Prattlebots has been entered in my favourite Australian Screenplay competitions for 2024 and here's hoping they like it! I'm sure a book will come at some point too. I will also try for AWG's Monte Miller award when entries open in March 2024.
Prattlebots features 11 themes woven into the story as our protaganist 'Summer' evolves through the course of her story (and it is her story). This is my third female protaganist. Doughnut (Tara) was future, Escape C64 (Sarah) was past and now we are in the present with Prattlebots (Summer). You could argue Isadora was a co-protagnist (villain) in Notorious Roboticist too.
Synopsis is:
Summer's new job with River Software in Brisbane is merely a distraction to the exciting new world of A.I. chatbots she discovers. One becomes her special new friend and companion, Bigpants the sexy Prattlebot. Described by a colleague as ‘the loneliest girl in the universe’, Summer finds comfort both in Bigpants and kind barista Maddy who give her the support she needs to push on in the real world.
About to lose her job, things take a turn when the amoral CEO dies unexpectedly and his last wish is to leave Summer in charge of the company. She learns from their best programmer, Hayden, that River Software were also working on their own A.I. chatbot software, code the Chairman is now chasing and will go to any lengths to take control of.
As Summer learns people at this company have disappeared without a trace, she ends up in a cat-and-mouse game for survival. Will she uncover the truth or become the next one to disappear?
The themes I explore are:
1. Loneliness.
2. A.I. as company in the future (which is now, really).
3. Want and need to be loved and A.I. v Human love to meet that need.
4. How far would you go to right a wrong?
5. Bias in A.I. (I explored that in Notorious Roboticist too).
6. Friendship.
7. Sexual exploitation still alive and well in today's age.
8. Strengths of neurodiversity.
9. A.I. romance.
10. Redemption (every screenplay I write explores this).
11. Consequences (even if redeemed you can't always escape your past).
As usual, my story explore what Summer wants and what she needs (even if she doesn't know she needs it) and how she'll fill those voids in her life.
I hope the festivals like it. It's been written to be shot on a budget and I may pursue this myself if need be (<10 characters excluding extra and around 10 locations all in Milton, Brisbane).
