“Consequence of a Cause” is a near-future contained sci-fi feature screenplay in development. Below is my pitch for the project, meant for producer’s eyes. I’m posting it because it’s an important project for me personally, and a story I feel our current society could benefit from.
You can also read about my motivations for writing this screenplay at “Consequence of a Cause – Origins”.
Logline:
Calvin has spent months in hospital confinement, due to being diagnosed with “Random Association Cognitive Dissonance” or RACD. Calvin must prove the soundness of his mind, against a system that deems his genetic and neurological condition to be a new and severe mental disorder.
Synopsis:
Locked away in the “Tecumseh Regional Clinic for Neurological Therapeutic Care”, 15-year-old Calvin has only one refuge, his imagination. Vivid day-dreams of hope for happiness, future successes, desperate revenge, and inescapable tragedy, compete for his mind’s attention. His imaginary vision of his adult self – strong, wise, and confident – serves as his only true confidant. “Adult Calvin” reasons with poor Calvin, as he suffers through dysfunctional group therapy, bureaucratic loop-holes, and the mental decline of his fellow patients.
Growing up an unusually bright and independent minded child, Calvin never really “fit in”. He was likeable, had plenty of friends, was great at reading people, but found the world to be a confusing and irrational place. His life was turned upside down, when the Government of Canada instituted a mandatory test for all adolescents the age of fifteen. A breakthrough in genetic research – through an international study of the genome – managed to link specific combinations of genes with neurological traits. It was now possible to determine neurological conditions with a simple blood test; this all resulted in Calvin being diagnosed with “Random Association Cognitive Dissonance”.
The clinic – located in the country-side outside of Windsor, Ontario – has been pushed past capacity. Patients between the ages of twelve and nineteen, with all manner of mental ailments, are treated here. Calvin is the only patient, admitted into this clinic, who has been diagnosed with RACD. Calvin keeps mostly to himself, believing he’s perfectly healthy and doesn’t belong here.
Calvin’s only close friend in the facility is 12-year-old Arabella. Arabella suffers from symptoms of hyperactivity and a lack of impulse control. Her quirky sense of humour and her genuinely kind heart, helps to put Calvin at ease… when she isn’t annoying the shit out of him. Calvin finds himself forced to confront clinic management, after he witnesses a female orderly sexually exploiting Arabella and a 14-year-old boy. Calvin’s heroism backfires, with Arabella and the boy being heavily medicated as a solution. His heart breaks when a lethargic Arabella admits she prefers living in the clinic over living with her abusive mother.
Everyday in the clinic, comes with a new trauma. Calvin is forced to take a medication that enhances concentration, but dulls his analytical mind and numbs his emotions. A random mood swing causes Calvin to flip out on a 17-year-old boy who has severe behavioural issues, contrasting his usually calm demeanour. Calvin – freaked out by the side effects – fakes taking the medication, in order to free his mind.
During an interview with the clinic’s director, Doctor Patterson, Calvin witnesses the usually attentive doctor’s attention hyper-focussed on his computer screen; a bottle of the meds, Calvin was prescribed, open on his desk. Patterson, soon after, is mysteriously replaced by a pious Doctor Levitt. Levitt, reveals her disdain for people with RACD, to Calvin, but can’t keep him in residence anymore. Calvin’s father had hired a lawyer to contest Calvin’s treatment, and Calvin is now allowed to go home, pending a trial.
Free to walk outside of the clinic for the first time in months, Calvin’s parents, brother, and sister, pick him up to take him home. Calvin’s older brother, Chase, reveals to Calvin that he heard about Dr. Patterson’s suicide on the news. Calvin never liked Patterson, but he never would have wished this on him. As they drive away, Calvin’s father, Derek, explains to his son that the he’s happy to have him back with them, but the legal battle is far from over.
As the car enters onto the highway, Calvin looks back at the clinic. He imagines a 50-foot “Adult Calvin” crushing the clinic under his foot. It’s nothing more than a wishful thought, and the clinic remains.
This one was personal:
I usually write zany dark comedies, or more involved science fiction pieces. This one was unusually dramatic for me. It was also a bit torturous to write. It was a story I was compelled to write, based on my own past.
When I was a child, maybe around 10-years-old, I was diagnosed with “Attention Deficit Disorder” without hyperactivity. The way I was treated in the school system, and my short run of medication, traumatized me deeply. My views on the politics behind ADD and ADHD aside, I wanted to hypothesize how far an ideology-driven near-future government could take things. Any traits deemed a liability to society labelled a disorder, and the citizens afflicted with this “disorder” being designated “in need of help”.
Many children in modern society, actually do need intervention and help, and this complicates things. It was important for me to have Calvin lost amongst teens who actually do need help. I also wanted to show how an institution can fail those other children as well, when “good intentions” are placed ahead of logic.
Hijacking identities:
Nowadays, “identity politics” are running rampant. It’s become far too convenient to classify people based on one or two genetic traits; to try to engineer society around the way we assume people to be. We are complex beings, and who we are depends on countless variables, both based on biology and environment.
When I was a kid, I watched the movie “Gattaca”. It had a profound impact on me, because I could see myself in Ethan Hawke’s character; always trying so hard, when the odds were stacked against me. “Consequence of a Cause” has similar themes. The idea that one’s place in society is determined by that person’s genetics, with choice/effort/accomplishments removed from the equation, is terrifying to me.