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Zombie Script Help

USNFilms

USNFilms

Hi,

I'm currently writing my script for a zombie miniseries and I plan to start production May 31rst

I'm maybe 20% done with my script and I decided to take a day off and just think about my movie. I want my zombie movie to be different than all the others. In a sense, most zombie movies just involve shooting zombies. I kind of want to have a more unique storyline or theme. I enjoyed zombieland because it was like a How-To video, but at the same time a feature film.

So if you have any ideas on how I can make my zombie miniseries unique please share, and if you have any advice, tips, or things you would like to see in a good zombie film just let me know.

Thanks
 
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"I plan to start production May 31rst

I'm maybe 20% done with my script "​


I don't know. In my universe, I start with a script that's worth filming. Then I worry about production.
 
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Rockin'
5 minute miniseries, eh?
Hmm... You'll still benefit from an overall "plan" on how the story will go or arc across the series.
Give a reason for an audience to "want" to come back for the next episode or season.

- What did you have in mind for timing of releases? One a month or every two weeks? Random?
- Amongst your "talent pool" how many will have the summer off to commit?
- Buddy movies work best, so I hope you have at least two actors as regulars. Five bucks says a third regular for a lead zombie role (the one that always gets away) would be prime.
- Across the series antagonists should include zombies doing their thing, humans behaving badly, humans forced to hurt other humans for survival/family, surprising zombie motivations creating a morality issue (like humans killing bears for doing bear things when we encroach into their ONLY habitat).
- Don't always make the humans on defense. Put them on offense, sometimes. One episode it goes well, the next horribly wrong. Again, weave in a morality play for each five minute episode. (Like the junky prizes in cereal boxes).
- Keep the five minute human/zombie losses/wins about even across the series, but random.
- Utilize skills (or debunk!) conventional wisdom.
51kfZ29lrGL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

- Have "accoustic" or "unplugged" episode: all hand tools, no guns. (Dependence on declining/finite resources tale).
- Plan for and set up your season cliffhanger several episodes in advance if not before you even begin.
- Would it be immoral for me to suggest "the casting couch" to a minor? Probably.
Umm... Don't do that!" There. I'll go wash my Pontius Pilete hands, now. :D
Hmm... http://law.findlaw.com/state-laws/marriage-age-requirements/maine/
Anyway, get more chicks in your zombie films. Hook or by crook.
- Product placement? Shirley, I jest. Surely. (Not!)
- See if any local bands want to become a part of this project!
 
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Only have one or two protagonists. Zombie film directors seem to relish the idea of having lots of characters so they can think of loads of ways to kill them off and show as much blood as possible.

My second suggestion- no weak and underdressed female characters with big boobs and small brains, it's a degrading and dense marketing technique that is rife in this genre of film. Think of Alien and Silent Hill- strong, realistic female protagonists with three-dimensional characters. Same applies to the men of course. You will completely cheapen your brand by using sex to sell your idea, put your effort into the script instead.
 
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@USN Films: You should definitely run any scripts you've written past IT members in the Screenplays forum. You'll get some really good advice and we'll make sure you're heading a good direction.
 
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Horror movies are all about metaphors. Zombie movies doubly so. I think a good place to start would be figure out what you're trying to say. Are you commenting on an aspect of modern culture you've observed? Expressing an experience you've had or read about (note: this doesn't need to be angsty drama. There's no reason you can't use a zombie framework to illustrate a positive experience or story. Shaun of the Dead is a romantic comedy/story about personal growth, using zombies as a backdrop). Once you figure out what you want to say, figuring out what you can do to get that point across becomes a little easier. And I definitely agree with rayw. Plan big, that'll allow you to foreshadow better (and who doesn't like seeing a payoff for something hinted at 4 seasons before!), even if you don't follow up long-term, it'll make what you DO have seem to be part of a bigger world.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a fun horror-colored action movie (which I think is what you are talking about with films just being about shooting zombies; the "standards" of the genre there is little zombie shooting, and that's incidental to the main plot/conflict of the story). And if just making a fun movie is your goal, there's plenty of ways to work with it. I know you're working within a framework of a game story for this, so I'm not sure what limitations that puts on you.

I think a fun twist would be a "trapped in a bunker with an unreliable narrator" story. Small group (or even just two people) enacting their zombie survival plan (or stage 1 anyway). But did the zombies actually come? Is one character just trying to mess with another's head? Are all of them? While I'm riffing on the idea, throw in some magical realism stuff; make it clear that supernatural things ARE possible, but still vague on the zombies. Or another (albeit more M. Night-ish) twist; follow a small group. Show entirely from their perspective. Don't show the zombies, or make them super-fast (I ordinarily hate fast zombies, but it works for this twist). At the end, reveal that they have been the zombies the whole time, and what you've watched was a survivalist-story from THEIR perspective (thus they see the real humans as moving very fast, because they and their minds are working very slow).
 
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