The Chronicle of Becky
Project Overview
In the not-so-distant future, an unassuming AI-startup company emerges with a goal to bring the past to life with super-accurate "Digital People" versions of historical figures. But no one suspects how far their new CEO will go once he takes control of the company...
Check out one of our past audiodramas to get a feel on what this one will be like! This episode will be the 21st episode in the anthology.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/62kUxWVpJdAeE0sTOFWZpE?si=5hcof2XmTwChuiXx9SRWNQ
Deadlines are fairly flexible, but would generally like to have lines by two weeks of casting (the quicker, the better!). If you don’t think you can meet this deadline, please don’t audition. Recording will be done remotely and asynchronously.
REQUIREMENTS
Must be 13+ to audition
Please be sure your recording doesn’t have any background noise. Good quality mic is recommended.
Must have discord to communicate (or be willing to create an account)
Please include your discord username in your audition.
When auditioning, please READ ALL THREE LINES.
Please feel free to experiment when recording. Do variations of the lines, ad-lib, all is welcome, interpret the characters your way.
Unfortunately at this time we cannot provide monetary compensation, but IMDB credit will be given!
CW: Profanity, implied death, slightly political nature, alcoholism, gunshots, violence. Please do not audition if these topics make you uncomfortable.
Join our discord server! https://discord.gg/ASJFpHJBKH
I am very excited for this project, thank you for the interest!
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Female, adult
Becky Steinfeld, a Bay Area native, goes from a PhD student in American History at UCLA in her late twenties all the way to the COO of OsAIris in three years. She’s 5’2” with mousy brown hair and hazel eyes, and is excitable about things she likes but otherwise prone to depression. (And she’s a bit too fond of good food and strong drink for her own good, especially when she’s thrown into a highly stressful job at OsAIris…!)
Becky’s historical research focuses on Alexander Hamilton and the Federalist Papers, but her job at OsAIris is to oversee research and confirm the historical accuracy of the personality profiles for the “digital people” (aka chatbots) the company produces to make them as realistic and lifelike as possible.
VA Note: About half of Becky's lines are her recording her audio diary, and the other half are flashback scenes. Consider the distinction between these two kinds of lines when doing your takes (see parenthetical).
VA Note 2: A major part of Becky's downward spiral includes her getting quite drunk/tipsy. Her third line is from one of these scenes -- show us how you can portray that!
- female adult
(recording an audio diary) April 25th , 2029. Dear Diary… I just got back from the OsAIris office – that’s O-S-A-I-R- I-S, a horrible pun – where I got to “meet” their version of Alexander Hamilton. They made an avatar from his portrait that moves and talks in real-time, which was impressive. But oh my god, his personality was so bad! Listen to this.
(talking to digital persona of Alex Hamilton) Oh, Alex… I wish you were, y’know, REALLY real. I want to take you around LA, show you how the country you helped to make ended up, for better and for worse. Hmm… maybe I can ask Alvin if we can make an app so I can bring Alex with me places on my phone? I think it’d be great for the company, as well as for me! Yeah… I’m going to email him right now, before I forget.
(super drunk, badly slurring her words) November 1st, 2032. Dear Diary… um, sorry I suck at journaling. (She swallows a whole shot of whiskey.) Alex is gonna be the president – he’s way ahead in the polls. An’ I don’t care anymore, Diary.
Male, adult
Alvin Smiley was a child of the 80s, raised on D&D, Nintendo, movies, and books. A lifer in tech, he founded OsAIris in 2028 as a passion project to bring the past literally back to life with AI, and he believes fervently in the idea that the company’s chatbots are real people even if they’re in digital form. Alvin was in his youth that kid everyone made fun up in school for being an unapologetic nerd, but unlike so many others who grew up that way he never became vengeful or angry. Alvin’s genuinely kind, humble, positive… and naïve.
- male adult
(an email he wrote) Dear Ms. Steinfeld, I watched your interview on NPR, and really enjoyed your perspective on Alexander Hamilton. I’m the founder of an AI startup company that’s resurrecting important deceased historical figures and I’d love your feedback on our prototype chatbot version of Alexander Hamilton. would you be willing to come to our company office and chat with him, tell us how we’re doing as far as accuracy is concerned? Don’t worry, we’ll pay you for your time. Thanks very much, and best, Alvin Smiley.
(in horror and shock) Wh-What?? This is…! Blake, you… you bastard! I know you’re behind this somehow!
(sad, quiet, numb, and even a little guilty) Becky, do you remember how I asked you in that first email that you should come work here to do something much more important than staying in the Ivory Tower? I… I’m sorry I took you out of that bubble, Becky. You don’t deserve to be stuck in a ruthless corporate machine run by heartless assholes like Blake Bent and Damian Cooper. I hope someday you’ll forgive me for dragging you into it.
Male, adult
Alexander Hamilton is OsAIris’s prototype digital person (i.e., the digital chatbot recreation of Hamilton). As in his “real” life, Alex is brilliant, fearless, opinionated, and abrasive, but he develops a soft spot for Becky after she updates his personality profile so he’s really himself again. Alex is both fascinated and repelled by modern America, and feels that he needs to “fix” it. (His politics on modern issues are generally progressive, because Becky subconsciously tweaked his profile that way.)
- male adult
Sweet, thanks Becky! (rapping, voice is a bad impression of Lin-Manuel Miranda as Hamilton) Those papers, they were crucial to American stability, I wrote fifty-one essays to the best o’ my ability. I—
(reassuring) Of course not, my dear. Far from it. You are a good woman in a difficult situation, Becky. Nothing more or less.
(concerned) Becky, please… you promised you’d cut back on the booze.
Male, adult
Blake Bent is the COO at OsAIris (later its CEO). He’s in his 40s, is British, graduated with honors from Cambridge, was CEO of a social media startup before being handpicked by Damian Cooper, the company’s main VC funder, to take charge of daily operations. He’s soft-spoken, very charming and smooth… but also a ruthless, self-serving, ambitious bastard with goals that go well beyond building educational models of dead historical figures.
- british
- male adult
Some of you may be wondering why an “outsider” like me is taking over as COO. The VCs backing this company – in particular, Damian Cooper – are not happy that this place is run more like a daycare than the bleeding-edge tech startup they gave billions of dollars. So as of this moment, play time is over, kiddies.
Becky! Get your ass down here to the data center, NOW!
(his predatory smile widens) What, you didn’t know that the app records your audio chat logs? But don’t look so nervous, Becky my dear. You’re not in trouble.
Male, adult
The digital version of General Patton. Patton’s voice should be low and gravelly and sound a fair bit like the George C. Scott 1970 movie version of Patton, since the AI grabbed that as its primary voice module for him.
Voice Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS5yfhPGaWE
- male adult
(imperious, chewing on a cigar) It would be my pleasure.
(angrily) The man was a coward! A slap was the least he deserved. Hell, if I could do it again I’d bring the sonuvabitch before a court martial to have him executed!
(all but snarling) Countless brave men lost their lives honorably in combat with the enemy, but we’re supposed to be worried about some damned coward?! You can bet that won’t ever happen again when I’m President!
Any gender, adult
A veteran news anchor on a major network who reports breaking news. Dispassionate and jaded, but not entirely able to hide surprise or other emotions on the air when something truly unusual happens.
The Anchor has three total lines, but the last one will be released if you are chosen due to the spoiling nature of the content.
- female adult
- neutral
- male adult
(news reporting) In a stunning landmark 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court today has ruled that highly-accurate chatbots of deceased people can be legally recognized as the equivalent of their living biological selves.
The Court ruling stipulates that not just any chatbot can be considered legally equivalent to a person, however – only ones that are highly accurate and comprehensive pass that bar.
Any gender but male preferred, adult
An unnamed party political strategist. Desperate to hold onto power, the party currently holding the White House is terrified of the buzz around Hamilton, particularly with the under-50 demographic. They’ve sent out this senior strategist to try to persuade Blake Bent to give their party an antidote to “Hamilton fever”. The strategist is personally skeptical of the idea of a digital person as a viable candidate but is admittedly a bit intrigued to see what OsAIris can offer them.
- neutral
- male adult
- female adult
Let me be very clear with you, Mister Bent. The White House will not stand by and let the opposition run some phony digital version of Alexander Hamilton!
(chastened but also huffy and offended) Well then, who would YOU suggest, Mister Bent?!
(claps hands) Perfect! You’re just the man we need.
Any gender, adult
A senior news anchor at a major network who has been handed the role of debate moderator for the first-ever Presidential Debate between two digital people, Alexander Hamilton and Gen. George S. Patton. The moderator is being professional but struggling with the Uncanny Valley feeling of interacting with two candidates who have no biological bodies battling it out on screens for votes.
Only has these two lines.
- neutral
- male adult
- female adult
General, do you have regrets about slapping a GI hospitalized with PTSD during your Sicilian campaign in 1943?
You would have a soldier shot for “cowardice” because he was traumatized, General?
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