PRODIGY: The Ongoing Importance Of “Script First”

Prodigy is a new sci-fi Drama written and directed by Alex Haughey and Brian Vidal. It chronicles a little girl, with extraordinary intelligence and mind powers; and the people trying to control her. With a script full of big words and promises from the characters, there is, unfortunately, very little payoff in the end.

Prodigy

Ellie (Savannah Liles) is a girl with exceptional intelligence and the ability of telekinesis. She is deemed a threat to national security and stands accused of killing her own mother. She has been tested by a group of psychiatrists and scientists at a remote hospital(?) for over a year and, though she’s supposedly been seen by the best, none have been able to crack her. She is purportedly so powerful, the military is assisting, with the sadistic Colonel Birch (Emilio Palame) leading a small group of infantry, for protection.

Enter Dr. James Fonda (Richard Neil), a down and out, disheveled psychologist who becomes Ellie’s last chance at survival. Her team of  “expert” doctors and scientists have decided that Ellie should be killed and dissected in an autopsy, to figure out how her brain works. Olivia (Jolene Andersen) believes that Ellie hasn’t been given the chance she deserves, and therefore, contacts Fonda to do a last ditch assessment, to try and get through to her and save her life.

Who Exactly is The Monster?

When Fonda enters the room to meet Ellie, I was expecting the prisoner to be someone between King Kong and Hannibal Lecter. Instead, it’s just an overly confident little girl, who’s basically lost everyone and everything that matters to her.

She is treated shamefully in this facility, wrapped up in a straight jacket so she can’t use her hands; tethered to some sort of sonic wave to torture her if she gets out of line; called a spoiled brat and other despicable names by the very people set to take care of her. I understand Ellie is the one we are supposed to fear, but instead, she is clearly misunderstood and treated in a manner that would be illegal anywhere.

Though declared a “national security threat”, she does little more, throughout the whole film, than turn over a table in a fit and flicker some lights. What kind of disgusting people would propose to end the life of a child, to study her brain over telekinesis? Maybe if she had killed all of her previous doctors and blew up a remote city with a nuke, would she come close to deserving this kind of backlash.

The filmmakers attempt to make this a clever game between Fonda and Ellie of mental chess, akin to the Hannibal Lecter/Clarice Starling quid pro quo, but there is not enough insight within the characters to make it as compelling. Hannibal Lecter wasn’t a monster due to a scary mask being put on him. Nor is Ellie. She struggles throughout to “live up” to all of the vileness she is accused of by the specialists.

There was never a moment that I believed that she was anything more than a confused child. Liles does an excellent job portraying Ellie. She could, in fact, give all the other actors a lesson on focus and authenticity. However, without the work being put into the character by the writers first, she can only take it so far.

None of the “tactics” used by Fonda are eccentric or off the wall, nor does Neil portray Fonda with any special depth or gift that could move any child one way or the other, let alone a genius. There are characters completely unnecessary to the story, one of whom is misogynistic and homophobic. Seemingly added for comic relief, he is a walking stereotype himself.

With only two locations in the whole film, much of what should be action, is narrated between the two main characters. It’s not impossible to pull off a film with few locations, but a writer has to bring their best to make it compelling enough to overcome that deficit. Unfortunately this script feels unfinished, therefore leading to a film that never lives up to its creator’s, nor audiences, expectations.

Experience Is Key For Writers

One of the best pieces of advice I received early on in my screenwriting journey was; “Never make your characters smarter than you”. It makes perfect sense, as how can one be expected to write a realistic character of great wisdom and intelligence, when the writer has not lived long enough, nor experienced enough to be that wise? Write what you know. I can’t emphasize enough the importance of this for writers. If you don’t, you’ll never have the impact or authenticity you’re looking for.

The key to the characters in Prodigy are steeped in psychology, child development and life experience. If the writer’s life is not, the lack of knowledge will seep through the pores of the script. There’s no fast way around this fact. As someone with extensive knowledge/experience in child development, psychology and life, it was easy for me to see the flaws and inconsistencies of the “expertise” in the story.

While there was the use of large words and sophisticated phrasing, the execution screams ingénue. There was no shortage of desire for greatness here, but, in the end, if you don’t have the knowledge and experience, it simply won’t work. Prodigy had potential, but unfortunately, the story was rushed into production instead of being allowed to marinate and be seasoned with time.

There’s a reason that most writers don’t break through into the business with a great piece of work until they are in their early forties. Thomas Harris didn’t write Silence of the Lambs until then. Writing well takes a lot of time and practice. Writing authentic characters takes experience, which also takes time. The more you understand the feelings of your characters, the better written they will be and all the more “felt” by the audience.

Prodigy: Conclusion

I really wanted to like this film and struggled with writing this review, but I just couldn’t see past all that didn’t work. Ellie was never the real villain and her behavior in no way necessitated the treatments she endured by the so called “expert” adults. There was zero need for military intervention with her and the Colonel would never be allowed to treat a little girl the way he did.

By the end, I was hoping Ellie would use her mind powers to smash in the booth where all of her “caretakers” were, because they deserved it. The special effects were well done, especially considering the budget, but, as I’ve said before, no amount of special effects can make up for an underdeveloped script.

Did Prodigy live up to your expectations?

Prodigy is now available to stream on iTunes, Google, Amazon and select cable streaming.