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THE VR (THE VIRTUAL REALITY)

THE VR (THE VIRTUAL REALITY)
By Terry Brody

GENRE: Not selected
LOGLINE:

In the future, Virtual Reality allows prison inmates to live any life they can imagine for themselves – making parole is their worst nightmare. (Also written as a series.)

SYNOPSIS:

At Richmond Correctional, violent incidents are non-existent because prison life is “the good life.” Sure they do a solid eight-hour day of manual labor in the physical world but the other sixteen hours the prisoners lie comfortably in their recliner while hooked up to virtual reality headgear. Two thirds of the time they’re living like rock stars – literally. Although some prisoners live the life of a movie star or professional athlete, ex-cop and current convict, JOHN WOZNIKA, is happy coming home to his beautiful, obedient, virtual wife and over-achieving children. But all good things come to an end. An ex-con kills his real-life wife to get back to prison and the murder sparks the interest of reporter CHLOE ROBERTS. Her investigation exposes prisoners that are jailed long after their original sentence.

After ten years, John is up for parole and as a result his estranged wife, ERIN, suddenly returns with the kids. As it turns out, his wife and kids are exact duplicates of his family in the “virtual reality.” Although the resemblance is where the similarities end. His family in the real world are poor representations of the perfect, virtual family that he’s nurtured for the past ten years.

Unlike the smart, sexy, polite and generous Erin in the VR, John’s real wife is abrasive and haggard as one might expect from a mother of two with a husband in prison. Make-up and hair extensions are not a priority. In addition, his real-life son can’t catch a ball and his daughter is a nine-year-old delinquent.

They stopped visiting John years ago as John’s virtual family took over his life. Of course, Erin never understood why her husband became so distant and withdrawn. He never spoke of the VR and she never thought to ask. Weekly visits became monthly visits and monthly visits became a yearly visit and then it just stopped. And John was fine with that.

But after Chloe writes a digital media piece on the use of the VR at the prison, the cat’s out of the bag. Before she seeks a new beginning with John, the real Erin wants to know everything. And John has to come clean.

The prison is run by Warden FRANKLIN MASTERS, a brilliant software developer that created the "Virtual Reality" to make prison life better for inmates. He's motived by the memory of his father – who died in prison under horrible conditions.

Public and political pressures force the warden to temporarily shut down the VR and release hundreds of prisoners held past their original minimum sentence – prisoners that don’t want to leave. After all, jail shouldn’t be a place that people are killing to get into. With over three thousand inmates facing the possibility of losing their families and their lives, the rebellion begins. John will have to choose between his broken real-life family and the perfect virtual one.

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