A 14-year-old girl with an experimental neural implant can access the entirety of human knowledge with her mind, but every 'download' costs her a piece of her past. While hiding in plain sight from the shadowy corporation that created her, she must decide how much of herself she is willing to forget to save the people she loves.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Shawn Devlin
Allie; Hannah Ehman
Greg: Sean Ballantyne
Leigh: Val Cole

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?
The Memory Tax is about a 14-year-old girl named Allie Gordon who has an experimental neural implant that allows her to access the entirety of human knowledge directly through her mind. But every time she uses that ability, she pays a price: she loses a piece of her own memory.

At its heart, the story is about a teenage girl who can know almost anything except how much of herself she is losing. While she and her mother try to hide from the corporation that created the implant, Allie is forced to decide whether saving the people around her is worth sacrificing pieces of her own past. The pilot's logline captures that central dilemma: Allie can access all human knowledge, but every "download" costs her part of her past.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?
The script falls under science fiction drama, fantasy/sci-fi thriller, and coming-of-age suspense.

It also has elements of medical sci-fi, corporate conspiracy, family drama, and young adult psychological drama. The science fiction concept drives the story, but the emotional core is very human: memory, identity, adolescence, sacrifice, and the fear of becoming something other than yourself.

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?
I would clarify that The Memory Tax is actually written as a one-hour television pilot, although I believe the concept is cinematic enough to work in a visual medium.

It should be produced because it has a strong, immediately understandable science-fiction hook with deep emotional consequences. The central idea involves a teenage girl who can access unlimited knowledge but loses her memories every time she does is both high-concept and character-driven.

The story also speaks to modern anxieties about technology, identity, artificial intelligence, medical ethics, corporate ownership, and the cost of constant access to information. But instead of telling that story through machines or institutions alone, it filters everything through a vulnerable teenage girl who simply wants to live a normal life.

That gives the project both genre appeal and emotional accessibility.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?
Costly knowledge.

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?
E.T. is one of the films I've returned to the most. I've always admired how it takes a science-fiction premise and grounds it in childhood, loneliness, friendship, and family. That is something I tried to bring into The Memory Tax. The genre concept matters, but the emotional experience of the child at the center matters even more.

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?
I have been working on The Memory Tax for the past few months through multiple drafts and revisions.

The script began with the central concept of a girl who could access unlimited knowledge, but it evolved into something more emotional and character-driven once I focused on the price she pays for that gift. The more I worked on it, the more the story became about memory, identity, family, and the danger of treating a child like a piece of technology.

7. How many stories have you written?
I have written three television pilots, including The Memory Tax, Chameleon, and The Holmes Enigma.

My writing often explores ordinary people placed under extraordinary pressure, especially when larger systems like legal, technological, institutional, or corporate collide with personal identity and moral choice.

8. What motivated you to write this screenplay?
I was motivated by the question: What if unlimited knowledge came at the cost of personal memory?

That idea immediately felt emotional to me. We live in a world where information is constantly available, but I wanted to push that idea into a more personal and dangerous place. For Allie, knowledge is not just power. It is a temptation. It can save someone's life, solve a problem, or expose the truth, but every time she uses it, she risks losing part of who she is.

I was also drawn to the mother-daughter relationship. Leigh is not simply trying to control Allie; she is trying to protect her from a gift that is also destroying her. That emotional tension became one of the main reasons I wanted to tell the story.

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?
The biggest obstacle was balancing the science-fiction concept with the emotional reality of a teenage girl's life.

It would have been easy to make the story only about the technology, the implant, or the corporation behind it. But the script became stronger when I focused on Allie as a child trying to fit in, make friends, protect people, and understand why being extraordinary feels so lonely.

Another challenge was making the "memory tax" feel personal and painful. The audience needed to understand that Allie is not just suffering headaches or technical side effects. She is losing parts of her childhood, her relationships, and her sense of self.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?
Apart from writing, I am passionate about law, public service, community involvement, and stories that examine how people respond when systems fail them.

My legal background has shaped the way I think about power, responsibility, evidence, institutions, and moral consequences. I am also deeply involved in my local community, which has given me a strong appreciation for families, small-town dynamics, and the quiet pressures people carry beneath the surface.

Those interests often find their way into my writing.

11. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?
I entered the Fantasy Sci-Fi Festival because The Memory Tax felt like a strong fit for a festival that recognizes genre stories with imagination, emotional stakes, and speculative ideas.

The script is science fiction, but it is also about a young girl trying to survive the consequences of something adults created. That combination of high-concept storytelling and emotional drama seemed well suited for a fantasy/sci-fi audience.

The initial feedback was meaningful because it showed that the concept was connecting. At the same time, I took the constructive notes seriously. Feedback is valuable when it helps you see where the script can become clearer, sharper, and more emotionally powerful. I used that process to continue refining Allie's journey, the rules of the implant, and the emotional cost of each choice she makes.