Classification: Human

Logline:
In a future where emotions are systematically assigned and regulated, a scarred man must express empathy to prove he's human — confronting the haunting repercussions of his childhood.

Synopsis:
Classification: Human is a minimalist, genre-bending sci-fi triptych about systemic recursion, emotional control, psychological compliance, and what remains when the system only cares about what you’re classified as — not why or how you got there.

It follows a man who can’t express the emotion required to prove he's human — a small failure that unravels an entire system built on engineered emotion and control, revealing the recursive origins of his humanity. The shortest work in my sci-fi anthology Affect Protocol, it's designed to hit hard and fast — a brief narrative with lasting weight.

Winner (Quarterly): Zepstone International Film Festival
Barnstorm Short List: 2025
Winner: Art Experimental Film Festival
Semi-Finalist: HorrorFest International Film Festival
Semi-Finalist: The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival
Finalist: New York Script Awards
Finalist: Oregon Short Film Festival
Finalist: Austin After Dark Film Festival
Finalist: International Indie Film & Screenplay Festival
Finalist: Dunwich Horror Fest
Finalist: Amazing Horror Fantasy Fest

  • Michael H. Moore
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Short Script
  • Genres:
    Sci-Fi, Psychological Horror, Experimental, Triptych, Speculative Fiction, Dark-Sci-Fi
  • Number of Pages:
    9
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Zepstone International Film Festival
    Salt Lake City, UT
    September 8, 2025
    Quarterly Winner Best Short Screenplay
  • Barnstorm Fest
    Los Angeles, CA
    December 30, 2025
    Short List
  • Art Experimental Film Festival
    Tbisili, Tbisili
    December 4, 2025
    Winner Best Screenplay
  • HorrorFest International Film Festival
    St. George, UT
    September 17, 2025
    Semi-Finalist Best Short Screenplay
  • The Vancouver Horror Show Film Festival
    Vancouver, British Columbia V5T 2K3
    October 15, 2025
    Semi-Finalist Best Short Screenplay
  • Oregon Short Film Festival
    Portland, OR
    January 18, 2026
    Finalist Best Short Screenplay Dark Sci-Fi
  • Chicago Script Awards
    Chicago, IL
    December 22, 2025
    Finalist Best Short Screenplay
  • New York Script Awards
    New York, NY
    August 6, 2025
    Finalist Best Short Screenplay
  • Austin After Dark Film Festival
    Austin, TX
    October 18, 2025
    Finalist Best Short Screenplay Dark Sci-Fi
  • International Indie Film & Screenplay Festival
    Paris, France
    September 8, 2025
    Finalist Best Short Screenplay
  • The Dunwich Horror Fest
    Dunwich, MA
    July 31, 2025
    Finalist Best Short Screenplay
  • Amazing Horror Fantasy Fest
    Buffalo, NY
    September 12, 2025
    Finalist Unproduced Short Screenplay
Writer Biography - Michael H. Moore

Michael Moore began writing in May 2025, having now completed 9 original short scripts in five months. His debut shorts have earned close to a 70% placement rate and 33% finalist/win rate across all submissions, with 8 festivals recognizing multiple scripts in the same competition. Notable recognitions include FilmQuest (Semi-Finalist; Quarter-Finalist), Flickers' Rhode Island (RIIFF) (2x Semi-Finalist), DIFF-Storyline (DaVinci Writers' Corner) (2x Finalist; 1 Semi-Finalist), HorrorFest International (Semi-Finalist), Glendale International Film Festival (2x Finalist), Vancouver Horror Show (Semi-Finalist; Quarter-Finalist), Filmmatic TV Pilot Awards (Semi-Finalist), and Wins at The New York Sci-Fi and Horror Festival and Zepstone International.

Collective Unknown is his anthology featuring emotionally resonant short scripts that explore buried memory, recursion, and the hidden artifacts that echo across time. It blends sci-fi with dark comedy and psychological tension, with philosophical undercurrents — at times reimagining mythologized events in uncanny new lights.

Affect Protocol is the second anthology series in development, forcing us to confront whether emotion and empathy are more beneficial or threatening in a world built on systematic and technological control. Identity, class systems, and weaponization or erasure of feeling all get examined through vastly different sci-fi landscapes.

Wrench Kings is his original long form grounded sci-fi series in development. It's set in a post-automation future ruled by labor/working class guilds rather than wealth, exploring a world rebuilt by the very people society once discarded — scavengers, machinists, growers, healers, and builders — after artificial intelligence failed the former ruling class.

As a newer voice in this space, his goal is to share work that engages both thoughtful genre audiences and industry professionals looking for fresh, emotionally intelligent storytelling.

Drawing from lived experience and thematic curiosity, Michael’s work interrogates what it means to stay human, and what or who decides. His stories are cinematic, layered, and emotionally restrained — designed to linger long after the final frame.

Add Writer Biography
Writer Statement

I write to explore the systems dictating our lives, whether shaped by nature or humanity. Our world's contradictions, values, unknowns…and quiet horrors. If a work leaves you unsettled or questioning what it means to be human, it's doing its job.

As a newer voice in this space, my goal is to share work that engages both thoughtful genre audiences and industry professionals looking for fresh, emotionally intelligent storytelling.