The Brief
Futures Basecamp was a private, invitation-only retreat bringing together leading TV writers in sci-fi and speculative storytelling with futurists, technologists, game designers, and systems thinkers. Supported by Omidyar Network, the intention was to move writers beyond default dystopian futures and toward more human-centered, protopian storytelling rooted in care, complexity, and collective agency.
Rather than a conference, Futures Basecamp was designed as a relational, immersive experience. A pause, offering writers the time, space, and intellectual community needed to rethink how futures are imagined on screen.
The Process
Over two days in the Joshua Tree desert, we designed and produced a carefully sequenced retreat blending embodied experiences, speculative worldbuilding labs, intimate workshops, and unstructured time for connection. The environment itself played a role: shared meals, long walks, fireside conversations, star gazing with astronomers and deliberate slowness, was all designed to expand the imagination on what's possible.
Participants included leading Sci fi TV writers, speculative fiction authors, technologists, futurists, digital creators, and cultural strategists.
Futures Basecamp was a private, invitation-only retreat bringing together leading TV writers in sci-fi and speculative storytelling with futurists, technologists, game designers, and systems thinkers. Supported by Omidyar Network, the intention was to move writers beyond default dystopian futures and toward more human-centered, protopian storytelling rooted in care, complexity, and collective agency.
Rather than a conference, Futures Basecamp was designed as a relational, immersive experience. A pause, offering writers the time, space, and intellectual community needed to rethink how futures are imagined on screen.
The Process
Over two days in the Joshua Tree desert, we designed and produced a carefully sequenced retreat blending embodied experiences, speculative worldbuilding labs, intimate workshops, and unstructured time for connection. The environment itself played a role: shared meals, long walks, fireside conversations, star gazing with astronomers and deliberate slowness, was all designed to expand the imagination on what's possible.
Participants included leading Sci fi TV writers, speculative fiction authors, technologists, futurists, digital creators, and cultural strategists.
The Experience
The retreat opened with a surprise.
On the first evening, participants were brought to the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum without prior explanation. They were handed silent disco headphones, divided into small groups, and guided through a large-scale audio immersion across the sculpture landscape.
Co-developed, sound designed, and directed by me in collaboration with Heidi Boisvert, the sound walk served as the conceptual threshold for the retreat. Drawing from hundreds of audio clips sourced from sci-fi film and television, the soundscape was mapped to Purifoy’s sculptures, with each site corresponding to a different speculative theme: systems collapse, climate crisis, authoritarian tech, alien futures, and collective repair.
Participants moved slowly through the desert, guided by voice, sound, and physical prompts that engaged the senses and encouraged reflection rather than interpretation. The sound walk established the retreat’s core framing: futures are not abstract. They are built from the materials, myths, and systems we inherit, and the stories we tell determine what gets carried forward.
From there, the retreat unfolded through workshops and collective labs exploring protopian futures, AI and creative labor, democratic technology, emotional intelligence, and non-Western approaches to futurism. Evenings centered around fireside conversations, allowing ideas to metabolize socially rather than performatively.
The retreat opened with a surprise.
On the first evening, participants were brought to the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Art Museum without prior explanation. They were handed silent disco headphones, divided into small groups, and guided through a large-scale audio immersion across the sculpture landscape.
Co-developed, sound designed, and directed by me in collaboration with Heidi Boisvert, the sound walk served as the conceptual threshold for the retreat. Drawing from hundreds of audio clips sourced from sci-fi film and television, the soundscape was mapped to Purifoy’s sculptures, with each site corresponding to a different speculative theme: systems collapse, climate crisis, authoritarian tech, alien futures, and collective repair.
Participants moved slowly through the desert, guided by voice, sound, and physical prompts that engaged the senses and encouraged reflection rather than interpretation. The sound walk established the retreat’s core framing: futures are not abstract. They are built from the materials, myths, and systems we inherit, and the stories we tell determine what gets carried forward.
From there, the retreat unfolded through workshops and collective labs exploring protopian futures, AI and creative labor, democratic technology, emotional intelligence, and non-Western approaches to futurism. Evenings centered around fireside conversations, allowing ideas to metabolize socially rather than performatively.
Outcomes
Futures Basecamp catalyzed meaningful mindset shifts among participants, many of whom described moving from fear or cynicism toward curiosity, agency, and creative optimism.
"Engaging with such passionate scientists and creative filmmakers at Futures Basecamp renewed my belief that, together, we can help craft a future defined by compassion and possibility." David Goyer - creator of the Blade trilogy, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, Foundation on AppleTV+, etc.
I really found it all to be thought-provoking and creatively invigorating. I feel empowered to think about the future in different ways because I have more information at my fingertips now. Angela Kang - Showrunner of The Walking Dead
In addition to highly positive reviews, other outcomes included:
Futures Basecamp catalyzed meaningful mindset shifts among participants, many of whom described moving from fear or cynicism toward curiosity, agency, and creative optimism.
"Engaging with such passionate scientists and creative filmmakers at Futures Basecamp renewed my belief that, together, we can help craft a future defined by compassion and possibility." David Goyer - creator of the Blade trilogy, Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, Man of Steel, Foundation on AppleTV+, etc.
I really found it all to be thought-provoking and creatively invigorating. I feel empowered to think about the future in different ways because I have more information at my fingertips now. Angela Kang - Showrunner of The Walking Dead
In addition to highly positive reviews, other outcomes included:
- Two new speculative story concepts funded through our Content Development Fund
- Deep cross-disciplinary relationships between writers, technologists, and futurists, which resulted in three participants: David S. Goyer, Lynn Renee Maxcy, and Randima Fernando joining as founders in the newly created Creators Coalition on AI, extending the retreat’s impact into ongoing public-facing collaboration
