“Seventy per cent of respondents expressed definite interest in the concept, with twenty per cent neutral. There was a small segment who did not like the war element.” Ralf shrugged. “Which is not a surprise.” He swiped at the iPad. “Now, this is significant. The vast majority of respondents said thesettingwas the top draw.”
“They liked the fact it was set in New York?” I asked. “Were the sample sets Americans?”
Ralf glanced at his screen. “Half were, half were European – a key region for this movie. They seemed to respond well to a story of this nature playing out against one of our country’s most famous cities,” he said. “Love, conflict, New York.”
RJ sucked pensively on his bubble-tea straw. “Hmm.”
“What are you thinking, boss?” Ralf asked.
“The script needs to bleed New York,” RJ said. “More landmarks, more outdoor scenes.”
“RJ, we pitch this movie in a matter of weeks,” Elliot spluttered. “Weaving in new settings could mean entire rewrites!”
RJ scoffed. “Not necessarily. Besides, you have Lucie here now.”
All eyes turned to me and I blushed as trepidation gnawed at my gut. Had RJ forgotten I wasn’t a writer? And Elliot could barely look at me, let alone work with me.How were we going to do this?
“May I remind you what is at stake if we don’t get this greenlit?” RJ’s eyes narrowed. “I would have thought you’d be jumping at giving this script the best chance possible.”
“Of course I haven’t forgotten,” Elliot assured him, the frustration on his face giving way to something else, something hungry and vulnerable. Was there more at stake besides RJ’s obsessive desire for an Oscar? If so, what? What on earth could be more urgent than that?
“RJ, if I may.” Ralf raised a hand. “I’m happy to supervise Elliot and Lucie, keep them on track vis-à-vis the research?” He waggled the iPad. “I’d love to demonstrate this software too.”
“Is this the one you pitched me last month?” Sadie’s voice was loaded with skepticism. “The AI?”
“AI gets a bad rap,” Ralf said with a rueful shake of his head. “But this is custom-built using established storytelling models.”
“So, cheating then,” said Elliot. “Why does that not surprise me?”
“Um, no.” Ralf’s slick demeanor dropped. “It’s actually—”
“Unoriginal,” Elliot interrupted.
“Wrong again,” Ralf said. “The AI applies machine learning to simply improve what is already there.”
“And what was the source material it learned on, huh?” Elliot demanded. “The work of other writers!”
“Now, hang on,” said RJ. “Why don’t we hear Ralf out on this?”
Elliot looked at his boss. “Are you serious?”
“We’re fighting a war, Elliot!” RJ said. “AI can be a tool inthe right hands. And we have a lot at stake here. All I’m saying is we consider what options we have.”
“RJ, no.” Elliot shook his head. “Research is one thing, but AI?”
“Tools, Elliot, tools,” RJ said.
“That we don’t need,” Elliot said, leaping up. “Look, Lucie and I will action the research. You want more New York; we’ll give you more New York. We don’t need AI, you’ll see.” He grabbed my hand. “Come on.”
I yelped as he dragged me out of RJ’s office. “Where are we going?”
“You heard the man,” Elliot said with forced cheeriness. “More New York! Where shall we go?”
“Can I please request more coffee?” I said. “The RJF coffee machine decided I needed an extra shower this morning.”
“Ohhh.” Realization spread across his face. “That’s why I could see – I mean, it explains your shirt.” His cheeks were a furious red as he jabbed the lift call button.
“Yep. Thanks for the hoodie and preserving my dignity,” I said.
