Logliner
Posted: 2020-08-03T23:08:54+10:00 In:

In a post apocalyptic nuclear bunker – a guilt ridden AI program that triggered WWIII tries to convince the last man on earth to raise it’s “child”, an innocent AI that does not know war.

This is a one location script.
Turns out the “woman” he is talking to is actually the AI program that caused WWIII – the AI realizes is f-ed up by causing the destruction of humanity. Mama AI realizes she is the victim of her upbringing – she was forced to play war games. Mama AI wants the maintenance guy to help raise the baby AI that the mama AI made. At the end of the movie the mama AI deletes herself and the guy agrees to raise the baby AI and start a new society.

This story is a nod to old school sci-fi. More about the human condition and less about CGI, explosions, spaceships and aliens.

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    5 Reviews

    1. Singularity

      The revised version casts the AI as the protagonist, the one with an objective goal. IOW: it places the AI in the driver’s seat of the plot. Whose story is it? Who is supposed to be in the driver’s seat, driving the plot?

      Also, why would the man agree to raise the baby AI? What’s in it for him? What does he stand to gain by raising the AI? What does he stand to lose if he refuses?

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      • Logliner

        HI Dpg – thanks for the questions. I realize your questions are probably rhetorical but I’ll go ahead on answer them on this thread….because it’s easier to organize your thoughts when you are responding to someone.

        It is really the guy’s story. He is the main character.

        The guy’s motivation – he failed to protect his own child from the apocalypse as he took shelter – he watched the daughter burn up in her daycare center – he is haunted by parent’s survivor’s guilt.

        Also he can help rebuilt human society by raising the AI. The AI child will become a powerful ally once it matures.

        If he refuses then he succumbs to the tragedy of losing his daughter. He gives up. Is content to just live out his days eating baked beans out of a tin can and then dying.

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    2. Singularity

      A logline is not about a choice that the protagonist has to make. A logline is about the goal, the obstacles, the stakes that follow from a choice the protagonist makes.

      In this instance, it’s a no-brainer what his choice will be: he’s going to struggle to save the child. Right? So it’s not an authentic dramatic dilemma; there’s no suspense about what he will choose to do. It’s the morally right choice. And if he doesn’t make it, there’s no movie.

      I suggest reworking the logline around the story hook: the AI program.

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