Today, NTI announced that producer and writer Alyssa Clark is the inaugural recipient of a $10,000 script development grant to develop October Last, the story of a young couple whose wedding announcement happens on the day of a world-wide nuclear exchange, setting up a mystery of which guests will manage to survive to see them married in the 12 months that follow.
October Last was selected from nearly 30 submissions through a competitive review process led by NTI’s Critical Mass project team, partner PopShift (a project of Pathos Labs), and members of NTI’s Critical Mass Cultural Advisory Council. Each proposal included a pitch for a TV show exposing the true risks of nuclear weapons or highlighting unlikely heroes working to address them. October Last was chosen for its potential to highlight the catastrophic health, environmental, economic, and societal impacts of nuclear weapons through a relatable, human-centric storyline.
As part of the grant, Critical Mass will collaborate with Clark throughout the fall and winter of 2025 to develop the pitch into a full pilot script and project treatment. After the script is written, NTI will offer support to Clark to get the pitch in front of industry decision-makers.
“I’m a science fiction and horror writer. It is my job as a storyteller to dream up wondrous and terrible things for the enjoyment of others—to make the imaginary seem plausible. The more realistic the scenario, the more gripping the tale,” said Clark.
“I am also a citizen of the only country to ever use nuclear weapons in wartime. Eighty years ago this month, the United States dropped ‘The Bomb’ on two cities in Japan. Unimaginable destruction and suffering made very, very real. Today, the threat of nuclear war seems more plausible than ever. I hope to bring to life the story of two people trying to survive the aftermath of a worldwide nuclear exchange— and I hope the terrible reality they face will never be ours,” she added.
The script development grant is part of NTI’s expansive work to change the narrative around nuclear weapons and build public demand for policies that will bring us back from the nuclear brink. It is well documented that cultural change precedes policy change. Just as Will and Grace helped pave the way for marriage equality, Jurassic Park flooded paleontology programs with applicants, and The Day After was credited by President Reagan as changing his mind about whether nuclear war was winnable, the Critical Mass team believes culture must play a role in building a safer world without nuclear weapons.
PopShift has deep expertise in bridging storytelling and social impact and was instrumental in facilitating the content development grant. Earlier this year, NTI and PopShift co-hosted a convening of 25 TV and film writers and 25 nuclear risk reduction field experts to explore storylines that can help shift audiences toward the belief that nuclear weapons pose an unacceptable risk.
By investing in culture-shifting content, NTI’s Critical Mass project aims to unlock new pathways for public engagement on one of the world’s most urgent and under-appreciated threats.
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