GAME ON - 45 pages

On the brink of losing her home to pay her medical debts,
Lauren Hammett finds a forgotten augmented reality game
which provides the answer to all her problems but puts her family
and friends in great danger.
Lauren's world is a divided England 40 years in the future, whose economy has been irreparably damaged by successive pandemics. Four powerful pharmaceutical companies now have an economic stranglehold over the people and the government.
Faulty untested vaccines have left the Gen Zero pandemic survivors
in need of overpriced protein medication to stay healthy,
but the NHS has been dissolved and essential healthcare is
no longer free, which has pushed a whole generation into poverty.
In a weak effort to appease the activists, the health department has been bullied into creating a scheme that strips the needy of their assets in return for substandard drugs and living conditions. GAME ON is essentially a heist movie, set 40 years in the future.
Its theme is revenge - the oppressed stripping away assets from greedy pharmaceutical companies after years of being exploited.
The tone is expressed in the contrast between wealth vs poverty
as well as new vs old.
The pace gathers in speed as one Pharma company begins to realise what they could lose when Lauren gets closer to finding the prize.
The story also throws light on the decline of the NHS, pensioner poverty and today's crumbling social care system
The script also highlights current social concerns of our future after the pandemic and the long-term health hazards of COVID vaccinations.

The game:
The 40-year-old Augmented reality game which Lauren and Eve played when she was a student on a tablet is her portal to change the world she lives in.

Originally a marketing promotion packaged as a game to introduce new brands to a younger audience, the game was used to accumulate credits for free food, clothes, alcohol and travel. But for the more dedicated gamers, a hidden icon with a real-world value of a million pounds was the ultimate prize. When the pandemic hit, both the marketing company and software company were absorbed by a greedy pharmaceutical company.

Unaware of the legacy they had purchased the software was moved from server to server and the game remained active.
Forty years into the future the index-linked prize is still out there and worth much, much more than a million...

The goodies:
Lauren - In her 60s, already suffering from diabetes and her body is starting to shut down from a lack of adequate protein. Never married, a single bi-sexual mum she owns the small ancestral terraced house with a sumptuous garden which provides her main source of food.
Massively in debt without a way out of it, she makes a decision to take the ultimate risk, not back down and fight for a better life.
Tom- Grandson - (mixed race 16/17) very close bond with Lauren. Son of Leona. Tech Wizard. Buys and sells old tech, taking exams to go to Uni
Leona- Daughter - (mixed race 40's), a fiercely independent single mum to Tom, who has a strained relationship with Lauren. Sensible and law-abiding she tows the corporate line, and works for Pharma subsidiary.
Eve & Charlie - Best friends of Lauren, very close, lost a child when younger. Own their own house, but are on the poverty line. Eve was with Lauren at Uni - 60's
Bella - Lauren's ex-lover, who was forced to sell her home to move into a government facility. She is dying, 70's

The baddies:
Ranjit - A money-hungry, shady young Indian freelance programmer who is eager for success and recognition.
Ranjit is hired by Amazetech to close the loophole in the game. He eagerly takes Amazetech’s money and cyberstalks the user until he finds Lauren and discovers why she is caching in the vouchers. Part of a large family, his mother is in Lauren's action group and he feels empathy with her but is conflicted by his inner goal to get rich.
His eventual decision has a positive outcome for both of them.

The Pharma company - The economy and industry in England are controlled by four big Pharmaceutical greedy companies, one of whom absorbed the original game software company
and didn't deactivate the game, which now has the potential to bankrupt it.
Amazetech - A software company employed by the Pharma company to shut down the game. Lacking any specialist in-house staff they employ Ranjit to close the loophole in the game.

Pitched to Action Xtreme - Chee Keong Cheung and the BFI in MARCH 2023