ALICE IN MODERN WONDERLAND

(Draft)

A Short Film

By Kira Bronfain
INT. APARTMENT - BED - EARLY MORNING

ALISA wakes up, looks at the clock on the nightstand, smiles at the thought of
something. Alisa is twenty five years old, a mix of a pretty librarian and a grunge kid?
She grabs a handheld device (iPhone or similar). There is an incoming text message from
LUXMan37.

LuxMan37

Today is the day.

Alisa smiles joyfully confirmatively.

ALISA

Yes, today is the day.

INT. APARTMENT – BEDROOM – MINUTES LATER

There is a happy anticipation and a feel motion in the air. The room’s ambiance is high-
tech with a laptop and other slick electronic devices. The wall above her workspace
features an MIT diploma.

Alisa moves around the room energetically. Passes a wall mirror and glances at herself.
Her glaze shifts to a large garment bag hanging on a wooden hanger over the closet door
next to the mirror. She looks at the bag intensely for a long moment. We do not know
what the garment bag contains.

INT. APARTMENT – BATHROOM – MINUTES LATER

Alisa jumps into the shower, runs the water, soaps up, shaves, exfoliates, while humming
an undistinguishable song.

INT. APARTMENT – BATHROOM

She gets out of the shower, dries herself with a fluffy towel. In front of the mirror, she
begins carefully applying make up. The energetic beat keeps playing in the background
and from somewhere outside there is a sound of birds singing.

A sudden beep is emitted from one of the devices in the bedroom.

INT. APARTMENT – BEDROOM

Alisa runs to her laptop and reads a message popped-up on the screen.
 LuxMan37:

I can’t wait. Is this a dream

come true?

She smiles, responds quickly:

Alisa:
Good to know it is for you...
I am still trying to decide.
Joke . Can’t wait.
This is everything I’ve ever wanted.

INT. APARTMENT – BEDROOM

Alisa proceeds to finish her makeup. Then approaches the garment bag. Holds her
breath, unzips slowly. A puff of white silky fabric glistens through the opening. She
pushes the harsh plastic of the garment bag down to reveal a modern wedding dress.
Alisa looks at it with emotion and takes it off the hanger. Steps into a pair of dressy
beige leather biker boots, then steps into a puff of fabric of a dress. Buttons up, looks at
herself in the mirror, and satisfied with her look as a bride begins to twirl around the
room…

She grabs the house keys, a small beaded purse and leaves the room, the apartment, the
building. Gets into a black limo waiting outside.

EXT. STREET – MORNING

Alisa gets out of a limo in front of a large monumental church and proceeds up the wide
stairs. Standing before the closed door, she closes her eyes and envisions a number of
guests greeting her inside of a church.

INT. CHURCH – MORNING

She slowly opens the door to face a virtually empty cathedral except for an OLD LADY
who is getting up from the bench. There is a look of shock on Alisa’s face. The Old
Lady eyes her and looks a bit shocked herself at the sight of a single girl in a wedding
dress. The Old Lady passes Alisa on her way out of the cathedral trying hard not to stare.
The only sounds in the church are the swishing of the lit candles and the old lady’s stick
hitting the stone floor.

Alisa surveys the open church, looks shocked and hurt.

ALISA
He didn’t come…
 No one came..

She proceeds to sit down and looks at the glare of the candles for a long moment.

CUT TO:

INT. NEWSROOM - DAY

NEWS ANCHOR:

Vroom.com corporation released a broad launch of their long

anticipated Imagina software (previously available in Beta version
only). The software is a true breakthrough in technology and will
once again modify the way humans interact, with an ultimate goal
of making individuals feel happier and more fulfilled. The core
Imagina functionality is to allow an individual to create and
customize a net character (friend/boyfriend/girlfriend) to interact
with in the most satisfactory manner via the web.

Here with us today is Mr. Swatson. He is Imagina’s Global VP of

Product Development and will summarized the product’s key
features for our viewers.

MR. SWATSON

Throughout centuries, people have been facing an issue desiring to

tweak their human interactions, change just that one annoying
feature about a friend, family member, a partner, or a spouse. We,
at Imagina are solving that core issue, enabling an individual to
customize their interactions to that, which they desire.

Each account holder is enabled to pick and choose from various

human characteristics, which will be assigned to their net
companion. That creates what we call a “Character Fetus”. Then,
as the interaction between our customer and their self-created Net
Friend begins, this self-created character gains intelligence and
grows based on the interaction with his/her creator. At its mature
stage the Net Character becomes a perfect interactive companion,
bringing enormous joy and satisfaction to its creator. The
opportunities are endless, it could be a friend, a boyfriend, a
parent, anything one desires.

Of course, the only limitation at this point, is that this perfect

creature lives in cyber space only, but we are certain that with
 feature releases, there will be a shift in bringing the net character
closer to real form.

This product is truly revolutionary as will be solving age old issue

of imperfect interactions turning this experience into positive ones.
I would encourage everyone to try this next best thing. Of course
our beta users can attest to the joy this product brings, we have
released it to a limited number of users earlier this year, and they
are reaping enormous rewards, interacting with Net humans of
their dreams.

CUT TO:

EXT. CHURCH STEPS – MORNING

Alisa exits the church looking pale. As she is stepping down the stairs, Alisa sees another
girl by herself in a wedding dress running up the stairs excitedly. Alisa looks puzzled,
then with a glimpse of understanding.

EXT/INT. ALISA’S BUILDING – EARLY AFTERNOON

Alisa runs up the stairs, rushing. Swings open the door in her apartment and rushes to her
laptop. Opens up “Vroom.com” site, “Imagina” link, Imagina “Beta” page opens up.
She logs in, and writes a message to LuxMan37.

ALISA
You didn’t come

LUXMan37
I got held up love, there is a new location opening of uZbun
Yogurt.
We’ll try again tomorrow.

ALISA
There is no tomorrow for weddings.

LUXMan37
Tomorrow…wedding…wedding…tomorrow...

The SYSTEM MESSAGE pops up on the screen triggered by the verbiage in the
communication.

SYSTEM MESSAGE
Please note, at this time our system is unable to accommodate
requests that require physical presence of NET CHARACTER.
Net Characters exist in a virtual form only. Future enhancements
 are in process. Please contact customer service if you have
questions.”

Alisa navigates to Net Character preferences menu on the Imagina site. Preference Setup
page is displayed.

Your customized NET CHARACTER preferences:

Net Companion Sex:

Male X

Characteristics:
Kind
Compassionate
Responsive
Empathetic

Social preferences:
Flexible
Wants family
Prefers church wedding

Work Field:
Entrepreneur: creative consumer products development.

Alisa goes pale as she fully comprehends the extent of her delusion. She slaps down the
computer and pushes it violently. The room becomes black and white.
Alisa rushes to the outlet and pulls the universal plug that provides electricity for all
gadgets in the room. Multiple electronic lights fade out.

ALISA
This isn’t real….
None of this is real.

SCREEN TURNS BLACK

A VELVETY, LOW VOICE (V.O.)

But what is?!

After 15 seconds, as the credits scroll up, numerous web pages are flashed on the screen:

Google, Yahoo, Second Life, Text Messages, Microsoft Asheron (the role playing game),
MySpace, FaceBook. (Various examples of modern web technology).

FADE TO BLACK