Miko Was Here is an animated 160-minute fantasy adventure.
Set aboard a ghostly tankship at sea and inspired by the supernatural
tales of that setting, we explore the vast depth of the extraordinary
unknown.
The feeling of wonder as Chihiro crosses the riverbed in Spirited Away...
the lonely solitude that Kiki endures in Kiki’s Delivery Service... the dreamy
other-world of The Boy and the Heron...
Emotional, meditative, and rooted in character, Miko Was Here is a love
letter to the great animator Hayao Miyazaki and the Japanese folktales
that inspired him.
Sea stories have always captured the imagination of the public.
We’ve seen the most well-known, Moby Dick and Life Of Pi,
represented on film and television. But the story of Urashima
Tarō, familiar to most Japanese children, remains unexplored.
The title character, a fisherman on the Japanese coast, is
rewarded for rescuing a turtle and is escorted by spirits to the
Dragon Palace beneath the sea. He spends what he believes
to be several days there, but when he returns to his home
village, he discovers he has been gone for at least a century.
Variations of the story differ in the fate of the protagonist. Some say he
transforms into an old man. Some say he transforms into a crane.
We have a different ending in mind...
We begin in Los Angeles during the afternoon of December 31st, a
few hours before the city welcomes the New Year. Dozens of tanker
ships come through the port uninterrupted by the celebrations.
On this very evening, a young girl and a skilled diver, MIKO,
celebrates her last night. Her decision to move cities has
a devastating effect on her friends, but none more than
HIBISCUS, her closest friend. We watch their tearful goodbye
and follow Miko to the ocean, where she swims one last time.
As she dives deeper into the ocean, a large tanker ship makes a sudden
appearance nearly killing her. Miko climbs aboard and discovers an
unnerving truth: the ship is empty and piloting itself into the dark
seas. Alone and far from home, Miko finds herself an exile at sea.
Over the course of the series, the ship, named MIDNIGHT, will
carry Miko deeper into another bizarre realm. Marine litter
will come to life. Strange spirits will sail with Miko. Temples
and cities will be uncovered. The ocean will host all imaginable
seasons and weather. Miko will glimpse into the endless blue
world of the spirits and wonder...
how far away is home now?
In order to return home, Miko must venture deeper into this unfamiliar
world and learn not only to survive and sail...but to keep herself
hopeful.
Miko Was Here will be structured like a film, but broken down into four episodes. There will be a
definitive beginning, middle, and end. There will be no loose ends after the finale, and our sole character
will have a complete arc.
EPISODE ONE will depict the “abduction” of Miko and the discovery of the peculiar nature of the ghost
ship. Miko will explore the empty bridge and deck to find a cargo container full of living trash and its ghost
protector. Miko will try to run and hide, only to find herself face to face with the ghost. The ship, MIDNIGHT,
will sail through the night with an unexplainable sentience. By the end of the episode, Miko will be left with all
sorts of questions: who is the ghost, what brought the trash to life, where is home, and why is the ship empty?
EPISODE TWO will cut forward a few months to an increasingly “haunted” ship, raising the stakes as
Miko desperately attempts to keep herself alive. Mysteriously, food and water are not a necessity aboard
the ship, only weather and loneliness threaten her livelihood. We will also delve deeper into the inner
mechanics of the tanker ship, and Miko will uncover the source of the ghosts and more answers to
her questions. This episode will end with Miko discovering the captain of the ship, a ghost named Oto.
EPISODE THREE will, again, cut forward a few months, as we look into the contentious relationship
between Miko and Oto. We learn that, in order to pass over the captaincy of the ship, Oto had purposefully
abducted Miko. They encounter other ships and strange, beautiful environments filled with spirits.
Harsh weather strains the ship’s capabilities. Without working together survival is not improbable,
but impossible. Angered by Oto, Miko abandons Midnight to stow away on an oil rig passing by.
EPISODE FOUR will climax with Miko’s journey home. Aboard the oil rig, Miko works in horrid conditions alongside
other ghosts. Oto keeps her ship, Midnight, close to Miko in hopes of her return. In a boat of her own construction, Miko
escapes the rig and sails it back to Midnight, taking a crew of ghost refugees with her. Miko accepts captaincy over the ship
on the condition that Oto helps her sail home. After several months, Miko finds her home but upon disembarking discovers
that nobody can see her. She learns that a century has passed and her friends and family have perished. With nothing left
to return to, Miko rejoins the ghost crew of Midnight and becomes her captain, set to explore the seas forever.
The visuals will be stylistic, distinctive, and uniquely hand
crafted. With a combination of live-action and animation,
real actors will be composited and styled against painted
backgrounds.
Since Miko Was Here takes inspiration from Japanese maritime fiction,
the style will take inspiration from woodblock prints,
giving the show a pronounced “physical” feeling.
While this will create a special look, the visuals must never
overwhelm the story or character; Studio Ghibli’s films have a certain
timeless quality to them, and we will strive for the same.
The soundtrack should feel as whimsically haunting as the
spirits aboard the ship. Inspired by the sound and philosophy
of musique concrète, the music will manipulate environmental
sounds, natural sounds, noises, and human voices into a
symphony of sounds, blending score with sound design.
The adventure of Miko Was Here is solitary—but surrounded by
life. Ghosts, creatures, ships, the spirit realm...
we want to use Miko’s journey alone to ground the vibrance of the fantastical world.
Our perspective throughout the show will remain fixed on Miko
and her emotions, finding moments of introspection through
solitude. Her desperate attempt to establish a routine while at sea
will be shattered by new disruptions. Following the Eastern belief
that daily chores nourish the soul, we plan to represent a variety
of cleaning, exercise, and work required to keep the ship afloat.
The show will also prominently feature the rare natural beauty
of our world. Auroras, red sprites (upper-atmospheric lightning),
water sky, moonbows, mirages, broken specters... Our character
will encounter these real phenomena as well as real man-made
horrors: oil rigs, ghost nets, garbage patches, and debris. How do
you cope with the abundance of both beauty and the grotesque?
And in the end, what can you do about it?
The People
MIKO is a late teenager. She’s a well-liked girl, but feels
restless in the city filled with trash and grime. She’s moved
around and has called many places home. She escapes the
noise of the world by diving for trash off the coast of the city
and selling salvaged metals to the local recycling center.
She spends time with her best friend Hibiscus, a girl less
outgoing than Miko, but confident in her principles. When
Miko finds herself an exile at sea, she’ll discover a real
purpose and even find a place to call home forever.
HIBISCUS, the same age, is Miko’s best friend. She’s
comfortable where she is and always reminds Miko to be
humble. Initially taken aback by Miko’s decision to leave,
she comes to accept her friend’s departure. As a result
of Miko’s abduction, Hibiscus will never see her friend
again.
The Spirits
CAPTAIN OTO was the owner of a trashed tanker ship
named Midnight. Her eternal spirit has been linked to the
reanimated Midnight, bound by the ghost ship to travel
the seas. She has been searching for a protégé to take over
the captaincy and protect the spirits and creatures aboard
the ship. During her travels, she comes across Miko, a
diver cleaning the ocean floor, and is certain that she is
the future captain of the ship. Without any real ability to
communicate, she abducts Miko and hopes that she can
persuade the girl to take over her role. While her tactics
are questionable, her intentions are to protect all she takes
under her care.
GHOSTS are the embodiment of forgotten objects. Their
life is defined by the cycle of day and night: during the
night, they wrangle their belongings and seek to acquire
more; during the day, they hide from their belongings
which seek to cannibalize their spirit. This repetition of
acquisition and consumption defines their existence...
but when given a fitting job, the ghosts find harmony and
stability through their labor.
The Ship
MIDNIGHT is a large multi-purpose tanker ship based
on the TT Seawise Giant, the longest self-propelled ship
in history. She was converted into a floating storage and
offloading unit for trash, but drifted out to sea, never to
be found again. Being adrift for so long, she became a
ghost ship, becoming a refuge for lost souls. She requires
much daily maintenance to keep afloat. She is home to
countless refugee spirits and stowaways. She will never
drop anchor, will never take the shortest path, and will
always seek adventure.
Even though Miko Was Here is designed as a limited series,
the story can be exhibited as both a series and a feature.
Additionally, the story of Miko can continue in subsequent
installments. The hypothetical sequel will take place on the same
ship, only centuries later, as Miko seeks a captain to replace her.
Our perspective will remain on Miko and she is placed in the
same situation as Oto was. This will allow us to explore many
of the same characters, themes, and wonder from the original
series, but with a new sci-fi twist and a fresh set of faces.
Credits
Miko is played by Judy Song.
Hibiscus is played by Selma Elbalalesy.
Directed and written by Kai Tattersall.
Creative direction by Valerie Jackson.
Produced by Bijan Kazerooni, Zarye Wossene.
Co-produced by Sami Martin Sarmiento, Max Von Der Horst, Mitchell Crispi
Director of Photography: Jeremy Kemp.
Gaffer: Mitchell Crispi.
Grip: Jason O'Connor, Ghina Luthfiya.
Sound Recordest: Scott Johnson.
Performance Director: Max Von Der Horst.
Casting Assistant: Cas Pryer.
Assistant Director: Valerie Jackson.
Costume Designer: Sami Martin Sarmiento.
Hair and Makeup: Camilah Leclère.
Music: Myles Ortiz-Green.
Edit: Kai Tattersall.
Sound Design: Kai Tattersall.
Clothing provided by:
United Nude
Echo Park Surf Squad
Sylvester Cetina
