2 Guys, A Girl, and a Zombie Fortress

[Despanan]

Here's a screenplay for a short film I wrote 2 years ago. The film has yet to be made (as our shooting schedual was plagued with so many technical problems we were eventually forced to abandon it.) It's a little rough at this point, but I still plan to go back and edit/reshoot it when I have the time. Let me know what you think.

(apologies again for the formatting, I don't have time to pop in all the itallics & boldface, so it may be a bit confusing)

2 Guys, A Girl, and a Zombie Fortress.

Cast:
Gavin - 23, An Alcoholic, loves Zombie Movies
Steve - 25 Resident Handyman, Gavin’s Best friend. Also an alcoholic
Tatum - 20, She’s been living on the zombie infested streets for at least four months
Skaags - 22, a stoner, and hydroponic gardener
Roy - 29, Huge. Owns a suit of armor for some reason
Vicki - 26 Roy’s Girlfriend (Total Bitch).

Scene 1:

Ext, Coal Pile, Dusk (or dawn. whichever really all I know is that things should be dark and smokey.)

A Girl, Tatum, scrambles over the coal pile. He clothes are dirty, ragged and covered in soot. She slides down the edge of the pile. Dark Figures shamble about in the foreground. They advance on her.

Scene 2:
Int. Sliding Door

The door slides up only a few feet and Tatum rolls under it, maybe some hands follow her. The door slams shut behind her. She breaths a sigh of relief, stands and walks down the hall. Zoom IN ON FLATTENED HAND (or a rock, whatever really) the Hand suddenly springs to life and begins to open the Door.

Scene 3:
Int. Gavin’s Bedroom

GAVIN is sleeping on a mattress in the corner His hair is scraggly and he hasn’t shaved. His television might be on; if it is it’s playing some bad zombie movie. Empty liquor bottles cover the floor, The walls are covered in Zombie related posters, and weird, inspirational propaganda. There are stacks of comic books, including The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies. GAVIN jerks to life, this might resemble a Zombie at first. He runs his hand through his hair, looks at the liquor bottles. He may be nursing a hangover. GAVIN rolls out of bed, and flips through an issue of THE WALKING DEAD as he makes a pot of coffee. He might be eating week-old toast. GAVIN puts down the book and pours himself a cup of coffee and a shot of bourbon. He picks them both up and walks out of frame.






Scene 4:
Ext. Day, Lower Catwalk

GAVIN Enters through the door, still holding the COFFEE and SHOT. Zombies surround the fence, as he passes they try to grab him. Gavin ignores them and walks to the edge of the fence. He looks one Zombie in the eyes, then throws the COFFEE in it’s face. The Zombie screams in pain. GAVIN does the shot and then walks back inside.

Scene 5:
Ext. Day, Porch.

GAVIN walks out the door to meet STEVE, who is sitting on a lawnchair, smoking a cigarette. He may also have a cup of Coffee, or an apple, or something. You get the idea, finger food. GAVIN sits down and bums a cigarette from STEVE. He lights it and takes a drag.

STEVE:
You give Bill his coffee?

GAVIN.
You’re naming them now. (?)

STEVE:
I call the big one Bitey

GAVIN:
The one missing the top part of it’s head?

STEVE:
No. I call that’s Van Mundegaard. (Shouting) HEY VAN! *Whistles*

A Zombie Reacts.

That one’s Topless. I like Topless.

Both lean over to get a look.

STEVE:
I’ve been trying to teach that one to count

Cut to a Zombie eating it’s fingers.

GAVIN:
You’re a sick man.


STEVE:
I’ve gotta make new friends some how. Otherwise I’ll be stuck talking to you forever.

(A Beat)
You ever feel like your life’s not going anywhere?

(A Beat)

GAVIN:
(Incredulously)
What?

STEVE:
You know; Like you’re spinning your wheels-

GAVIN:
Jesus Steve. Why in the world would you ever think something like that? My life is absofucking wonderful. Gaddamn fantasical. I love waking up everyday surrounded by four to six acres of cannibalistic corpse free utopia. I LOVE mopping up 1500 square feet of pristine floors; Because if no one goes out there’s no dirt to track in. We haven’t had dirt in this place for fifteen years. Can you tell me why the fuck they employ a janitor in Zombie Fortress Incorporated When there’s no fucking dirt? No one new comes in, Nothing new ever happens. I’ve never owned anything new in my entire life. We live in a hand-me-down world. Even the friggin air is recycled. For chrissakes I’m breathing the same air my father breathed. I hate this air!
Gavin jumps up, knocks over his chair and starts screaming at the Zombies.

FUCK ALL OF YOU! FUCK YOU VAN! FUCK YOU BITEY! FUCK YOU FATASS! FUCK YOU TIT’S MCGEE! I HATE ALL OF YOU I HOPE YOU ALL DIE. I HOPE YOU BURN IN SOME EPIC FUCKING FIRE. A MONUMENTAL BLAZE WITH SUPERHEATED NEEDLES IN YOUR SPINE!

For a moment it looks like GAVIN’s gonna jump. Then he backs up ever so slightly, breathing heavily. Steve get’s up resets the chair walks over to GAVIN. He puts a cigarette in GAVIN’S mouth, lights it and leads him back to the chair.

STEVE: (Tenderly)
That’s a good little smoker. Let daddy cancer take the pain away.

They both sit back down, GAVIN finishes the cigarette quickly and asks for another one. STEVE obliges him.

Scene 6:
INT, Hallway. Day

GAVIN and STEVE are climbing in the window.

GAVIN:
All I’m saying is; at the end of Land of the Dead they should’ve blown him the fuck up. He’s not looking for a place to live; he’s looking to eat a couple yards of my lower intestine.
STEVE reaches for the handle on the door, before he can turn it, he turns his head and notices TATUM (offscreen) GAVIN is still ranting.

Romero must’ve gone senile I mean what the hell-

STEVE taps GAVIN on the shoulder, cut to Tatum, freaking glowing with surreal beauty.

GAVIN:
(Whispering) That’s new.

STEVE:
Dibs.

Gavin:
Dibs. Fuck.

An alarm sounds

STEVE:
That’s new.

Steve and Gavin exchange ‘Oh FUCK’ looks, then rush past Tatum. Tatum just stands there like a deer in headlights. GAVIN pops his head out from around the corner.

GAVIN:
You coming?

TATUM smiles and runs after them.

Scene 7:

STEVE and GAVIN are running down the hall Aaron Sorken style. TATUM is following them looking a little dazed.

GAVIN:
Okay, we’ll break this into two squads, Squad Alpha and Beta; Beta will be in charge of food and clothing. Alpha Squad will-

STEVE:
Wait. Who’s Alpha Squad.

GAVIN:
Me.


STEVE:
Who’s Beta Squad?

(A Beat)

GAVIN:
Stops
You.

They start Walking again.

Alpha Squad will handle Weapons, Tools, and Research materials. Who the fuck are you?

TATUM:
Tatum.

GAVIN:
That’s a beautiful name. You’re in charge of getting all the liquor and cigarettes and putting them in a bag.

TATUM:
And then what do I do?

They pause at Gavin’s Door.

(A beat)

GAVIN:
Hold it.

They enter Gavin’s Apartment.

Scene 8:
INT. Gavin’s Apt. Day

As they run in it’s a mad rush to assemble the weapons. TATUM just stands there in shock taking in the Zombie media saturated surroundings. STEVE grabs a Backpack and starts filling it with freeze-dried food from the cabinets, maybe he tosses out occasional meals he doesn’t like, as well as dropping in a huge box of condoms. Maybe he makes room for the condoms by taking out food. GAVIN assembles the weapons on the floor Swords, knives, Bricks, bats, chair legs you get the idea.

GAVIN:
STEVE! Weapons check.

The boys start playing with the weapons.

TATUM:

looking at the DVD’s

What the shit is wrong with you people? What is so wrong and broken in your heads that you can live surrounded by THIS? You do realize that people are still out there? Didn’t you lose anyone to these things?

Starts throwing the DVDs at GAVIN and STEVE.

GAVIN:
My dad died of a heart attack.

STEVE:
My mom passed away in her sleep.

GAVIN:
I think old Murry got clubbed to death.

STEVE:
That was an odd christmas-

TATUM:
SHUT UP! Christmas? You still have CHRISTMAS here? Do you know what I got for christmas?

GAVIN:
What?

TATUM:
NOTHING! I didn’t even know it was Christmas! It didn’t snow, and I was living in an abandoned minimalist art exhibit with the undead beating on the doors and windows, trying to eat my fucking brain! You people have no grasp of reality. Don’t you have any sense of what’s going on around you?

Steve and Gavin exchange looks, Gavin slowly tries to put ZOMBIE PLANET into the backpack, without looking at him STEVE slaps it away.

TATUM:
Takes a moment to center herself. Picks up a weapon, hefts it, puts it down and selects another one.

Alright.

SWITCH TO ZOMBIE CAM, a hand reaches up and grabs TATUM’s shoulder She screams, whirls around and smacks SKAAGS in the temple with the blunt side of her weapon. SKAAGS goes down.

GAVIN:
You just creamed my roommate.

SKAAGS:
Oooow!.

TATUM:
Oh my GOD, I’m so sorry will he be ok?

SKAAGS pulls out a pipe and takes a hit.

STEVE:
He’ll be fine.

with a bong in one hand and a pipe in the other.

SKAAGS:
Hey what’s up?

GAVIN:
Dude! They broke in. Can’t you hear the sirens?

SKAAGS:
I always hear sirens.

(A BEAT)

STEVE:
So we’re getting out of here.

SKAAGS:
Really?

GAVIN:
Yeah.

(A BEAT)

STEVE:
Wanna Come?

SKAAGS:
Sure Sure Sure, let me just... ummm
He staggers around in circles for a bit. Then reaches into the couch and pulls out a giant ziplock bag of weed.

Now I’m ready.

STEVE hefts the backpack, and all four exit out the front door.

Scene 9:
INT. HALLWAY.

GAVIN:
Alright We’re going to go get Roy, he’s a big guy, he can punch people in the head if they piss us off.

[Despanan]

STEVE:
(Terrified)
We’re not going to get Vicki are we?

GAVIN:
If we’re lucky, she’s already dead.
Then we make for the Dog House and get ourselves some big fuckoff guns.

STEVE:
What?

GAVIN:
The Armory, that’s what it’s for right?

STEVE:
uhh, I don’t know, I mean Deadline, Deadline, gotta lock it up.

GAVIN:
What the hell is wrong with you?

STEVE:
Wrong? Nothing’s wrong. Let’s go to the armory; I just thought it sounded a little gay.



Scene 10:

INT, Viki’s Door

Cut to STEVE, SKAAGS, TATUM, and GAVIN outside Vicki’s door it’s very femininely decorated, with a magic-maker poster that reads “Vicki and Roy” with flowers or some shit. Maybe a welcome mat and one of those dry-erase pen pads. STEVE bangs on the door.

GAVIN:
Roy, hey ROY! You in there?

VICKI (Through the door):
Whos’ that?

GAVIN
It’s Gavin and Steve!

VICKI:
(Vicki opens the door she is holding a meat cleaver)

What do you guys want?

GAVIN:
We’re looking for Roy, is he here?

VICKI: (Sweetly)
Roy is down in the laundry room getting our clothes so we can leave.

(A BEAT)

GAVIN:
Well actually, we were kinda, going to leave to. We wanted to know if Roy, and you, wanted to come with us?

VICKI:
(Smiles)
No.

Vicki Closes the door. Steve breathes a sigh of relief.

GAVIN:
Huh, I figured, in light of the circumstances, she was going to come.

STEVE:
That was the scariest moment of my entire life.


TATUM:
So Roy’s out?

STEVE:
Maybe. The Laundry room is on the way to the Armory.
Where the hell is Skaags?

Scene 11:

Int. Hallway

SKAAGS is scrambling around. Maybe an extra runs by screaming, covered in blood. As he passes a hallway a ZOMBIE jumps out at him. There is a Brief struggle, SKAAGS escapes by kicking it in the chest. He turns to go the other way only to find the Hallway is blocked by another ZOMBIE. Maybe he glances back and sees that the other one is getting back up, the message is, He’s trapped.

SKAAGS:
If I’m gonna go out I’m gonna go out blazing.

Reaches into his coat, as if for a gun and withdraws a PIPE and a LIGHTER, and takes a hit. The Zombies tackle him and bite into his stomach. Maybe there’s smoke rising from his innards.

The Joke’s on you, fuckers, I destroyed my liver years ago.

Scene 12:
INT Hallway

At the far end they see ZOMBIES, maybe they’re killing someone. They turn around.

GAVIN:
Not that way.

They go back the way they came, In the Hallway They See a ZOMBIE eating someone, it gets up and shambles towards them, the guys freeze up but TATUM walks right up and strikes the ZOMBIE in the head. As she steps over the corpse a SECOND ZOMBIE (the guy being eaten) starts to rise. Without missing a beat she strikes it in the head and it goes down.

STEVE:
Dibs.

GAVIN:
Dibs. FUCK.

The Boys follow TATUM down the stairs to the Basement.




Scene 13:
INT. Basement.

They enter through the Door, they see ROY in a suit of ARMOR and holding a Basket of Clothes. He moves to greet them. We see the legs of a ZOMBIE, obviously dead, shoved head first into a dryer.

ROY:
Oh hey guys.

STEVE:
Why are you wearing a suit of armor?

ROY:
Why do people keep asking me that?

TATUM:
Did you do that? (Pointing to the corpse in the dryer)

ROY:
Yeah.

(A BEAT)

GAVIN:
So uh, we’re leaving. You wanna come?

ROY:
Sure.

GAVIN:
Armory!

GAVIN runs over to the heavy reinforced door, and starts fiddling with the knobs, like a safe-cracker. STEVE walks over and opens the door. He peeks in, then abruptly slams it shut.

STEVE:
You don’t wanna go in there. Corpses everywhere blood, all over the walls-

GAVIN:
Pushing STEVE aside, he throws open the door. The room is completely stripped bare with the exception of one NINE MILIMETER.

I don’t get it, what happened to all the guns?

STEVE:
Yeah...about that. In order to keep us in liquor and cigarettes for the past like fifteen years- I have an addiction- There were these bikers -and they said they could get us- It’s not like we were using them! Comeon! Seemed like a good idea at the time.

GAVIN:
Glares at Steve, then walks over and picks up the NINE MILLIMETER.

Do we even know how to use one of these?

STEVE:
Oh sure you just point and click-
The gun goes off, the bullet ricochets around the room. TATUM reaches up and takes it from STEVE.

GAVIN:
(YELLING)
YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT!

STEVE:
(YELLING)
WHAT?

SCENE 14:
INT Main hall

They exit the basement through the second door, and come to the main hall. It is empty, but as they walk into the hall doors fling open and LOTS of ZOMBIES enter from the side rooms.

TATUM:
Can’t go this way.

ROY:
We’ve got to get Vicki.

STEVE:
Don’t be so sure of that big guy.
He points to the hall, ZOMBIE VICKI is shambling towards them.

GAVIN:
Someone’s gonna have to kill her.

STEVE:
I will.

ROY puts his hand on STEVE to hold him back, then walks into the hallway hefting his 2x4. He lifts it up and brings it down on ZOMBIE VICKI’S head 3 times. Maybe blood splatters on him.
Then he stands and steps over her. The others follow. STEVE is last, as he walks over her corpse he kicks her. The others glare at him.

STEVE:
She moved.

The continue down the hall to find their way blocked by a ZOMBIE. GAVIN jumps over the railing to avoid it, and motions for the others to follow him. They don’t (Actor’s improv excuses) GAVIN sighs and kills the ZOMBIE. Maybe ROY claps. They run past the elevator only to find their path blocked by ZOMBIES. The HALLWAY ZOMBIES they avoided earlier start to advance on them from behind. With a guttural yell ROY goes to hold them off (He seems to be going a little nuts at this point)

GAVIN:
(Thinking desperately)
Catwalk..

They push frantically on the button for the elevator, after a painful wait it opens and the characters jump in.

STEVE:
Poking his head out

ROY! HURRY!

ROY’s busy, he doesn’t seem to hear. A ZOMBIE attacks from the other side but the door closes before it can get to the characters inside. They head up, covered in blood while mellow elevator music plays. When the door opens they rush to the catwalk to see ROY battling a tide of undead. STEVE yells to him. He looks up, registering them, but waves them on. Sort of an “I’ll be fine” wave. Characters exit towards the catwalk.

Scene 15:
Ext. Catwalk, whenever, maybe dusk.

STEVE, GAVIN, and TATUM enter through the main door, the Zombies who were around the grate may have left and moved to crowd around the exit. ZOMBIE BILL is there. But the characters haven’t seen them yet.

STEVE:
Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, what do we do when we get out there?



GAVIN:
(Stumped, this is the first time he hasn’t known what to do)
We’ll hop in a car...wait fuck that. A truck.

STEVE:
Can you drive?

GAVIN:
I play a lot of Grand Tourismo Three.
(or whatever driving video game the actor wants to say)

TATUM:
Do you have the keys?

GAVIN says nothing.

FUCK ME, you guys really have lived in there your entire life!

The guys are speechless

Un-fucking believable! All right when we get out of here? Just follow me. I’ll take care of you guys.

They Turn the corner, start walking down the catwalk and stop.

STEVE, GAVIN, & TATUM
Oh Shit.

Camera pans to a Horde of ZOMBIES at the edge of the stairs with ZOMBIE BILL right at the gate.

STEVE:
Someone’s got to go back to the roof and draw them off

GAVIN:
Dibs.

STEVE:
Dibs?

GAVIN:
FUCK!

TATUM walks up to GAVIN and offers him the GUN. It’s a nice little moment. Maybe GAVIN gives a silly little schoolboy grin.

STEVE:
What are you waiting for? GO!

GAVIN takes off, The moment having been throughly wreaked by STEVE, Up the stairs and through the door.

(STEVE To TATUM )

So, we’ve probably got like, a few minutes to live...

SCENE 16:
GAVIN DODGES a Bunch of Zombies and runs to the window.

[Despanan]

SCENE 17:

EXT. Porch

Gavin climbs through the window and starts yelling at the ZOMBIES on the ground.

HEY! HEY! BITEY! MUNDEGAARD! FREE FLESH-SACK RIGHT OVER HERE! COMEON TITS MCGEE YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT! HEY GET YOUR DECAYED ZOMBIE ASSES OVER HERE OR SO HELP ME I WILL COME DOWN THERE AND BEAT YOU SORRY BRAINLESS CORPSE TO DEATH AGAIN! I SWEAR TO FUCKING CHRIST I’LL RIP YOU ALL INTO LITTLE BITTY PIECES PUT YOU INTO A PILE SET YOU ON FIRE AND PISS ON YOUR BURNING USELESS FLESH! BITEY? I SEE YOU! GET OVER HERE!

It doesn’t seem to be working. GAVIN with no options left reaches into his pack, pulls out his DVD cases, and starts throwing them at the zombies. A few hit and the Zombies gradually move away from the cage, until they’re all going after GAVIN.

SCENE 18:

STEVE and TATUM see that the door is open and exit, then wait for GAVIN. As GAVIN comes around the corner he sees a ZOMBIE crawl out of the Smokestack it bites STEVE’s ankle. He swears and crushes the ZOMBIE’s skull with his foot, then turns to TATUM. Without a second of hesitation TATUM slams her hammer into STEVE’s temple. He crumples to the floor, dead. TATUM stands there a moment with a look of what might be regret on her face, and then a bullet rips through her chest. The camera pans to GAVIN at the top of the stairs, holding the gun and panting. He sits down at the top of the stairs, overcome with despair. Then he notices that a zombie behind him on the walkway; another two have been drawn to the bodies at the foot of the stairs and are beginning to feed on them. GAVIN runs down the grate and jumps over the first zombie, which is feeding on TATUM It ignores him. The second one gets up from eating STEVE and scrambles after GAVIN following him up the coal pile, GAVIN turns around and shoots it in the head. Then climbs to the top of the pile. He looks around to see more zombies scrambling up the coal pile after him from all directions. He realizes he is surrounded.

GAVIN:
Fuck.

He sighs and points the pistol at his own temple. The screen goes black. A shot is heard.

The End Bitches!

[JCC]

What program did you use to format this? Find a screenplay formatting program so that it looks neater.

Your writing is clumsy in places and I don't like any of your dialogue. I'm not a fan of the story, but that's bias on my part, I think zombies are shitty. I doubt it's irredeemable, the fact that you don't write scripts as:

John: Blah blah blah

This happens, with descriptions written exactly like a book.

James: Blah blah blah

John: Blah



puts you ahead of most competition already.

[Despanan]

I haven't used a program to format it. I just wrote it like a playscript (most of the formatting is lost in the cut-and paste stuff as well. It looks better on my comp.).

This was basically written in a weekend while working as an extra on a movie, and then rushed right into production as I was on a very strict deadline (I was leaving town in a week). After that fell through I didn't touch it. Thus it's the roughest of rough drafts.

I'm going to pickup a copy of Final Draft for when I decide to take the project up again.

Could you please elaborate on what parts you think are clumsy, and what you don't like about the dialogue?

[JCC]

The clumsiness is mainly in your spelling mistakes, but there's also some dull moments where you merely relay what is happening without giving any sort of idea of what it looks like.

The dialogue is incredibly cheesy in places, which was probably your intention, but the overuse of expletives, the shouting, the monologue about being a cleaner, it all seems a little tepid and stale.

[Despanan]

Hmmm...well thanks for the input. It's always appreciated.

[Tralis]

I found it a bit hard to follow. What's the core character conflict?

[Despanan]

The CCC?

I dunno, what do you think it is? (Though if I had to I guess I'd say the main conflict of the story was between Gavin and himself. His inability to deal with the world around him.) To tell you the truth, I rarely worry about stuff like that during the writing process, particularly on projects like this which change so much from idea to production. That coupled with the fact that so much of the creative process is subconscious, it's like my old playwriting professor used to say: "If someone asks you what your play is about, a playwright should always say "About 90 minutes" and leave it at that. Let people analyze your work later, it'll only bring it down if you do it."

In the end this script is just a basic blueprint of what I want the eventual short to be. Since I was the director on the project as well as the writer, I really only needed the lines for the actors, most of the stage directions were notes for me, and I knew that many of them would have to change due to practical constraints and input from the actors and designers. Stuff like this always ends up being so collaborative that it's pretty much pointless to add too much detail this early on.

[Tralis]

I understand what you are saying, you can't focus too much on the technics of it all. I just felt like the story lacked meat, like it needed something more. The action felt more dominant than the characters' motives.

[Despanan]

Well I certainly see what you mean with that. I think that's probably a product of three things;

a) the film would really only be 10-15 minutes long, and a great deal of it is action, thus any character development needs to be done very quickly. Overall I think Gavin is the most fleshed out character (The fact that he's the sort of guy who gets up every morning and splashes coffee in the face of the same zombie every morning is a touch the guy playing him particularly liked.) Then Steve (His alcoholism, and interactions with Gavin & Vicky). Tatum is actually really fleshed out in my head but once again I don't have screen time to spend on her backstory . Roy is my resident "Brock Sampson" and Vicky, well the short time she's there it's pretty well evident who she is. Skaags pretty much exists to be eaten and make cheesey stoner quips.

b) I was intentionally leaving a great deal of the development up to the actors.

c) Once again, the timeline we were working on was unforgiving, and eventually spelled domm for the project.

I'm curious as to what you particularly found hard to follow. Was it just the formatting, or were there issues with the plot that confused you? ANd what sort of "meat" might you suggest?

[Deadmanwalking_05]

Pretty good, when are you planning on shooting?

(Just a tip to save on film do dry runs before filming it will save alot of time and money in the editing process and it does help with action and blocking)

[Despanan]

Originally Posted by Deadmanwalking_05

Pretty good, when are you planning on shooting?

(Just a tip to save on film do dry runs before filming it will save alot of time and money in the editing process and it does help with action and blocking)

When circumstances allow. One of the major problems is that since I'vew moved away from Lexington, I've moved away from both the location I wrote the script for, and my camera guy. So until I find another dude who has the time and equipment, or I have time to head back to Lexington and throw the project together, it'll be on the backburner.

I'm planning on moving to NYC in a couple of months, and I've got another friend there who's interested in the project, so maybe I'll be able to put it together there.

[Deadmanwalking_05]

Well anytime you need an extra pair of hands on set(that is If you go back to Kentucky,and find yourself in the Eastern Coalfield Region) let me know.

I wish you the best of luck on your plans,where ever they may take you.

[Despanan]

Ahh, Eastern Kentucky. I'll definitely let you know.

If I can find the people & equipment, this might also get filmed in Louisville.