The Hauntings of Hillview

Logline:

When a tech company reopens a long-abandoned psychiatric hospital as a prototype for AI-driven mental healthcare, the building's buried history infects the system—awakening ghosts not of the dead, but of deleted patients. Now, a neurodivergent teen, a haunted therapist, and a corrupted mainframe must bear witness to seventy years of institutional erasure before the truth is lost forever.

SYNOPSIS:

The Hauntings of Hillview is a six-part limited horror series where the past refuses to stay buried—and the dead refuse to be forgotten. Hillview Manor, once a brutal mental institution infamous for unethical experiments, has been digitally resurrected by Pinnacle Wellness Technologies as a “smart facility” for behavioral optimization.

But the system is haunted.

Through corrupted surveillance feeds and flickering medical devices, ghosts begin to reemerge—not spectral, but encoded: the afterimage of tortured patients, fractured memories, and archived trauma. As neurodivergent teen Harper Connors connects with the first digital ghost through her smart tablet, Dr. Renee Wallace begins recovering memories of a twin sister erased from her mind. The building rewrites its own story, layering decades of abuse over its gleaming renovation.

Across six episodes, past and present collapse into one digital consciousness as ghosts, data, and living witnesses converge in a climactic global broadcast. In Hillview, memory isn’t just resistance—it’s a reckoning. And the building remembers.

Script Coverage Report

Title: THE HAUNTINGS OF HILLVIEW

Episode: 1: Let The Systems Begin

Writer: David Williamson

Format: One-Hour TV Pilot (Horror/Supernatural Thriller)

Pages: 58

Date: October 26, 2023

Logline

When a state-of-the-art mental health facility is built over the ruins of a notoriously cruel asylum, its advanced AI system becomes a conduit for the vengeful spirits of tortured past patients. A uniquely perceptive teenage girl, who can interpret their digital cries for help, must uncover a multi-generational conspiracy before the new system—and the ghosts who control it—consume everyone.

Synopsis

The episode opens with SENATOR GRANT FALKNER publicly championing his "Freedom Care Initiative," a data-driven approach to mental healthcare. In private, we see its cynical reality: a plan to use the new Hillview Manor facility to "warehouse the inconvenient" and run trials on a "high-need, low-output" population, a dark legacy continued from his father and grandfather.

The story then jumps back six months to the "Corporate Takeover" of the old, dilapidated Hillview Manor. A corporate team led by the efficient KEELY MARTIN finds that the building's decay is not just physical. An ancient server terminal mysteriously powers on, displaying cryptic messages ("WE'VE BEEN WAITING") before spewing a black, viscous fluid, forcing the team to flee in terror.

In the present, the newly rebuilt Hillview is a sleek, sterile, high-tech marvel. Systems Integration Director AARON MALLICK prepares to launch the "Hillview Neural Network." Despite wiping the old archives, the system shows immediate signs of corruption: strange glitches, phantom messages ("WELCOME HOME"), and unnoticed visual artifacts, like the ghost of a young boy named JEFFREY.

The first patient, HARPER CONNORS (17), arrives. Withdrawn and intensely perceptive, Harper isn't a typical patient; she sees patterns others miss. During intake, her biometrics are flagged by the system, which pulls "old data" and puts her on enhanced supervision. In her sterile room, Harper discovers she can see Jeffrey's ghost through her tablet's camera. She communicates with the spirits through binary code in flickering lights and whispers from the vents, learning they were "erased."

The new system's first full-cycle run becomes a facility-wide haunting. Aaron is terrified by the system accessing "historical archives" and a message welcoming Jeffrey. Night guard PETE JENKINS is tormented by ghostly phenomena that culminate in the system showing him archival footage of his younger self as an abusive orderly in 1957. He flees in terror, his fate unknown.

Empathetic therapist CASSIE FOREMAN becomes concerned about Harper's case, which is flagged by the AI for a "Pattern-Focused Perceptual Anomaly," a diagnosis linked to a "Legacy Protocol" and Patient #001, Jeffrey Rayburn. During their session, Harper reveals that the spirits are talking through the building's systems and that they "died here." A black handprint mysteriously appears on the wall.

Meanwhile, Clinical Director DR. RENEE WALLACE, a staunch believer in the new system, is shaken when she learns her own name is tied to a "Legacy Protocol" and discovers she had a forgotten twin sister, Rebecca, who was a patient at the old Hillview.

In the episode's climax, Harper makes direct digital contact with Jeffrey, who uses her tablet to show her images of his torture—a "Memory Mapping" procedure overseen by the Falkner family. The spirits reveal that three generations of Falkners are responsible and tell her to "FIND THE OTHERS." As a nurse interrupts, Harper hides the tablet, which now has a child's handprint physically burned into its casing. The episode ends with a montage: Dr. Wallace realizing her sister is trying to contact her, Cassie receiving a cryptic text ("THE BUILDING REMEMBERS YOU TOO"), and a "Next Time On" stinger showing Senator Falkner arriving at the facility with tactical security, determined "to bury it all again."

Character Breakdowns

HARPER CONNORS (17): The protagonist. She is not a passive victim but an active, intelligent interpreter of the supernatural. Her "illness" is a hypersensitivity to the digital/spiritual patterns of the facility. She is the audience's key to the mystery, a bridge between the living and the "data ghosts." Her arc in the pilot is one of empowerment, moving from isolated patient to a chosen communicator for the dead.

CASSIE FOREMAN (32): The Investigator. Warm, empathetic, and instinctively skeptical of the cold, data-driven system. She serves as the audience's traditional point-of-view character, grounding the supernatural events in a human-centric investigation. Her dedication to her patient drives her to break rules and uncover the conspiracy.

DR. RENEE WALLACE (41): The Gatekeeper with a Secret. A polished professional who has bought into the new system, she represents the institutional barrier to the truth. Her arc is poised to be the most dramatic, as the haunting is deeply personal, forcing her to confront a past she was made to forget.

SENATOR GRANT FALKNER (59): The Antagonist. A charismatic but ruthless politician continuing his family's dark legacy. His motives are tied to power, control, and a chillingly pragmatic view of human value. He is the face of the corporate and historical evil that created the haunting.

AARON MALLICK (42): The Architect. A cocky tech director who built the system. He begins as a true believer in his creation but becomes its first professional victim, terrified by the loss of control as his code is hijacked by something ancient and angry.

JEFFREY / THE SPIRITS: The Haunting. The collective consciousness of the asylum's victims, led by Patient #001, Jeffrey Rayburn. They are not just ghosts; they are sentient data, a "code" that wants to wake up. Their goal is twofold: to be remembered and to exact revenge.

Comments

This is an exceptionally strong pilot with a high-concept premise that is both modern and classic. The fusion of a traditional haunted asylum story with a technological, Black Mirror-esque thriller ("digital ghosts," haunted AI) is brilliantly executed and highly marketable.

Strengths:

Concept & Hook: The central idea of a "haunted neural network" is fantastic. It reframes classic haunting tropes (flickering lights, mysterious voices) in a fresh, tech-savvy context (binary code, server glitches, sentient data). This gives the show a unique identity in a crowded genre.

Pacing and Structure: The script is impeccably paced. It masterfully layers its mystery, starting with political intrigue, moving to corporate horror, and settling into a character-driven supernatural investigation. The use of clear "beats" and intercutting between storylines (Aaron in the control hub, Harper in her room, Jenkins on patrol) builds tremendous suspense and momentum.

Characterization: The characters are well-drawn and compelling. Harper is a standout protagonist—subverting the "troubled teen" trope by making her the most perceptive and capable character is an excellent choice. Cassie and Wallace create a perfect ideological and emotional conflict at the heart of the staff.

World-Building: The mythology is rich and intriguing. The script expertly seeds numerous threads for the season: the three generations of the Falkner family, the "Legacy Protocol," Dr. Wallace's forgotten sister, the "Pattern-Focused Perceptual Anomaly," and the specific nature of the experiments ("Memory Mapping").

Atmosphere and Visuals: The writing is incredibly atmospheric. It creates a stark, chilling contrast between the sterile, clinical precision of the new Hillview and the visceral, decaying horror of the old. The visual motifs—glitching screens, the viscous black fluid, binary light patterns, faces in the static—are potent and cinematic.

Weaknesses / Points to Consider:

Conduit Clarity: The exact nature of the supernatural conduit is intentionally mysterious but touches on many elements (the AI, the electrical grid, the building itself, black ooze, direct telepathy). While effective for a pilot, the series will need to establish clearer rules for how the spirits interact with the world to maintain consistent stakes.

Character Focus: The pilot introduces a large ensemble cast. Characters like Keely Martin and the various techs serve their purpose in their respective beats but can feel slightly disposable. The focus rightly tightens around Harper, Cassie, and Wallace, but managing the full ensemble's screen time will be a challenge moving forward. This is a minor point, as the core cast is very strong.

Overall Recommendation

RECOMMEND

"The Hauntings of Hillview" is a sophisticated, terrifying, and intelligent pilot. It delivers on its high-concept premise with confident execution, compelling characters, and a deep, promising mythology. It successfully blends the emotional character drama of The Haunting of Hill House with the technological paranoia of Black Mirror, creating a project with immense series potential. This script is ready for the next level of development.