COVERAGE

Writer: Sandi Jerome
Genre: Psychological Sci-Fi Thriller
Pages: 96
Rating: HIGHLY RECOMMEND

LOGLINE

When a brilliant scientist suffering from PTSD invents a device she believes makes her invisible, she discovers it actually phases her between parallel universes—and now she must navigate an infinite web of realities to find her way back to her family while being hunted across dimensions by the predator who once left her hanging from a noose.

RATING: HIGHLY RECOMMEND

This is the rare screenplay that delivers everything: a white-knuckle thriller, a profound exploration of trauma and identity, groundbreaking science fiction, and a love story that earns every beat. Last Woman doesn't just use its multiverse premise as spectacle, it weaponizes quantum physics to explore what it truly means to choose your own life.

WHAT MAKES THIS EXCEPTIONAL

A Protagonist Who Demands the Screen

Dr. Danielle Franklin isn't a victim waiting to be saved. She's a trauma survivor who channeled her darkest night into world-changing technology—then discovered that technology opens doors she never imagined. Brilliant, broken, brave, and deeply human, Danielle's journey from someone who can't go out alone at night to a woman who climbs back onto the catwalk where she nearly died is the kind of character arc that wins awards.

A Villain Who Will Haunt Your Dreams

Carson Mackay is terrifying precisely because he believes he's an artist. His revelation, "Seventeen seasons, seventeen students, seventeen perfect endings, "transforms a stalker-thriller into something far more chilling. He's not hunting Danielle for revenge. He's hunting her because she's the one performance he never finished. And now he's discovered her daughter has "the same eyes, the same fire."

Science That Serves the Soul

The fazer technology isn't techno-babble; it's elegantly grounded in wavelength and frequency metaphors anyone can grasp. But the real genius is how Danielle's whiteboard revelation (web, prism, funnel) shows her taking control of her own science. She doesn't just survive the multiverse; she masters it. The funnel metaphor—forcing light back through a smaller opening—is both scientifically satisfying and emotionally perfect: Danielle narrowing infinite possibilities down to the one universe where her family waits.

A Climax That Redefines Poetic Justice

Trapping Carson in the "between world"—the empty space between universes where Danielle's greatest fear (eternal isolation) becomes his eternal prison—is thematically flawless. He wanted to complete his masterpiece? Now he has forever to contemplate it. Alone.

An Ending That Earns Its Tears

The catwalk scene isn't just resolution—it's reclamation. Danielle climbing to the exact spot where Carson left her hanging, then choosing to descend on her own terms, transforms a place of trauma into a place of triumph. When she removes her scarf and walks into the light with her family, we're not just watching a character complete her arc. We're watching someone choose their life.

COMMERCIAL VIABILITY

Budget Considerations: Remarkably producible for a high-concept premise. The multiverse is conveyed through performance, editing, and subtle production design changes—same locations with variations—rather than expensive VFX. The "flash" of pulsing requires minimal effects. Primary locations (office building, theater, home) repeat across universes, keeping costs contained.

Market Positioning: Occupies the sweet spot between Everything Everywhere All at Once (multiverse as emotional journey, $143M worldwide on $25M budget, 7 Academy Awards including Best Picture) and The Invisible Man (tech-enabled horror with female agency, $144M worldwide). Both proved audiences hunger for intelligent genre films with emotional depth.

Awards Potential: Strong. The dual timelines, the PTSD representation, the final monologue—this is the kind of role that launches careers and earns nominations.

MAIN CHARACTERS

DR. DANIELLE FRANKLIN (30s)

Striking but guarded, with scars hidden beneath designer scarves. A founding partner at Bio-Sec who turned her worst night into breakthrough technology. Her PTSD manifests in an inability to go out alone—until she discovers a device that might finally make her safe. What she finds instead forces her to confront versions of herself across infinite realities: the one who was never attacked, the one who didn't survive, the one who chose a different life. Her journey isn't about escaping her trauma—it's about choosing to live with it.

Potential Casting: Jessica Chastain, Rebecca Ferguson, Naomi Watts, Florence Pugh

CARSON MACKAY (60s present, 30s flashback)

Tall, lean, cultured—a theater director whose cold eyes and half-smile hide seventeen seasons of "perfect endings." Carson doesn't see himself as a monster; he sees himself as an artist whose masterpiece was interrupted. His obsession with Danielle isn't about violence—it's about completion. When he discovers the fazer technology, he gains the ability to hunt her across infinite realities, searching for the universe where he finally gets his curtain call.

Potential Casting: Ben Mendelsohn, Jeremy Irons, Javier Bardem

BRYAN FRANKLIN (30s)

Geeky-cute IT professional who's been quietly waging his own war. While Danielle invented technology to disappear, Bryan built a digital fortress: tracking Carson online, mapping exit routes, planning vacations around security camera coverage. His decapitated wooden family figures hint at fears he's never voiced. Bryan isn't just supportive—he's been fighting for his family in ways Danielle never knew.

Potential Casting: Oscar Isaac, John Krasinski, Adam Scott

JUSTIN (30-40s)

Handsome scientist who could be a male model but chooses lab coats. His feelings for Danielle complicate their partnership—especially when she discovers universes where they're together. Justin's arc from "what can the technology do?" to "what should it do?" mirrors the film's ethical questions. His choice to pursue medical applications rather than weapons provides hope that the technology might still change the world for good.

Potential Casting: Dan Stevens, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jonathan Bailey

MAYA (30s)

Beautiful Native American researcher with a steel plate in her head from Afghanistan. Bridges hard science with ancestral wisdom, offering Cherokee proverbs alongside medical examinations. Her concept of "shadow worlds" predates quantum physics by centuries. Maya's line—"Find your anchor. Bryan. Chandra. The people who make you who you are"—becomes Danielle's lifeline across universes.

Potential Casting: Lily Gladstone, Devery Jacobs, Julia Jones

Supporting Characters

EMILY (60s) — Administrative assistant with warrior's eyes. Her meticulous documentation—born from watching friends die to corporate negligence—becomes the weapon that brings down Robert's corruption.

LAURA (30s) — Therapist in four-inch heels despite needing a cane. Twenty years of friendship with Danielle means she offers both professional tools and personal understanding.

ROBERT (60s) — Bio-Sec founder who sees the fazer as a weapon to sell rather than a tool to protect. His hubris becomes his undoing when Emily's logs expose everything.

CHANDRA (8) — Danielle's daughter, a miniature of her mother. Her existence in different universes (with different hamster names, different play rehearsals) becomes Danielle's compass home.

SADIE — Small female dog instrumental in discovering the multiverse. Her love of Skittles accidentally triggers the first pulse.

THEMATIC DEPTH

Trauma and Agency: Danielle's PTSD isn't a weakness to overcome—it's the catalyst for everything. Her fear of being alone drove her to invent technology that ultimately forces her to be more alone than anyone has ever been. The triumph isn't conquering fear; it's choosing to live alongside it.

Identity Across Infinity: If there are infinite versions of you, which one is "real"? The screenplay's answer is profound: you are whichever one you choose to be. Danielle's final understanding—"I'm all of them. The fearful one, the brave one, the one who loved Justin, the one who loves Bryan now"—reframes identity as ongoing choice rather than fixed state.

What Is Home?: Not a place. Not a universe. Home is "the people who anchor you." This theme pays off beautifully when Danielle uses her relationships (Bryan, Chandra, even Justin) to navigate back through infinite realities.

The Ethics of Technology: Robert wants to weaponize the fazer. Carson wants to use it for predation. Justin wants medical applications. Danielle just wanted to feel safe. The screenplay asks: who decides how transformative technology gets used? And: what responsibility do inventors bear?

COMPARABLE FILMS & BOX OFFICE

FilmBudget| Worldwide Gross| Connection

Everything Everywhere All at Once$25M$143M Multiverse as emotional journey; 7 Oscars

The Invisible Man$7M$144M Tech-enabled horror with female agency

Arrival$47M$203M Female scientist, profound personal stakes

Coherence$50K Cult success Quantum physics in intimate setting

Looper$30M$176M Time/reality manipulation with personal stakes

Last Woman positions itself at the intersection of these successes: the emotional depth and multiverse mechanics of Everything Everywhere, the visceral thriller elements of Invisible Man, and the intellectual rigor of Arrival.

SAVE THE CAT BEAT SHEET

Opening Image: Danielle commands a boardroom, demonstrating revolutionary security tech—then hallucinates her attacker's severed head and screams. Professional success masks profound trauma.

Theme Stated: "Robert's a money man first. Remember that." Emily's warning hints at the core theme: true safety comes not from technology or money, but from human connection.

Set-Up: Danielle's controlled life—scarves hiding scars, husband checking shadows, inability to go out alone. The fazer device is introduced as her potential salvation.

Catalyst: Sadie the dog accidentally triggers a pulse, sending Danielle to the "between world" where she's utterly alone. Her worst fear made real.

Debate: Should she test the technology that terrifies her? The pet store sequence shows her desperation—she'd rather face her fear than disappoint her daughter.

Break into Two: Danielle deliberately pulses, entering the multiverse and discovering that parallel universes aren't theoretical. Carson appears in an elevator. The hunt begins.

B Story: Justin's romantic feelings for Danielle across universes create a road-not-taken dynamic that illuminates what truly matters to her.

Fun and Games: Danielle explores alternate lives—universes where she was never attacked, where she's with Justin, where her hamster has a different name. The disorientation builds.

Midpoint: Carson reveals he's been hunting her across dimensions with stolen fazer technology. "Seventeen seasons, seventeen perfect endings. But you lived. You made me incomplete."

Bad Guys Close In: Carson threatens Chandra. The CIA plans to weaponize the fazer. Danielle loses track of which universe is "home." Bryan packs to leave.

All Is Lost: Carson has captured another version of Danielle. He has plans for Chandra. The CIA takes all devices tomorrow. Time and options are running out.

Dark Night of the Soul: Trapped in the between world with Justin, Danielle faces an impossible choice: safety in emptiness, or risking everything to save her family.

Break into Three: Danielle uses her mastery of quantum physics (web, prism, funnel) to plan her return. The half-spent fazer becomes her weapon.

Finale: Danielle pulses into Carson's trap, tricks him into catching a rigged fazer, and sends him to eternal isolation in the between world. She escapes, exposes Robert's corruption, and chooses her family.

Final Image: Danielle on the catwalk where she nearly died—no longer afraid. She removes her scarf, revealing her scars, and walks into the light with Bryan and Chandra. "They are my world, and I'll never be alone again."

FINAL ASSESSMENT

Last Woman achieves what few screenplays attempt and fewer accomplish: it uses a high-concept premise to explore genuinely profound questions about trauma, identity, and choice while delivering a propulsive thriller that never loses its emotional core.

The 96-page runtime is razor-sharp. Every scene earns its place. The science is accessible without being dumbed down. The villain is genuinely terrifying. The relationships feel real. And the ending—Danielle climbing that catwalk, removing her scarf, walking into the light—is the kind of cathartic resolution audiences will remember long after the credits roll.

This is the multiverse movie for people who found the Marvel approach hollow. It's Everything Everywhere All at Once meets The Invisible Man, with the intellectual ambition of Arrival and the intimate terror of Coherence.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND for immediate development.

With the right director and the right Danielle Franklin, this film has awards-season potential while remaining commercially viable in a market hungry for intelligent genre storytelling.