable theft of invaluable corporate data, which could lead to financial ruin, the exposure of trade secrets, and the collapse of the company.
## Synopsis
MORAG, a sharp IT professional, is working late on the nineteenth floor when she notices a strange pecking sound coming from a server room air vent. Suddenly, the power cuts, the emergency lights bathe the room in a red glow, and an automated lockdown traps her inside. The pecking sound intensifies, and the vent cover is pried open from the outside.
A sleek, well-groomed pigeon wearing a custom leather harness with a blinking USB drive lands silently in the opening. It is soon followed by a flock of similarly equipped pigeons. They move with unnerving purpose, ignoring Morag as they begin systematically plugging their drives into servers, initiating a mass data transfer.
On the phone with her panicked, ornithophobic colleague JORGE, Morag realizes the brilliance of the heist: it's a physical exfiltration, completely bypassing their state-of-the-art firewalls and leaving no digital trace. With the backup power draining and the pigeons making off with gigabytes of data, Morag knows she has only minutes to act. A desperate idea sparks. She gets patched through to HYGENIA, the unflappable head of security, and enacts a wild plan: use Hygenia's personal stash of industrial-grade birdseed on the building's roof to create a more tempting target than their servers.
## Character Breakdown
* **MORAG (30s):** A highly competent, logical, and pragmatic IT specialist. She is calm under pressure but initially baffled by the sheer absurdity of the situation. She thinks in terms of systems and protocols, but her greatest strength is her ability to adapt when those systems fail.
* **Psychological Arc:** Morag begins the story as a reactive problem-solver, confined by the logic of her digital world. Faced with an illogical, analogue threat, she is initially paralyzed by disbelief. Her journey sees her shed her reliance on digital solutions and embrace creative, lateral thinking, culminating in her fighting an absurd threat with an equally absurd, yet brilliant, countermeasure. She ends the story proactive and in command, having learned to think outside the server rack.
* **JORGE (40s):** The lead IT tech and Morag's colleague, heard only over the phone. He is a technical genius but is crippled by a severe case of ornithophobia (fear of birds). He acts as both a source of technical information and comic relief, his escalating panic contrasting with Morag's growing resolve.
* **HYGENIA (50s):** The head of security, heard only over the radio. Her voice is a beacon of calm and professionalism amidst the chaos. She is practical and unbothered by strange requests, immediately understanding and executing Morag's plan without question.
## Scene Beats
1. **THE PECKING:** In a sterile, humming server room, Morag is unsettled by a persistent pecking from a vent. The mundane annoyance hints at something deeply wrong.
2. **DARKNESS:** The power cuts. Emergency lights plunge the room into a claustrophobic red. Morag is locked in. The pecking stops, replaced by the squeal of metal being forced.
3. **THE BREACH:** The vent cover clatters to the floor. A single, sleek pigeon equipped with a tactical harness and a USB drive lands, its beady eye scanning the servers.
4. **THE INFILTRATION:** An entire flock follows, a silent, disciplined team. They hop from server to server, deftly inserting their drives with their beaks. LEDs blink, confirming data transfer.
5. **ANALOGUE BANDWIDTH:** Crouched behind a rack, Morag explains the untraceable analogue heist to a terrified Jorge over the phone. She watches helplessly as the first pigeon, its drive full, flies back into the vent.
6. **THE BIRDSEED GAMBIT:** With the backup power failing, Morag has an epiphany. She connects with Hygenia, the security guard, and asks about her "civic beautification project."
7. **THE COUNTERMEASURE:** Morag gives the order: take the industrial-sized bag of birdseed to the roof. Fight pigeons with what pigeons want most. A mad grin spreads across her face as she waits to see if her analogue solution will work.
## Visual Style & Tone
The visual style will be a study in contrasts. The film opens in the clean, cold, blue-and-white world of a modern server farm—all order, humming machinery, and blinking lights. This is violently interrupted by the shift to a hellish, pulsating red from the emergency lighting, creating a tense, claustrophobic atmosphere. Cinematography will use tight, focused shots on the pigeons, treating them not as animals but as skilled operatives. Close-ups on their harnesses, the blinking USBs, and their unnervingly intelligent eyes will build a sense of surreal menace.
The tone is a high-wire act between a high-stakes tech thriller and deadpan, absurd comedy. The tension is real, but the threat is inherently ridiculous. This juxtaposition creates a unique viewing experience that aligns with the techno-paranoia and dark satire of shows like **Black Mirror** and the sterile, unsettling corporate aesthetic of **Severance**, while embracing the bizarre logic of a Coen Brothers film.