Filmmaking sister duo Marlee and Karlee Roberts had their one-hour drama pilot teleplay “Unnatural Selection” selected as a finalist for the Humanitas Carol Mendelsohn College Drama Fellowship. Marlee is pursuing her graduate studies at USC in Entrepreneurship and Innovation within the entertainment industry, while Karlee just finished her master’s degree at Columbia University.
Humanitas is a non-profit organization that honors and empowers film and television writers whose work explores the human condition in a nuanced, meaningful way that brings the global community closer. The overarching goal of Humanitas is to promote peace and love in the human family, one story at a time.
“We are honored to be considered for a fellowship that shares our values in exploring the human condition and questions our individual responsibility [among] a global community,” Marlee said.
The fellowship exists to recognize and reward the talents of young writers, empowering them to tell meaningful stories. The fellowship is thanks to a generous endowment from acclaimed television writer and producer Carol Mendelsohn, best known for her work on the crime drama “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” which was once ranked as the top-watched TV show in the world.
“Unnatural Selection” explores the ethical, social and legal ramifications of using emerging biotechnology to alter DNA. The story is told through the lens of a strong-willed single mom and CEO of a leading United States fertility clinic that has made in vitro gene-editing accessible to patients, eradicating preventable diseases. Alongside the ability to alter DNA, however, comes the difficult questions about their ethical implications.
“The show taps into themes of motherhood, nature vs. nurture and control, as it explores the disconnect of a family with differing political views, access to healthcare, the role of media influencing public opinion and increased anxiety in a society heading towards achieving ‘perceived’ perfection through technology,” Marlee said.
Karlee further elaborates, “We believe it is crucial to tell the gene-editing narrative, particularly in vitro, through a female lens, an extension of the debate over the rights women have to their bodies.”
Karlee shared that her inspiration for the pilot came about during an existential crisis she had while sitting in a sociology class learning about gene-editing. She called Marlee to debrief the notion that humans are living in a time where they can control their own evolution. Writing the teleplay allowed the sisters to grapple with endless moral questions about ground-breaking technology by imagining scenarios through various character perspectives.
The pilot has garnered recognition on both coasts where “Unnatural Selection” won the Guy Gallo Memorial Screenwriting Award and was a finalist for Columbia University’s Innovation Grant.
Marlee and Karlee Roberts, known collectively as the Roberts Sisters, direct, produce and write for film and television. Through their work, they unravel notions of femininity in various cultural constructs. Their critically acclaimed debut feature film, Little Miss Perfect, premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and the DGA Theater in New York. It has garnered multiple awards, including “Best Screenplay”, “Best Actress” and the “Grand Jury Prize” at festivals nationwide and was released domestically and internationally following its festival run.
Most recently, Marlee was selected to participate in the 2020 Women in Film Mentorship Program, and Karlee served as a delegate to the United Nations x Friendship Ambassadors Foundation 26th Youth Assembly.
For more information about their upcoming work, visit www.robertsgroupco.com.