This is an ongoing installment in my resolution to publish a creative project every month of 2026. This is the first act of a short film I'm developing, tentatively titled "Known." Some parts have been redacted because I feel like revealing them before the project is complete would be wasteful. See you next month!
KNOWN (Act 1)
by Jack Greer
***
EXT. DOWNTOWN CITY SIDEWALK - DAY
We open with a montage of RODDY going about his daily
business, accompanied by a minimalist jazzy electronic
score. He is a quiet, somewhat skittish, but clever young
man in his late 20s. He wears a slightly disheveled
white-collar outfit, carrying an incredibly functional
leather shoulder bag. He walks into an upscale office
building.
QUICK CUTS
...Roddy makes small talk with his coworkers at his desk,
all dialogue masked by the music. They all laugh, but
Roddy's reaction is ever so slightly forced.
...Roddy eats lunch alone on the building's balcony. Most
people are either talking with friends or scrolling their
phones, but Roddy is just people-watching.
...Roddy leaves the office building.
...Roddy peruses the aisles of a grocery store.
...Roddy stumbles up his apartment steps, his arms
overfilled with grocery bags.
...Roddy descends his apartment steps, redressed in a
clean-cut but casual outfit.
END QUICK CUTS
EXT. DOWNTOWN - EVENING
LEVY is casually Juul'ing outside TEDDY'S, a beloved
greasy-spoon diner. Levy is Roddy's best friend - a little
bit more extroverted, a little bit more outdoorsy, but
fundamentally a kindred spirit. Or so he imagines.
RODDY
(approaching the diner)
Hey Levy!
LEVY
(noticeably more
sing-songy)
Rodd-ay!
Levy greets his friend with a dap-hug, in preparation for
which he smoothly maneuvers the Juul from its natural place
in the dapping hand to a less intrusive place in the hugging
hand.
LEVY
What's up, man? It's been way too
long!
RODDY
I know, man. Work's been killer.
LEVY
You're telling me. Here, let's go
eat.
INT. TEDDY'S - EVENING
Levy and Roddy sit opposite each other at a booth, Levy
sipping a Coke, Roddy a water with lemon.
LEVY
Dude, we've all missed you these
past few months. We've been blaming
it on Natasha. How's that going, by
the way?
RODDY
(blushing a little)
Good. Really good, actually. Sorry
I've been elusive - I know I've
been bad about keeping in touch
with all you guys.
LEVY
You're all good, man. I'm just glad
you're doing okay. I've gotta ask
though - when are we going to get
to meet her?
RODDY
Oh yeah, well. I mean. I want to.
LEVY
What do you mean "I want to"?
RODDY
Well, Natasha is... Shy. I think.
LEVY
What do you mean "shy"?! We're your
best friends, Roddy. I don't want
to be an ass but we want to know
you're not getting yourself into a
bad situation.
RODDY
It's not like that. You're right.
You know what? Tomorrow night. I'll
have everyone over, and you'll all
get to meet her.
LEVY
Great!
Their plan is briefly interrupted by a WAITRESS delivering
their food to the table. They exchange polite thank-yous
with the waitress. She exits victorious.
LEVY
It's gonna be a great night!
RODDY
A beautiful night!
INT. RODDY'S APARTMENT - A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT
A sophisticated and vibrant party; the group chat and their
significant others in perfect form. Neo-yuppies laughing
over drinks and cards. Among the decidedly
non-coupled-yuppies (being neither coupled nor yuppie) is
LEVY, who is still having a good time, but is feeling rather
antsy, as the star of the show has not yet showed up to
star, and in the back of his mind he suspects that Roddy is
in the process of coming up with another excuse why nobody
can meet his girlfriend of three months.
Then, a knock at the door.
RODDY
I got it! Levy, come here for a
second!
Levy and Roddy walk over to the apartment entryway. Roddy
opens the door and NATASHA enters, a stunningly beautiful
young woman who, while charming and charismatic, is still
somewhat aloof; there is more to her than meets the eye.REDACTED
REDACTED
REDACTED
RODDY
Levy, this is Natasha. Natasha,
Levy. I think both of you guys know
about each other already.
LEVY
(a little sheepish, a
little ironical)
It's very nice to meet you. I've
heard a lot about you.
NATASHA
*Not as much as I have about you.*
The reader should note that NATASHA's REDACTED
REDACTED
REDACTED
All three laugh. Levy's guard is down.
RODDY
Come, sit down over here - we've
got a game going but we'll just be
on a team.
Cut to another MUSICAL MONTAGE of the whole gang playing
Uno, with blaring synthetic strings covering up all
dialogue. Levy and Natasha both reach for the deck at the
same time, and their hands briefly touch. Nobody else
notices.
EXT. RODDY'S APARTMENT BALCONY - NIGHT
LEVY is contemplatively Juul'ing alone. The sliding door
opens and RODDY steps out to join him.
RODDY
So... Do you like her?
LEVY
Roddy, she's amazing. She's smart,
funny, pretty - I'm proud of you,
man.
RODDY
That's such a relief. I hope the
other guys think so too.
LEVY
What I don't get is - why did this
take so long? Were you embarrassed
to show us to her?
RODDY
No, no, nothing like that! To be
honest... Levy, there's something I
have to tell you.
LEVY
What's wrong?
RODDY
Levy... Natasha is... She's an
artificial intelligence. A
synthetic person.
LEVY
What? What the hell?
RODDY
Please, try to understand for a
second.
LEVY
What's there to understand? What
kind of freak does something like
that?
RODDY
Don't be like that, Levy.
LEVY
No, you tell me. Why do you hide
from us for three months so that
you can be together with some
robot? You ignore all your best
friends, so that what, you can
just spend all your time fulfilling
some perverted fantasy? What the
hell is wrong with you?
RODDY
What does it matter to you?
LEVY
(disarmed)
What?
RODDY
What does it matter to you? Or
anyone else in there? You said it
yourself, Levy. She's smart, she's
beautiful, she's charismatic... she
gets me! She gets me, Levy! More
than any girl ever has! And
honestly, more than you do most of
the time!
LEVY
That's bullshit, man. That's an
algorithm.
RODDY
So what?! Why should I, or you, or
anyone else on this planet care if
it's an algorithm?! You never would
have known if I didn't tell you
just now, but I didn't want to hold
this back from you, because I
thought you were my best friend and
that I could actually tell you
about something important that's
happening in my life!
LEVY
...
LEVY passes back through the apartment so he can leave. Cut
to a slow-motion shot of him walking through the party
action. He passes by NATASHA and their eyes meet. LEVY
exits.