Phoebe and the Robot
a grief-striken robotics genius builds an AI replica of her deceased sister, only to discover the lines between memory, reality and identity are far harder to program than she imagined
Synopsis
Phoebe and the Robot is a darkly comedic sci-fi drama that explores grief, guilt, and what it means to be human in a world where the boundaries between people and technology have dissolved.
Phoebe Hawkins works at Syr Corp, where she and her colleagues develop increasingly realistic humanoid robots—machines that serve coffee, work in offices, and even fight in wars. The SR 98s, the latest generation, are so lifelike that they're almost indistinguishable from humans, save for the small green lights on their necks.
But Phoebe's professional success masks a personal crisis. She's trapped in a cycle of depression and self-destruction, carrying the weight of two crushing secrets: her sister Edie is dead, and Phoebe has been having an affair with Oliver, who was Edie's boyfriend.
Unable to process her grief through conventional means, Phoebe uses the very technology she's creating at work to build a robot version of Edie. Using synthesized personality AI, she recreates her sister's voice from old voicemails, designs a body to match filtered social media photos, and programs the robot to talk with a "hungover after a fun night" vibe—just sarcastic enough to feel real.
What begins as an experiment in coping becomes something far more complicated. As Phoebe teaches the robot to be more human, she's forced to confront the very human emotions she's been avoiding: her guilt, her grief, and the question of whether true connection can ever be programmed.
Themes
- Grief and Technology: Can we use technology to process loss, or does it prevent us from truly healing?
- What Makes Us Human: In a world where robots can cry, laugh, and remember, what separates human consciousness from artificial intelligence?
- Guilt and Self-Destruction: The ways we punish ourselves and the impossible ways we seek redemption
- The Ethics of AI: Who gets to decide what robots should be capable of, and what are the consequences of making machines too human?
Format
Feature Film
Cast
Juno Temple (Ted Lasso, The Offer, Fargo) is attached to star as Phoebe Hawkins
Creative Team
Written by: Alice Moran
Directed by: Matt Lipsey
Budget: $3-5 Million
Production: Scared Goose Entertainment / Media Marketing Investments Ltd.
The script is available for review upon request.
Production Notes
Written by Alice Moran and directed by Matt Lipsey, Phoebe and the Robot blends sharp dark comedy with emotional sci-fi drama. The film draws visual inspiration from near-future aesthetics—clean, white corporate spaces contrasted with the messy reality of human depression and grief.
The world-building is grounded and lived-in: robots are everywhere, from service positions to military applications, and society has adapted to their ubiquity with a mixture of acceptance, exploitation, and unease. It's Black Mirror meets Fleabag—intimate, uncomfortable, and deeply human even when it's about machines.
The story explores Phoebe's creation and relationship with the Edie robot, examining whether this technological resurrection will save her or destroy her completely.
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