Choose a decision with a clear human consequence and write the perspectives of several affected characters.
500 Queens / Cinematic Universe Simulations
Cinematic Universe Simulations
Use shared fictional worlds to explore real choices about future lives, communities and technology.
Follow the connections. Choose your direction.
The need worth working on.
Long-term systems can be hard to discuss through technical reports alone. A simulated story world lets people experience trade-offs, notice missing viewpoints and imagine a life worth building. The challenge is to keep the story emotionally compelling while making its assumptions and invented elements visible.
What the enterprise could offer.
Create a small playable or cinematic scene in which characters face a practical future dilemma, such as sharing energy or caring for an isolated neighbour. Women of different ages, bodies, skills and styles should hold meaningful roles in the world. A companion discussion guide would connect the experience to a real decision without presenting fiction as a forecast.
People to build with
- Film and interactive-media teams
- Community workshop hosts
- Learners exploring future systems
One scene, one meaningful choice
Build a short storyboard or interactive scene using assets the team owns or has permission to use.
Invite a varied audience to play or watch, then discuss whose choices felt absent or constrained.
Revise the scene and publish an assumptions note separating observed facts from authored possibilities.
The first result
A short experience, audience feedback and a facilitator guide that can support a real discussion.
What needs to be demonstrated.
Practical pilot
The starting evidence
The plan connects major storytelling with leadership development and the Grain by Grain future-resilience vision.
The open question
Whether the chosen scene improves understanding or merely reinforces the creators' existing assumptions.
The next measurement
What participants can explain afterwards, which perspectives they identify and the quality of the discussion generated.
Build the means to deliver.
Useful capabilities and resources
- Writer and world designer
- Paid performers or voice talent where used
- Accessible media production
A possible business model
Explore commissioned learning experiences, licensing to educators or a production service. Test the audience and distribution route before building a large universe.
A leadership decision to practise
Decide who has authorship, payment, credit and the ability to challenge how their community is represented.
People, consequences and decisions.
- A beautiful world may disguise weak assumptions.
- Interactive choices can oversimplify political trade-offs.
- Generative assets still need rights and quality review.
If equality were being designed now...
- Do women with different bodies and backgrounds make consequential choices inside the simulated world?
- Can women in the intended audience change the scenario's assumptions, rather than only react to a finished story?
Begin with women's own experiences across bodies, ages, cultures and places. Invite disagreement and choose a practical change together.
Create a women-led design brief →Build your learning council.
Build alongside these ideas.
Humanities and funCinematic Universe
Create a shared story world where women shape the future as complex leads, makers and owners.
Practical pilot
Humanities and funGame Design School
Build a game-design learning studio where women create the worlds, rules and business decisions.
Practical pilot
Humanities and funCreativity and Performance Art
Create paid stages and shared production resources for women with many ways of being visible.
Practical pilot
Follow existing public concept work.
Connected public conceptGrain by Grain
A documentary concept connects everyday life with long-term resilience, existential threats and a seven-generation civilisation story.
Connected public conceptMinjerribah Screen & Media Network
Connect local stories, screen work, learning and trusted information through a staged community media proposal.
Connected public conceptFuture of Life 2045
Explore possible futures for relationships, living systems, intelligence, movement, science and culture.
From the original suggestion to a working brief.
Original concept from 500 Queens VC NEW Long, slide 15; current context from the September 2026 planning document. This expanded brief and pilot are proposed development, not evidence of an operating enterprise or confirmed partnership.
Original title: Cinematic Universe Simulations. The pilot, business model and learning connections on this page are proposed developments of that original idea.