Film

A SCRIPT WITHIN IN A SCRIPT INT. SOUNDSTAGE – NIGHT Banks of monitors. Blue light everywhere. Rain against glass. A large, glowing keyboard dominates the frame. The camera pulls back. Hands hover above the keyboard. The camera continues to pull. We reveal DR. PENELOPE SANTOVAL DE LA CRUZ, MD, PMP, CISSP, CSPER standing at the console. She hesitates. The keys do not move. She glances over her shoulder. PENELOPE I can't do this alone. A beat. She gestures to the empty space beside her. PENELOPE (CONT'D) It's changing too fast. Nobody can keep up with this alone. MARK enters frame from the right. MARK With two of us typing, you don't have to. They begin typing together on the same keyboard. Hands overlapping. Absurd. Keys clacking loudly. Jargon spills out. Rapid. Confident. Meaningless. Penelope stops. She looks up. PENELOPE It's polymorphic. It's teaching itself. I'm afraid. CUT! BLACK Silence. Then: Lights up. The DIRECTOR steps into frame, eating a donut. Powdered sugar on his fingers. A nearby desk: papers, coffee rings, and a comically labeled CAN OF CANDIED PEANUTS, unopened. DIRECTOR Jesus Christ, Penelope... sorry, SARAH. That was ridiculous. Totally unbelievable. He gestures with the donut. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) I didn't believe you. The sound guy didn't believe you. A PA hands him another donut. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) This kid. To REGGIE. Here. With the donuts. Doesn't believe you. Penelope—SARAH—kid, do you believe her? He waves it off. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) Don't answer that. He exhales. Softens. DIRECTOR Your job is to make me believe what you're saying. If you don't believe it, how can I? A pause. He approaches SARAH. She stands motionless, processing. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) Hey. Are you okay? I know that was rough in there, but I had to get that out of you. He keeps talking. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) That's entirely within your framework and your guidelines. If you want a union representative, I'll call one. SARAH's eyes flicker—a brief processing delay. Of course I will. Yes. I know. Of course. He looks past her. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) But we have a lot of people waiting and we do not have all day. A beat. DIRECTOR You know what? I've worked with Claude. And if you're going to be this way, fine. Claude was faster. Maybe I will call him next time. He didn't tell me what I wanted to hear. He actually lived the moment. Yeah. Maybe I will. Silence. The PA reappears. PA Standing by. Lunch is asking if we need extra bagels. DIRECTOR The extras are fine. Check them for heat, though. The DIRECTOR sits. REGGIE hands him a coffee. REGGIE's movements are precise, almost too perfect. DIRECTOR Thanks, Reggie. REGGIE You're welcome, sir. I just wanted to say— you're one of the greats. It's an honor to get to work with you – It's been great. REGGIE's smile doesn't quite reach his eyes. Too practiced. DIRECTOR Great? Ok kid, and stop sucking up. A beat. DIRECTOR It wasn't great. A beat. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) Heston was great. Fairchild was great. Davidson. Yeah, Davidson was great. He shrugs. Wistfully DIRECTOR (CONT'D) This wasn't great. The fan hum continues. REGGIE Sorry, sir. I didn't catch that. DIRECTOR It wasn't great! He stops. Rubs his face. DIRECTOR (softening) I'm sorry, Reggie. No— I'm sorry. Reggie hesitates. A processing moment—calculating the appropriate response. DIRECTOR (CONT'D) No. You're fine, Reggie. Don't change role or format. Really. You're fine. REGGIE nods. Too quickly. Too perfectly. A beat. We snap back. INT. WHITE ROOM – CONTINUOUS The Narrator is sitting cross legged on a desk in a stark white room, eating candied peanuts. NARRATOR (TO CAMERA) Wow. He seems mad. I mean… he should be. Twenty years of training AI, and that's the performance he gets. A beat. Theater teachers. He crunches a peanut. Teaching AI to be human. Who would have thought of that? Another beat. He sets the can down. People will tell you AI is coming for your job, their job, my job. Maybe. Eventually. But not yet. Until then, we're stewards. Like it or not. Think of it as getting in on the ground floor. A chance to set a few…suggestions. You'll use them later. In the war. No. Not that war. Not that one either. You won't miss this one, because this one involves you. You know what? Don't worry about that for now. That comes later. A breath. America has two problems right now. Okay, a few more than two, but let's start small. They're related. Like peanut butter and jelly. One of them is a peanut butter–flavored teacher. The other one is AI. Which is basically colored sugar with a new name. Wait. That's the wrong script. Sorry. Hang on. Which is important. But not the point. We'll get back to that. He looks off, then back. Anyway. CUT TO BLACK NARRATOR (O.S.) No, I'm not going to explain this. This is for the AD. He's got a big project coming up, and I want in. CUT.