The Continuum: Screenplay Synopsis
Proposed title:
THE CONTINUUM
[*All Rights Reserved]
©️J.Anthony
In the not-so-distant future of 2256, a single dad (Andrew) with a teenage daughter (Asha) is at the mercy of an evil, money-hungry society. Asha has come down with a new form of cancer that is common in this time. Cancer and other illnesses are introduced into children in mandatory flu shots for population control; the general public is aware of this, but can do nothing about it.
In order to save her, he must pay the corrupt government 35 life credits (equal to 350 million dollars today). With the advancements in technology and science, the ones in power have the ability to keep people living longer (it is believed they can live up to 250 years). Each credit represents one year of life the government will completely provide the basics for, but they have made it impossible for the average person to live longer than 80 years (health problems cost credits to fix, luxuries spend fractions of your credits, etc.). However, the higher levels of society, the 1%, can live longer; the more credits you possess the longer you live. Only big business heads and government officials have this privilege in the future. This system has been put in place so that only the highest level of society will live and procreate; in this future, money has become the form of natural selection.
To find solace in this tyrannical society, some of the general population has turned to achieving a higher state of consciousness to escape their repressed, horrible reality for brief moments using high-level virtual reality meditation. They hold meetings and practices online in a virtual interactive projected congregation to tap into a higher source of awareness. This intrigues Andrew; he is convinced that time is cyclic (a repetitive circle), and mapping out time travel through this type of meditation is achievable. His friends and family believe him to be insane; his younger brother Gabriel gives him a hard time, but in the back of his mind he believes his brother may be onto something.
Andrew works at a bureau that oversees the process of automated stock exchanges. In this time, big businesses run the stock market using computer programs designed to benefit themselves and the government. The days of entrepreneurs are no more. As his daughter Asha grows more and more sick, he becomes obsessed with the thought of time travel. He starts looking into stock market spikes in the past and finds the perfect scenario in the year 2003 to make the exact amount of money he needs to keep her alive. Using ancient eastern meditation coupled with modern consciousness, and aided by technology advancements in neurological cognitive cerebral interface and virtual reality aspects, he achieves time travel by opening a dimensional portal that transforms the world around him to the exact time in history. Although he’s achieved time travel, the mental capacity and the physical strain it took on his body was great, and he speculates he will only be able to travel one more time: back to his own time (the human body and mind has not evolved to comprehend or physically withstand multiple time portal leaps).
THE CONTINUUM
[*All Rights Reserved]
©️J.Anthony
In the not-so-distant future of 2256, a single dad (Andrew) with a teenage daughter (Asha) is at the mercy of an evil, money-hungry society. Asha has come down with a new form of cancer that is common in this time. Cancer and other illnesses are introduced into children in mandatory flu shots for population control; the general public is aware of this, but can do nothing about it.
In order to save her, he must pay the corrupt government 35 life credits (equal to 350 million dollars today). With the advancements in technology and science, the ones in power have the ability to keep people living longer (it is believed they can live up to 250 years). Each credit represents one year of life the government will completely provide the basics for, but they have made it impossible for the average person to live longer than 80 years (health problems cost credits to fix, luxuries spend fractions of your credits, etc.). However, the higher levels of society, the 1%, can live longer; the more credits you possess the longer you live. Only big business heads and government officials have this privilege in the future. This system has been put in place so that only the highest level of society will live and procreate; in this future, money has become the form of natural selection.
To find solace in this tyrannical society, some of the general population has turned to achieving a higher state of consciousness to escape their repressed, horrible reality for brief moments using high-level virtual reality meditation. They hold meetings and practices online in a virtual interactive projected congregation to tap into a higher source of awareness. This intrigues Andrew; he is convinced that time is cyclic (a repetitive circle), and mapping out time travel through this type of meditation is achievable. His friends and family believe him to be insane; his younger brother Gabriel gives him a hard time, but in the back of his mind he believes his brother may be onto something.
Andrew works at a bureau that oversees the process of automated stock exchanges. In this time, big businesses run the stock market using computer programs designed to benefit themselves and the government. The days of entrepreneurs are no more. As his daughter Asha grows more and more sick, he becomes obsessed with the thought of time travel. He starts looking into stock market spikes in the past and finds the perfect scenario in the year 2003 to make the exact amount of money he needs to keep her alive. Using ancient eastern meditation coupled with modern consciousness, and aided by technology advancements in neurological cognitive cerebral interface and virtual reality aspects, he achieves time travel by opening a dimensional portal that transforms the world around him to the exact time in history. Although he’s achieved time travel, the mental capacity and the physical strain it took on his body was great, and he speculates he will only be able to travel one more time: back to his own time (the human body and mind has not evolved to comprehend or physically withstand multiple time portal leaps).
In Andrew’s time, there’s no such thing as paper money- everything is digital. When he emerges in the past, he must scrape up paper money living on the streets, where he meets a woman that runs a homeless shelter (Micaela Blackwood). Andrew falls in love with Micaela, and confides in her the story of his discovery of time travel and his daughter’s condition, hence why he needs to get back to his time and earn enough money to save her. To achieve this, he poses as a stock trader online and, within a few weeks (having the exact stocks to trade from his historical stock market archives file), makes what he needs to keep his daughter alive. Micaela agrees that her bloodline will hold the money in a trust fund, and she gives Andrew her word that the money will be safe to save his daughter in the future.
The FBI gets word of his sudden fortune (he turned a mere $800 into 350 million in just two weeks) and believe it to be foul play. They arrest Andrew and threaten to sentence him to a life in prison unless he gives up his sources for the inside trading. Andrew, in interrogation, confesses to his achievement of time travel and why he needs the money. Obviously they did not believe him and thought he was insane.Trying to plea-bargain for his release, he gives them the formula for the cure for AIDS and the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden (common information he remembered from his history books and science class in school). They halfheartedly recorded the information but believed, of course, that it was a lie. A rookie agent assigned to the investigation team, agent Reinhardt, was still determined (like the rest of the team) to sentence him to jail despite the evidence, although was struggling with his resolve because some past experiences made him want to believe what he was hearing. Andrew does end up being sentenced to jail with a one million dollar bail amount.
Micaela was from a well-to-do family from the oil rich lands of Texas, and had a large inheritance that she used periodically to help others in need and to fund her homeless shelter in New York City. Micaela anonymously pays the bail with the last of her inheritance so Andrew could make his escape back to his time, never telling him that it was her that got him out.
It broke Andrew’s heart to leave Micaela, but he knew her mind and her physical body would not withstand time travel (she was not as advanced biologically as he was), and Micaela understood this. She also needed to stay in her time so the money would be available to him in his time.
Traveling back to his time took even more of a toll on his body and mind… He made it back, but didn’t know if his time travelling experience was real or just a dream. Days went by, and he convinced himself he had just hallucinated the whole thing. Sitting at the bedside of his daughter Asha, watching her die (crushed and uncontrollably sobbing), a voice came from the doorway of the hospital room like a Godsend. A stunning young woman walks in; they meet eyes like they have met each other a million times before. She explains to him that her family has passed on this “silly legend” about meeting a man named Andrew at this exact time and hospital bed. She admits that she didn’t think it was true, but something told her that she needed to be here. As they intently hold each other’s gaze, he holds out his hand; she extends her hand to his and they know in that moment that their souls are internally connected through all of time. She tells him that she needs a code to unlock the funds to make the transfer into his account. Urgently, she says she doesn’t know the code, and that her great-great-grandmother insisted that the man at the hospital would know it. His face went blank- he desperately tried to remember if Micaela had ever told him a code of any kind. A smile comes over his face... He remembers that he and Micaela playfully would make a wish on 11:11 (flashing back in his mind to the sweet times they had had together). He tells the young woman to input 1111. She transfers the life credits into his account, and he calls for the doctor, explaining that he now has the credits to save her. The doctor (looking skeptical), asks for the credits to be transferred to the hospital, and with one fell swoop 35 credits rushed out of his life credit account and into the hospital’s account, leaving him with only one life credit.
From that point on the whole mood of the hospital changed; she gets top care and the family was treated like royalty. Asha quickly starts making a recovery, implying they had the power to save her all along but they would only try if there was money in it.
With his daughter saved, and his soulmate by his side, he looks down without regret to the one credit left in his life account. The young woman sees this, and looks into his eyes, transfering ten of her life credits to his account, leaving her with only eleven life credits. They both look down at their devices and see that their life credits are equal (11-11).
Micaela was from a well-to-do family from the oil rich lands of Texas, and had a large inheritance that she used periodically to help others in need and to fund her homeless shelter in New York City. Micaela anonymously pays the bail with the last of her inheritance so Andrew could make his escape back to his time, never telling him that it was her that got him out.
It broke Andrew’s heart to leave Micaela, but he knew her mind and her physical body would not withstand time travel (she was not as advanced biologically as he was), and Micaela understood this. She also needed to stay in her time so the money would be available to him in his time.
Traveling back to his time took even more of a toll on his body and mind… He made it back, but didn’t know if his time travelling experience was real or just a dream. Days went by, and he convinced himself he had just hallucinated the whole thing. Sitting at the bedside of his daughter Asha, watching her die (crushed and uncontrollably sobbing), a voice came from the doorway of the hospital room like a Godsend. A stunning young woman walks in; they meet eyes like they have met each other a million times before. She explains to him that her family has passed on this “silly legend” about meeting a man named Andrew at this exact time and hospital bed. She admits that she didn’t think it was true, but something told her that she needed to be here. As they intently hold each other’s gaze, he holds out his hand; she extends her hand to his and they know in that moment that their souls are internally connected through all of time. She tells him that she needs a code to unlock the funds to make the transfer into his account. Urgently, she says she doesn’t know the code, and that her great-great-grandmother insisted that the man at the hospital would know it. His face went blank- he desperately tried to remember if Micaela had ever told him a code of any kind. A smile comes over his face... He remembers that he and Micaela playfully would make a wish on 11:11 (flashing back in his mind to the sweet times they had had together). He tells the young woman to input 1111. She transfers the life credits into his account, and he calls for the doctor, explaining that he now has the credits to save her. The doctor (looking skeptical), asks for the credits to be transferred to the hospital, and with one fell swoop 35 credits rushed out of his life credit account and into the hospital’s account, leaving him with only one life credit.
From that point on the whole mood of the hospital changed; she gets top care and the family was treated like royalty. Asha quickly starts making a recovery, implying they had the power to save her all along but they would only try if there was money in it.
With his daughter saved, and his soulmate by his side, he looks down without regret to the one credit left in his life account. The young woman sees this, and looks into his eyes, transfering ten of her life credits to his account, leaving her with only eleven life credits. They both look down at their devices and see that their life credits are equal (11-11).
A tear of joy runs down her face as she realizes it was meant to be this way all along.
(Open ended for a sequel)
Characters designated for character development:
Andrew (Main lead)
Michaela Blackwood (Supporting lead)
Asha (Daughter)
Gabriel (Brother)
Agent Reinhardt (FBI Agent)
Based off the urban legend of the time traveling stock trader in 2003 (see video below).
(Open ended for a sequel)
Characters designated for character development:
Andrew (Main lead)
Michaela Blackwood (Supporting lead)
Asha (Daughter)
Gabriel (Brother)
Agent Reinhardt (FBI Agent)
Based off the urban legend of the time traveling stock trader in 2003 (see video below).
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