BAD AT MATH
Film Treatment
Genre: Conspiracy Thriller • Dark Comedy • Mystery • Drama (Fiction)
Tagline:
“Everyone was certain… until they checked the math.”
Logline
When an unusually gifted man becomes the target of an endless parade of people who confidently jump to the wrong conclusions, he discovers the world’s biggest problem isn’t corruption—it’s that almost nobody bothered to do the math first.
Synopsis
Prince Jordan Tyson has spent his entire life trying to fit in.
Unfortunately, he keeps accidentally making people look foolish.
Whenever someone confidently declares, “I’ve got him figured out,” they’re almost always spectacularly wrong.
A banker guesses wrong.
A politician guesses wrong.
A Sheriff guesses wrong. (wasting tens of thousands of tax payer dollars in investigations that turned up with nothing) aka Government waste (AKA) fraud and goes to prison himself. but before he gets in big trouble he dismises all accusation or charges against prince to free himself.
A television host guesses wrong.
Attorneys guess wrong,
A newspaper following orders guesses wrong and ends up getting sued, has to close for slandering an american hero family that streteches to the white house.
An internet expert guesses wrong.
Even the self-proclaimed geniuses guess wrong.
Instead of admitting their mistakes, everyone doubles down.
Soon Prince becomes the most misunderstood man in America—not because of what he did, but because thousands of people refuse to admit they miscalculated.
The bigger the mistake…
The louder they become.
The movie follows Prince as he calmly walks through one absurd situation after another while watching people confidently explain his life to him—even though they’ve never met him.
Every few minutes someone proudly announces,
“I know exactly who this guy is.”
Five minutes later…
They’re proven hilariously wrong.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Act One – Everybody’s an Expert
Prince is introduced as an intelligent, humble man who simply wants to live his life.
Unfortunately, everyone else seems convinced they know him better than he knows himself.
Complete strangers analyze his personality.
News commentators debate his motives.
Internet influencers produce two-hour documentaries based on a single photograph.
Neighbors become “expert witnesses.”
Nobody checks a single fact.
Act Two – The Confidence Olympics
The mistakes become increasingly ridiculous.
One official insists Prince is six feet tall.
He’s clearly not.
Someone else claims he grew up somewhere he has never visited.
Another stated; he moved to their state , ( a state he has never been to before in his life) and has no ties too.
A panel of experts confidently debates what Prince is “thinking” while Prince is sitting in the audience eating popcorn.
Entire investigations are launched using assumptions that could have been disproved with a calculator and five minutes of research.
Prince rarely argues.
He simply smiles…
writes the correct answer on a whiteboard…
writes the correct answers on his website..
and watches everyone argue with mathematics.
The audience laughs because the louder the experts become…
the more obviously wrong they are.
Act Three – Bad at Math
Eventually the mistakes begin colliding with one another.
Every false story contradicts the last one.
Television hosts accidentally debunk themselves.
Government officials quote reports that don’t match their own timelines.
Internet detectives discover they’ve been citing each other in one giant circle.
The conspiracy slowly unravels—not because Prince defeats anyone—
but because bad math and science eventually defeats itself.
Main Characters
Prince Jordan Tyson
Quiet. Patient. Brilliant.
He rarely raises his voice because he knows one simple fact:
People arguing with arithmetic and science usually lose.
The Experts
A revolving cast of overly confident politicians, television personalities, influencers, bureaucrats, consultants, and internet detectives.
Individually they’re intimidating.
Together…
they’re a comedy troupe.
The Reporter
One journalist begins asking an unusual question:
“What if everyone skipped step one?”
That simple question changes everything.
Running Gags
-
Every character says, “Trust me, I’ve done the research.” Seconds later, they’re spectacularly wrong.
-
Giant chalkboards appear whenever someone makes a wildly incorrect assumption.
-
Prince silently circles the mistake with a red marker while everyone continues arguing.
-
Someone dramatically declares, “Case closed!” only for a new piece of evidence to appear immediately afterward.
-
The phrase “Did anybody actually do the math?” becomes the film’s recurring punchline.
Tone
Imagine if:
-
The Big Short met The Bourne Identity,
-
with the dry humor of Office Space,
-
the mistaken assumptions of My Cousin Vinny,
-
and the escalating absurdity of Don’t Look Up.
The laughs don’t come from mocking the protagonist—they come from watching otherwise capable people become hilariously overconfident, make increasingly elaborate mistakes, and refuse to admit they might be wrong.
Final Scene
A packed courtroom. News cameras everywhere.
One attorney gives a dramatic twenty-minute speech.
Everyone applauds.
Prince walks to a chalkboard.
He writes one simple equation.
Silence.
The judge looks at the numbers.
The attorney looks at the numbers.
The reporters look at the numbers.
Someone in the back quietly asks,
“…Wait… has anybody actually done the math?”
Cut to black.
BAD AT MATH