verses
a feature film pitch deck
OVERVIEW
LOGLINE
A struggling writer obsessed with a glamorous celebrity begins to morph—physically and psychologically—into her idol, only to discover that becoming someone else may mean erasing yourself completely.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Verses is aimed at adult audiences drawn to elevated psychological thrillers, identity horror, and stylized female-led stories. Fans of Black Swan, Under the Skin, Dead Ringers, and The Neon Demon will find a disturbing yet emotionally resonant exploration of fame, envy, and transformation.
THEMES
  • Identity and self-erasure
  • Female ambition and social invisibility
  • Obsession, performance, and authenticity
  • Fame as a myth—and a prison
  • The horror of being seen only when you're someone else
GENRE
Psychological Thriller /
Body Horror /
Surreal Drama
SYNOPSIS
Isabelle "Issy" Briest is a socially awkward, self-deprecating aspiring screenwriter struggling to break into an industry that thrives on confidence and image. Dismissed as “inauthentic” and quietly drowning in rejection, she finds solace in her obsession with Remik—a wildly successful, magnetic multi-hyphenate artist and cultural icon. Remik is everything Issy is not: admired, disciplined, adored. At least, on the surface.
As Issy’s creative and romantic life flatlines, her fixation on Remik intensifies. But yearning offers no escape. Her body begins to betray her: an X-ray reveals a second set of teeth emerging, and her physical form starts to mutate. Her grasp on reality frays—on a cinema date, she becomes convinced Remik is speaking directly to her through the screen.
Then one night, everything changes: Issy becomes Remik.
Now fully transformed, Issy steps into Remik’s world—performing, seducing, and taking quiet revenge on those who once ignored her. But as Issy-Remik ascends, the real Remik’s life unravels. Haunted by a doppelgänger who seems to be living her life better than she ever did, Remik seeks help from her psychiatrist, Dr. Sasha, who attributes the unraveling to buried childhood trauma.
But Remik’s nightmare deepens. Her alter ego has overtaken her public life—and she wakes up in an alternate reality where she's anonymous, living a modest, unfulfilled life as a single mother. Meanwhile, Issy-Remik begins to experience strange memories, visions of a life she never lived, and a creeping fear that she, too, is being erased.
As their identities spiral toward a surreal collision, both women must confront the unbearable pressure of their curated selves—and the devastating cost of being seen.
Verses is a psychological body-horror thriller exploring identity, obsession, and the myth of authenticity. In a world where visibility is survival, Issy and Remik discover that the only way to exist… may be to lose yourself entirely.
CHARACTERS
Issy Briest
A painfully self-conscious and creatively gifted woman in her early 30s, Issy is trapped in the margins—socially overlooked, artistically dismissed, and emotionally starved. Desperate to be taken seriously in a world that rewards confidence and image over substance, she clings to the fantasy of becoming someone who has it all. Her transformation into Remik is both wish-fulfilment and a descent into self-erasure, exposing the violence embedded in invisibility and the hunger to be seen.
Remik
A globally celebrated performer, writer, and icon in her late 30s, Remik is the epitome of curated brilliance: polished, magnetic, untouchable. But beneath the persona is a woman long estranged from her own origins—guarded, exhausted, and unsure where the performance ends. When a version of herself begins to rise in the form of Issy, Remik is forced to confront the very identity she thought she’d mastered, and the horrifying realization that her greatest creation may also be her undoing.
THEMES
Identity & Self-Erasure
Verses explores how the desire to be seen, loved, or successful can lead to the gradual dismantling of the self. Issy’s transformation into Remik is not just physical—it’s existential. In becoming someone else, she risks annihilating the very person she once was.
Obsession and Imitation
At the heart of the story is the question: what happens when admiration turns into replication? The film delves into the dangerous space between influence and obsession—how the line between idol and identity can dissolve under pressure.
Authenticity & Performance
Both Issy and Remik are performing versions of themselves—one to break in, the other to stay relevant. The film interrogates what it means to be “authentic” in a world where personal branding is survival, and the self is something constantly curated.
Power, Envy & Visibility
Issy’s journey is a reaction to being unseen—by the industry, by peers, by culture. Verses examines the politics of visibility: who gets to be heard, admired, remembered. And what happens when the powerless finally take the stage—wearing someone else’s face.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Psychological Thriller and Horror Fans
Verses will appeal to viewers who crave dark, cerebral stories that explore the boundaries of identity, perception, and selfhood. Fans of films like Black Swan, The Fly, Dead Ringers, and Under the Skin will be drawn to its psychological intensity, body horror elements, and surreal unraveling of the human psyche. These audiences appreciate dread that is character-driven, slow-burning, and emotionally sophisticated.
Fans of Female-Led, Style-Driven Cinema
Audiences who loved the stylized, female-centered storytelling of Challengers, The Neon Demon and Gone Girl will be hooked by Verses' visually rich aesthetic and complex, morally ambiguous women. This audience leans into high fashion, sensuality, and themes of transformation, often shared across social media with commentary on female power, rage, and identity.
Art-House and A24-Era Viewers
The rise of high-concept, genre-blurring cinema means Verses is poised to resonate with the A24 crowd—those who seek meaning beneath the madness. These viewers enjoy metaphor-heavy, symbol-rich stories with ambiguous endings and philosophical weight. They're interested in questions, not answers—especially those about authenticity, social masks, and self-destruction in the age of performance.
Millennial and Gen Z Creatives
Younger audiences—particularly women, queer viewers, and creatives navigating social visibility and impostor syndrome—will find Verses deeply relatable. This demographic understands the pressure to "perform" identity in both artistic and everyday spaces. The story reflects their anxieties around branding, self-worth, and the cost of being overlooked, while delivering the eerie thrill of watching someone take back power in unexpected ways.
TONE & STYLE
Psychological and Intimate
The tone of Verses is deeply psychological—anchored in the interior world of its protagonist. It immerses the audience in Issy’s isolation, longing, and self-erasure, using subjective perspective and sensory overload to blur the lines between reality, fantasy, and breakdown. The emotional tension is intimate and claustrophobic, creating a sense of creeping dread that builds quietly before erupting into moments of surreal horror.
Visceral and Body-Horror-Inflected
Stylistically, Verses leans into transformation as both metaphor and physical reality. As Issy’s identity slips, her body changes with grotesque precision—second teeth, blotched skin, falling hair—recalling the physical horror of The Fly and Titane. These elements are not shock for shock’s sake, but a haunting manifestation of psychological trauma, envy, and self-loss. It’s horror made personal and tactile.
Surreal and Dreamlike
Inspired by filmmakers like David Lynch and Jonathan Glazer, Verses employs surrealism as a storytelling tool. Visual cues bleed across scenes—mirrors ripple, audio distorts, time fragments—evoking a dream logic that grows more dominant as the doppelgänger dynamic deepens. The tone embraces ambiguity, with scenes often shifting between objective and subjective without clear markers, enhancing the uncanny atmosphere.
COMPARABLES
Black Swan
A driven young woman’s identity fractures under pressure and ambition, exploring obsession, performance, and transformation.
Under the Skin
A cold, otherworldly study of performance, femininity, and alienation, told through haunting visuals and minimal dialogue.
The Substance
A feminist body-horror satire where a substance allows a woman to duplicate herself—then violently lose control of her image.
Mulholland Drive
Performance culture in MD echoes the creative industry setting in Verses: Outsiders struggling to be noticed, believing that reinvention is the path to survival—but discovering the cost is erasure.
American Psycho
Bateman’s rage stems from being indistinguishable from his peers. Similarly, Remik’s fear of being replaced, and Issy’s desire to become someone else, reflects a terrifying truth: identity is consumable. Replaceable. Marketable. Both films question what is real. Verses carries the same chilling ambiguity, inviting the viewer to consider whether these transformations are metaphorical, delusional, or deadly real.
Being John Malkovich
Like Malkovich, Verses delves into the psychological and existential consequences of possession. Both films question the value of individual identity in a world obsessed with external validation and performance, but Verses intensifies the horror by focusing on the physical and emotional disintegration of the self as a result of becoming someone else, ultimately exploring how such transformations can obliterate rather than elevate the soul.
THE WRITER
Andrew Wright is a screenwriter and author who has worked in various roles in the film and television industry, alongside Lord Richard Attenborough (Jurassic Park), Dominic West (The Wire), and Kathy Burke (Nil By Mouth). His first student film was co-funded by Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys).
MUSIC PLAYLIST
CONTACT

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andwrighting | Instagram | Linktree

Novelist/scriptwriter who enjoys cinema, reading and a good cuppa.

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Andrew Wright (@andwrighting.bsky.social)

Writer of novels, film/tv scripts, and short bio's. Read my stuff at https://awright.substack.com http://linktr.ee/andwrighting

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