Writing is my imagination taking me for a walk.
ALGO
Speculative / SciFi Novel
It is the year 2083. Humanity has conceded to AI algorithms. Social institutions like nations, political systems, capitalism, and religions no longer exist, and data is the only meaningful currency. We are now only just another species. We are Sapiens, a unique species under the surveillance of one unified artificial super-intelligence, ALGO.
Theo, a young and exceptionally bright man in his mid-twenties, lives in such a world. At the novel’s onset, he is assigned to find a young woman lost in the feral district of Los Angeles. Being a rebel, Theo is excited about traveling, where ALGO has little influence. His poor decisions and rebellious tendencies against the ALGO agenda have landed him a mediocre assignment of installing ALGO surveillance cameras throughout the city. Nonetheless, this occupation is merely a farce, as his hacking devices, against the same systems he is assigned to install, are gaining a reputation in the underworld.
The equanimity Theo has managed to balance between the integrated ALGO world and his illegal affairs in the underworld is disrupted. As a marginalized misfit, he might be just a small piece of a dynamic puzzle that ALGO plays with all Sapiens for the sake of data. He does have the choice to reject the ALGO assignment. Still, the temptation to escape from the banal ALGO world cannot be ignored. Theo will need to make a difficult choice, but a difficult Sapien choice makes for great DATA!
The Last Artist
A Feature Script
For Bomboni, the wild rock and roll days are behind him. Now, in his early fifties, he has found peace - or at the very least, a haven from the trauma caused by the war in Sarajevo. He is alive, away from the war, and in the safety of the American dream. His construction business is thriving. Family life provides the tranquility he needs. And the urge to make it in the music scene has extinguished - until his friend and old manager Jim presents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a comeback.
Against his wife’s wishes, Bomboni begins to form a new band with his original guitarist and fellow war survivor, Miroslav. Of course, nothing goes according to plan. But the determined Bomboni toils to keep the members with varying levels of dedication committed to the band.
Triggered by sounds and memories, he starts having vivid flashbacks to the Bosnian War. Art makes him feel again, as the pain, terror, and joy share the same territory in his mind. He loses focus on his business, fights with colleagues and family, and isolates himself the deeper he dives into his art. After all, art, much like life itself, never follows a predictable path, and Bomboni is forced to choose between his art and the stability his family requires of him.
The Artifact
A Feature Script
What if a mind could be hacked? Once hacked, the mind could then be bent to the hacker's will. The hacker then becomes more dangerous than any man in the world - or in this case, any woman.
In the underworld, she is only a legend - Quantum, as she is known. Steve is a talented hacker who, with his business partner, thrives by recording and selling virtual sex experiences. He finds an impurity or an odd artifact in one of his recently recorded experiences. There is a woman who follows him when he is logged into the virtual world. More alarming is that the woman appears as a specter in the real world. Is he losing his mind? Or is it her- Quantum?
The prospect of having one’s mind hacked terrifies Steve, yet she is a legend. Steve is intrigued and pursues the specter. In the virtual world, they meet. She is also intrigued by his work and convinces Steve to collaborate on humanity’s greatest achievement.
Pressure grows on Steve and Quantum from both the federal authorities and the criminal organizations to which both Steve and Martin are indebted. This makes his business partner, Martin, uneasy as he navigates their venture in the shady criminal world. But the choices and sacrifices are needed if they are to replicate a human conscious mind - even if the cost is life itself.
SHORT FILMS SCRIPTS
Two men use digital technology to record virtual experiences. They discover that their recordings are potentially hacked and are then hunted by a woman-like artifact. Soon lines of reality and recorded experiences are blurred and in the end only one character lives.
The Artifact (short)
In The Driver’s Seat
with Rick Munzo
A biker and a driver get into an accident on a cold winter morning. They begin to argue about fault, but come to no conclusion. They decide to go to a nearby coffee shop to discuss the matter further. However, once at the cafe, the argument takes a turn. A deeper conflict between the characters is revealed. Showing little respect for the biker, the driver challenges his adversary. The subsequent conversation evolves into a play of control and manipulation.
A young thief (Nate) meets with an experienced criminal (Dimitry). Initially, Nate thinks the meeting is a simple exchange of stolen goods for cash. However, Nate quickly learns that Dimitry wants something far more than the stolen merchandise. The main scene becomes a psychological 'cat and mouse' game between Nate and Dimitry. As the characters struggle to gain leverage on the situation, their motives are exposed.