Stephen Portland on Universal: Junk DNA, Hidden Codes, and One Night That Changes Everything

What if a discovery hidden within our DNA could change everything we thought we knew about ourselves?

On this episode of Filmmaker Mixer, we sit down with writer-director Stephen Portland to discuss his mind-bending new film Universal—a sci-fi thriller grounded in very real genetic science. The film follows Leo and Naomi, a British academic couple spending a romantic weekend in a remote cabin. But when a mysterious woman appears claiming to have found a secret code embedded in the so-called “junk” DNA, their quiet getaway turns into a night of revelations, arguments, and moral dilemmas that could shake the foundations of humanity.

We talk with Portland about the genesis of the story, the scientific theories that inspired the script, crafting a contained yet high-stakes narrative, and why great sci-fi always begins with character.