Genre: Thriller
Premise: A new mother finds the perfect nanny in AI, only to learn that a “perfect” caregiver might be the most dangerous kind of all. This psychological thriller examines the disparity between human nature versus AI nurture and asks the question, could AI ever replace us as parents?
About: This script made the Black List last year. Screenwriter Alexis Jacknow has projects in development with James Wan’s Atomic Monster as well as 21 Laps. Jacknow has also directed theater for over ten years.
Writer: Alexis Jacknow
Details: 102 pages
One of the hardest choices we can make as writers is that first one – what kind of script are we going to write next? And the question that usually follows is, “Do I write something that I passionately care about? Or do I write something that Hollywood would want?”
It’s not an easy question to answer. Because if you really truly submit yourself to writing something Hollywood wants, there’s an aspect of embarrassment to it. It’s harder to say that you’re writing “Red One,” or “Smile,” or “Terrifier” than it is “A Beautiful Mind,” “Lost in Translation,” or “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” Cause the former movies are so clearly made for the Hollywood system that there is something soulless to writing them.
Which brings us to today’s script. AIDa. This feels like one of those concept choices that the writer has zero personal attachment to. It is only written in the desperate hopes that Hollywood will see its marketability and pay up for the rights.
Set in the near future, Erin (late 30s) is married to Noah (40) and the two have just had their first baby, Shiloh (0). Erin is having trouble with the whole mommy thing, though, so Noah wants her to consider getting an AI Nanny bot.
Erin vehemently refuses, thinking that she and Noah’s mother’s friend, Tanya, can handle the workload. But when Tanya trips while holding Shiloh (only barely shielding him from a terrible tragedy) Erin realizes that she can’t trust Tanya.
After a round of interviews, Noah tricks his wife, pretending to bring in a final candidate. The candidate, a Mary Poppins-like figure, easily wins Erin over. Only then does Noah reveal that the woman is an AI bot. He just wanted to prove that these things are the best option.
Erin buckles and they get their own AI bot, one whose appearance and actions will mold and transform as she gets to know the family. Welcome to AIDa.
One of the first things AIDa does is have Erin confide in her what her fears as a mother are and Erin basically tells her all her insecurities, which amount to her feeling like she’s a terrible mother. AIDa asks what is most important to her about this process and Erin says, “That Shiloh is safe above all else.”
This seems to trigger a malfunction in AIDa’s coding as she interprets “Safe above all else” as, “Save Shiloh no matter the cost.” This begins a chain reaction of AIDa gradually taking over all child-rearing duties with an end game of eliminating, you guessed it, her primary competition.
I spoke above about the challenge of picking a concept. But another big challenge in screenwriting is the choice of how fast you want to keep the story moving versus how much you want to slow down and sit inside the story beats.
We’re always told that the faster the script moves, the better. The problem with that advice is, if you move too fast, the audience never feels anything. If you want a story where the audience emotionally connects with what’s going on, you have to slow down and sit inside a lot of the script’s main beats.
The downside of that, of course, is that sitting inside beats for too long could result in stagnation and, subsequently, boredom. So what do you do?
My opinion? You have to sit inside the beats. It’s the only chance you truly have at connecting with the audience. The thing that makes it either work or not work is how the audience feels about the characters. If we think they’re boring, we don’t want to sit in any moments with them. And, in those cases, you probably *do* want to move the story along as quickly as possible. But you have to operate under the assumption that the audience likes your characters. Cause if they don’t, your script isn’t going to work anyway.
We see that in play here with the pursuit of someone to help take care of Shiloh. It’s actually a long process (Erin’s resistance, the family friend’s deteriorating condition making her unsafe for the child, the interviews, the continued refusal to go with the robot, her husband’s ruse with the fake nanny, and then Erin finally trying out AIDa).
It takes about 10-12 pages. After a while, I was getting antsy, thinking to myself, “Why isn’t the author moving faster here?” But the payoff of finally finding AIDa made me realize that I valued that conclusion more since I went through the journey to get to it. If the writer would’ve just handed me AIDa right away, there is no backstory to her hire, there is no perseverance to her emergence in the story.
Now, let’s get back to what I was saying earlier about concepts (passion vs. marketability). The big secret is, you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can choose both. You must look for a marketable concept INSIDE the type of story you’re passionate about.
I love aliens. Whether it’s UFOs or Area 51 or alien abduction stuff. Luckily, Hollywood likes that stuff too. So, it should be theoretically possible for me to come up with a concept that I’m passionate about that Hollywood would like.
As I started reading AIDa, I got the sense that Alexis was passionate about telling a story about raising a baby. I could tell from some of the highly specific details that she’d had this experience herself. So, my initial assumption was wrong. This wasn’t just a Hollywood concept. The writer did what I just said I should do regarding aliens – she wrote a marketable story about something she was passionate about.
Which also connects with sitting inside the main story beats. You’re more likely to stay in the beats of scripts you’re passionate about. The ones you’re not, you’ll rush through those moments and everything will feel thin. The best a fast script has the chance of being is “an effortless ride.” To be fair, I’ve seen “effortless rides” sell before. But I still think the best scripts come from the things you’re most passionate about.
As AIDa went on, I found it much better than the competing Netflix movie with Megan Fox (Subservience). That movie leaned more into what I was just talking about – move through the story quickly. Play everything out exactly as the audience would expect.
This script is more creative and thoughtful. I liked the stuff about how AIDa transforms over time. This idea that the baby can only see in black and white at first so AIDa doesn’t have to be fully formed yet. So she makes these little visual changes over time. Until, of course, she’s fully morphed into an Erin clone. I wonder if the plan is to have one actress play both these roles.
It also has some shock factor scenes. There’s a moment where a pent up Erin allows herself to be “relieved” by AIDa that will definitely get some chatter going on Twitter.
Unfortunately, the script becomes a victim of its genre. It eventually turns into that more expected storyline, with AIDa killing people, tricking the husband into thinking Erin has severe depression, and planning to integrate herself into Erin’s place, all so she can meet Erin’s initial directive – keep Shiloh safe at all costs.
I would’ve preferred the writer stay closer to that thoughtful creative execution that was going on earlier in the story. With that said, this was much better than I expected it to be and a testament to how important individual execution is. If you hold AIDa next to Subservience, it’s clear that this is the better screenplay.
[ ] What the hell did I just read?
[ ] wasn’t for me
[x] worth the read
[ ] impressive
[ ] genius
What I learned: Whatever the knee-jerk idea of the execution of your concept is, be wary of it. The knee-jerk version of this concept is a sexy AI bot that first wins the baby over and then wins the husband over, eventually replacing (or trying to replace) the mother. At least through the first half of this script, we don’t get that. And that’s when the script was at its best. We get this thoughtful deep dive into what it’s like to raise a baby and some real smart research of how an AI bot might be integrated into that process.
