Living Dead TV Series: Your First Episode?

[Cykotic]

Ok, I know that there might never be a TV series based on Romero's films, but if there was, and you had the chance to write the first episode, what would you write? I would set the first episode at the time between DAWN and DAY and show exactly what happens to ordinary people when they are faced with surviving the dead. Imagine LOST.... with zombies

[red max]

Bam! The car explodes. A brown helicopter flies overhead. Cut to a couple of rednecks shooting at three zombies. "Got him!" Bam! "Aaah, missed him!" They get the cowboy-hatted zombie and we take it from there

[Eyebiter]

Spend the entire first 30 minutes setting up the major characters. Get the audience comfortable with a core group of 3 - 5 persons of interest.

Then introduce the zombie plague.

Over the next few days the world begins to fall apart. The phone service starts to degrade, the grocery stores are cleaned out, police and law enforcement are unable to cope with the situation.

Use Romero's theme of humanity failing to work together as a primary cause for the collapse of society. While the police try to cope with zombies, have criminals pull off a bank robbery. A bully picks on a geek, and then is surprised later when the victim returns for revenge. A local gas station attendent tries to reach an isolated school bus full of children surrounded by zombies.

[Cykotic]

Intresting... Like I said in my post, I would set the series up like LOST. Every episode, focus on a specific character and use flashbacks to tell his or her story and how it relates to where he or she is now. Also, throw in some of the characters from the films to interweave with the others. When I get it finished, I will write a script for an episode and post it on here as a PDF

[DjfunkmasterG]

The first episode would have to be a 2 hour pilot to start it off, and basically everything normal for 30 minutes like someone else said, then BOOM! let it hit the story like a $2 hooker getting slapped by her midget pimp.

[Cykotic]

I would just throw viewers in at the deep end and use the flashbacks to explain it

[axlish]

Not to cop DJ but...

2 hour pilot episode to begin with, establishing a wide range of characters across the southeastern United States. 15 minutes in, the plague hits widescale. Nuclear weapons go off, complete chaos by 30 minutes in. The next hour and a half would be the characters getting their $hit together and figuring out what to do, some barricading themselves in, some hitting the open road with supplies. I'd also cast a major star in a male lead role, and have him die a heroic and gruesome death about 20 minutes in. At the end of the pilot, one of the many crew of people documented will cross paths with a crew that is barricaded, and they will unite.

Then the show would turn in to one hour shows, sometimes following only one crew per episode, leaving you hanging on the other story arcs.

Perhaps a few episodes in, we'll have a plane crash nearby one of the crews carrying some folks from overseas.

[Cykotic]

I like the idea of casting a Major star in a role and having him killed off. Past experience shows that when a major star is cast and then killed off early, it throws the audience off guard.

I think we should do something to make this actually happen! I know that everyone does this, but how about a petition to get it done?

http://www.petitiononline.com/AB1/petition.html

[DjfunkmasterG]

Because DEADLANDS won't max out past 60 mins run time, I was going to do what Cereval did and make episodes. So maybe this is something I should really look into. Film one episode every 2 years.

Mine starts with the outbreak... Maybe it is time to really think about making a series out of it.

[Cykotic]

How about this: If we can't get anyone else to do a zombies series, Then how about a Homepage of the Dead Zombie series! People Like Livingdeadboy, Cereval, DjfunkmasterG, Myself and others could film episodes and set them in their respective locations, but it is all the same plotline in the same "Universe". Whoever is good with DVD making could do the menus and such and we could sell them in the HPOTD shop!

Well?

[DjfunkmasterG]

I'm Down as soon as I finish my flick. I could easily produce an episode in the spring of 2007! then do my sequel to Deadlands in 2008.

We could do a four episode series, or more if other filmmakers wanna jump on board.

You, Me Cereval, Dawg... Whomever. Maybe start at Season #1 and do 2 seasons may 10 episodes a season.

[Svengoolie]

Actually, a bunch of people already have that exact type of project going. I remember reading about it at the old board.

[DaDeadGuy]

I would say a 2 hour pilot, have it start off with the main characters already holding up somewhere (barricaded ie), have each episode so that it tells how each character got up to that point and how they met one another, and of course in doing this it would result in showing how everything started and went downhill. After each character has been shown their *past* up till that moment then the show would carry on to what would in fact be next, leaving their place, getting rsupplies, making a plan of what to do next ie. Of course any other way would still kick some serious a**.

[Deadman_Deluxe]

I am keen to get involved ... but ONLY after i have written proof that there is at least 20 million USD already in the pot :skull:

Do it right or don't do it at all.

[DjfunkmasterG]

There is no way a Living Dead series would ever get off the ground unless people like us ponied up the dough and filmed episodes to be played on the web, or try to market to showtime or HBO.

[DeadCentral]

I've actually got something like this I've bee writing for a bit now.
It's called "CONVERGANCE"....
the premise is a young 20 something "hero" is been inhabiting an old body shop in location unknown at the moment.
He and his brother were out hunting in a tree stand when the noticed the 'rotters' trailing through the woods periodically, what called their attention to them is the stink of rotten meat that precedes them, then lingers.
Through the whole story the young character is flashing back to how it all started with news broadcasts, and without paying much attention, he and his brother left for their favorite hunting spot.
After an attack on himself and his sibling, the brother is killed of course,he revives and starts the persuit... this is how the locaion of the old body shop comes into play... through out the entire story, the 'rotters' keep converging on this building...as if they know he's in there... there is a twist as to why they actually do... but when it's fully completed I'll release it....

[BlueRoseRomeo]

All I know is I hate TV...BUT...if this vTV series was to ever happen....I would definatly watch it. I am so sick of reality TV shows and Sit-com's that are about as funny as watching a turd spin in a toilet. I just am sick of television. I can't stand to watch it...so if anyone was to make this TV show...I PRAISE YOU!

[hadrian0117]

What about a mini-series? HBO or Showtime wouldn't have any problem with content. And it's a smaller investment thatn a regulat series and could serve as a backdoor pilot.

[Tri0xin]

My friend had a tremendous idea for a zombie t.v. mini-series. He called it "Mourning Midnight."

It starts off inside a rescue station located somewhere in the midwest. A group of survivors are hunkered down, talking amongst themselves. Each survivor tells his/her unique story in a flashback form.

Well, each survivor has one thing in common. They all heard a radio broadcast that directed them to go to this particular rescue station and that help would be arriving at midnight to fly them out via helicopter to a safer locale.

After each survivor finishes his/her story, it's just about midnight. But instead of a military helicopter arriving to fly them to safety, an atomic blast wipes them out. The government lured everyone to the center of the city in a vain attempt to erradicate the zombie epidemic and prevent anyone potentially infected from leaving.

Hence the title, MOURNING MIDNIGHT.

[Cykotic]

I think he's got the basic idea of what I wanted!

[DjfunkmasterG]

I am so hyped to this...


I was telling my DP about what we were discussing and he says we should aim it has a subscribed WEB based series. Each episode being not more than 30 minutes total time.

You charge a small fee of $20.00 per subscriber per season. You get a 1,000 fans subscribing you get $20,000.00 you could even go as high as $40.00 per subscriber. once the season is completed you make each epsidoe available as a DIVX download for each subscriber to burn onto DVD for archiving for a small fee of $5.00 per episode.

I really wanna do this, and am willing to commit $2,000 to an episode and if we get it rolling soon enough I am also willing to put DEADLANDS 2 on hold.

[Cykotic]

Oh my god... what have I started!!! I don't think the subscription idea would work. A while ago, there was a web series called "The Newblood" (vampires hunting in the London Club scene) and it was a cult hit even though they never charged for the episodes....

[BlueRoseRomeo]

I want to be a zombie!

Ummm in a show or a movie I should say