How to Write The Matrix

How to Write The Matrix

by L.A. Zvirbulis

1 – The Inspiration. Where do ideas come from? Are these words really on the screen right now, or are they just an illusion of the matrix? If you are reading this, you are the chosen one, screenwriter. Follow the white rabbit. Write your script.

2 – The Genre. Futuristic sci-fi change-your-perception-of-the-world thriller. Cyberpunk is the term for it, I guess. Multi-hyphenate Jesus allegory also works.

3 – The Complications. What’s the worst that could happen? By taking a pill from a stranger with cool sunglasses, you find out that humans are used as batteries for a machine-alien race that keep us all in a digital matrix world to distract us while we are drained of energy. Now that you know this, your job is to fight The Matrix, save humanity, and combine deep philosophical ideas with difficult special effects. No pressure.

4 – The Fun Stuff. We get conceptual here. What if Will Smith is the chosen one, and Val Kilmer guides him to the truth? Ah if only Will understood the concept instead of choosing The Wild Wild West. How do we explain these concepts to people? What if we really are living in a Matrix? What if we are all Keanu Reeves? Whoa. Excellent. He’d be a great savior of humanity, as would you. And since this is the 90s and we have CGI we can do cool stuff with slowing down flying bullets, making people jump way farther than we ever thought possible, and hiding Keanu Reeves’ real life spinal injury (seriously, he was almost paralyzed at one point). We mess with the physical world, because it’s all digital anyway, right?

5 – The Device. The Matrix is a system, screenwriter. That system is our enemy. The Device is the world we live in. Or the world we think we live in. It’s the computer codes creating the world around us, and the war above between human batteries and the beings that use humans for energy. Make sure you and all of your actors read Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard.  We won’t read it, but hopefully we will understand it after watching this movie.

6 – The Larry. Laurence Fishburne is the old wise man that helps our hero. The Obi Wan in Star Wars. The Doc Brown in Back to the Future. The Melissa McCarthy in Bridesmaids. Let’s name him Morpheus, which kind of means “change”, but most people won’t notice that it’s an obvious name even though he is the reason our main character changes.

7 – The Jokes. There are no jokes, only algorithms. Do not try and bend the spoon, that’s impossible. Only try to realize the truth. There is no spoon. It is not the spoon that bends, but only ourselves. It’s not the movie that changes our perceptions, it’s ourselves that give The Matrix its meaning. What makes sense anymore?

8 – The Title. Human Battery sounds too much like an action movie and this is more sci-fi with action elements. Wake Up Humans, This Is The Truth is too preachy. We can get geeky but keep it simple. The Matrix. Math nerds will love it and it is simple enough for humans to remember.

9 – The Ending. You are the chosen one. Save Humanity. Yes you. Go write your script.

10 – The Heart. The Matrix has a heart, just like humans do. It reminds us all that we are the saviors of our own digital realities, and that you are the only one that can write your screenplay.

*L.A. Zvirbulis did not write The Matrix. The Wachowskis did.