Exclusive: Jessie T. Usher (The Boys, Smile), Brett Gelman (Wild Things), Taye Diggs (His, Hers, Ours), Torrey Lawrence (Bring the Law) and Brooke Anne Smith (Tyler Perry’s Too Close to Home) are set to star in Syndetic, a psychological sci‑fi thriller that recently wrapped production in Los Angeles. Syndetic marks the directorial debut of Blake Linder.
Penned by Jayme LaForest, Syndetic follows Richard Thompson (Lawrence), a former Marine and network administrator whose job loss, addiction, and estrangement from his two sons leave him vulnerable to a strange proposition from Neural Hive. There, the affable Dr. Carnegie (Gelman) recruits Richard into an experimental program that uses human brains as individual nodes in a distributed computing network designed to exploit the mind’s predictive and pattern‑recognition abilities.
As Richard begins to experience violent images and unfamiliar memories that erode his sense of identity and reality, he becomes increasingly consumed by Kylie O’Reilly (Smith), a ubiquitous motivational media personality whose relentless optimism takes on an unsettling, invasive quality. Usher and Diggs portray Detectives Clearwater and Lane, investigators who attempt to piece together the truth from Richard’s fragmented account while determining whether his apparent delusions may hint at something genuine.
Through Richard’s unraveling perspective, the film examines the commodification of human experience, economic desperation, and the increasingly fragile boundary between consciousness and technology.
“I’ve always been drawn to stories that leave audiences asking difficult questions, and Syndetic does exactly that,” said Linder. “I wanted to blend grounded suspense with psychological horror to explore where our relationship with technology could lead if we stop questioning the systems we choose to trust.”
Ryan Broomberg served as cinematographer. LaForest is producing through Fall Risk Entertainment, with Jason Short producing through Short Films, alongside Linder Productions.
Usher is represented by Independent Artists Group and Luber Roklin Entertainment. Gelman is represented by Creative Artists Agency, Entertainment 360 and Schreck Rose Dapello. Diggs is represented by Independent Artists Group and Down Deep Productions. Lawrence is represented by Media Artists Group and Egg Hunt Entertainment. Smith is represented by Joseph Le Talent Agency. LaForest is represented by Pacitti Law Firm.
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