In the year 2222, an elite group of students abandon their lives in the Metaverse, to go on a dangerous journey across an unfamiliar machine-driven landscape, to save humanity.
Feature film
Synopsis
Two hundred years in the future, humanity has retreated from a physical existence on a barren planet, to an almost permanent virtual existence in the Metaverse. Fifty billion live in unitised isolation, in sealed chambers knitted together into the beautiful and utopian Hive. Safe in their cells, attended by a personalised AI Guardian and a Mother android, people are finally free from suffering and live perfectly curated lives in virtual reality.
Technologically formidable, the Hive spans the globe, rising thousands of metres high and reaching deep into the oceans. This unified society is governed by conjoined twins Recto and Verso, rhadamanthine leaders answerable only to a council of philosophising intellectuals, The Rangatira, whose purpose is to deliver equality for all humans.
We follow the lives of a group of elite students, led by headstrong Kain and her self-indulgent boyfriend Lukasse, as they live their best virtual lives in the Hive, going from skiing to lectures to extravagant nightclubs, all in a single day. Yet Kain is tormented by fragmented dreams of an impossible childhood with a physical mother, a dangerous machine that can rebuild the planet and visions of complex mathematics that challenge accepted models. Kain is desperate to understand and connect to her past.
When an energy crisis threatens the future of humanity, Recto and Verso clash over how to save the populace. Recto uses Kain to find and unleash her mother’s machine, the Janus Device, that can split the universe into it’s infinite alternates and restore the planet to what could have been, had we made different choices. In doing so, he pits himself against his brother for the first time, and Kain’s journey becomes the focus of their conflict.
Thrust separately into a physical world that is alien to them, Kain and Lukasse navigate the treacherous terrain of the Hive and scorched earth beyond. Hunted by ruthless drones called Fidelity Seekers, they desperately seek the Janus Device and each other. They soon discover the darkest secrets of their world and realise it’s not as equal or perfect as it seems. But It’s not until they finally meet and experience the power of human touch, that they discover the greatest of all the things that have been lost.
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Finally..
..accolades and praise for Populus
Quarterfinalist of the 2022 ScreenCraft Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting Competition
..a very innovative reimagining of a robot-controlled future..full of inherently intelligent concepts treated with a tasteful whimsy, this manages to be both cerebral and fantastical..heady science fiction with YA/pop action, but the intelligence shines through the commerciality.
The Blacklist
This feels like such an intentionally crafted script. So much of the plot, setting and character development works really well. The world-building is tangible, grounded, and immersive. Any questions that arise about “why” and “how” feel answered in the script. Exposition is given skillfully and in a way that feels accessible.
WeScreenplay
..the world of POPULUS feels unique amongst other sci-fi worlds..the writer is able to balance world-building with interesting characters..what also really works are the attempts at philosophical meaning..
Industrial Scripts
This story is impressively nuanced and well-thought through..exciting and full of adventure..for production companies hunting down new franchise prospects, this script should be put on their radar.
The Blacklist
..the debate over whether the population is better off in a virtual reality or the real world will resonate with today’s society as we face issues such as global warming and the prospects of a Meta universe..
The Blacklist
Only in a metaworld can we achieve true equality for the human race, and finally be able to call ourselves ‘civilised’.
amalwriter 