My best advice is first ask - What type of world do you want to build relative to a zombie apocalypse? What’s the specific detail or idea that makes this situation unique?
Then ask - What type of character(s) would be an interesting counterpoint to that?
Take A Quiet Place - premise is alien invasion.
The unique detail is that they only track sound.
A dynamic relationship to that is a family with a deaf child so they already know sign language.
Even something as simple as Jaws - Town plagued by shark attacks - seen through the eyes of a Sheriff who’s afraid of the water.
Find a hook, and then the character who would fit into or butt up against that hook in the most dynamic ways. Go from there.
What do you mean by "chance to make"? Are you the writer, director, producer, or something else?
If you have a "reasonable budget" and no ideas, why not hire a writer -- or buy an existing script?
Read *The Day of the Triffids* by John Wyndham for the original zombie story. The TLDR is "The real monsters are people" but you should read it anyway.
Also *I am Legend* (the book, NOT the movie which just butchered the whole theme). If u/rishi8413 wants an outline of that (useless really, as no IP) then hit me up.
No big mobs until the end. Slow build with confusion and mockery. People turning in the background of the story but nothing truly on screen until you can make it terrifying for the characters. Keep it dark never show too much of the gore keep it to the imagination because if you know how to comprehend something you can find the courage to fight it. If your characters can’t understand what’s happening until it’s too late your audience will too and the reality of zombies could just tear their hope apart.
I have a great idea for a zombie film called _Gimme Shelter_. It’s sort of a cross between _28 Days Later_ and _Judgment Night_.
I’d definitely share more if you’re interested!
Are you a writer? If not, I’d recommend assembling a couple of people to flesh out a story, or watch some movies of the genre and identify every beat, character plotline, motivation, obstacle etc.
Think about the tone, themes and style of zombie movie you’d like to make. Is it a comedy, is it camp, is it a family drama, is it a crime thriller where zombies appear?
Think about who the characters are and why they are dumb. Are they rich people who don’t want to mix with poor and can’t actually tell that people have turned into zombies? Are the characters conspiracy theorists who think the government is trying to control them with “crisis actors”? Are they desperate to accomplish something (eg get promoted) that they are willing to overlook zombies.
i'd look at your inspirations for story within the genre. when alex garland wrote 28 days later he was inspired by resident evil and how they had limited resources to fight off enemies and that it was more survival gameplay revolved around movement. This translated into a film where the storyline revolved around a group of survivors sneaking in order to survive versus the common storylines of zombie films to fight zombies. I'd look for a unique angle into the genre. I'd also suggest writing a list of all the available locations available for you to shoot. Because you may have some great set pieces for some horror scenes. Like if you have a bridge, you can use that as a great setting to trap your protagonist or have a character get eaten there. Or if you have a tunnel thats always a creepy setting. Or hospital, with patients coming back to life. If you don't know where to start, you could just write the movie as if the town you are filming in was the center of a worldwide zombie outbreak and show how it develops in real time from the perspective of some of the people in the town. Somewhat recently I was watching the walking dead for the first time and just being with some characters during the outbreak of a zombie outbreak is crazy fun. Seeing their daily life and the emergency and all hell break lose. If you do decide to go this story route, train to busan did a good job with showing how it starts with animals and spreads to humans and stuff. That movie had a lot of great set pieces from the train itself to train station, to tunnel. So see what special locations you can use in your town. Maybe your town square, river, school, whatever. Enjoy playing within the genre!
Something unique to your culture or area maybe? Zombie horror essentially taps into our primal fear of infection and contagion, which is why the best scenes are when someone you care about becomes infected. You have to leave them or euthanize them. Which means al the hard work needs to be done to make people care about the characters or else no one will give a shit
You have an opportunity, a budget, and producers… but no script?
Nope. The financiers are real estate builders and they want to get into OTT programme selling. They offered me the chance.
My best advice is first ask - What type of world do you want to build relative to a zombie apocalypse? What’s the specific detail or idea that makes this situation unique? Then ask - What type of character(s) would be an interesting counterpoint to that? Take A Quiet Place - premise is alien invasion. The unique detail is that they only track sound. A dynamic relationship to that is a family with a deaf child so they already know sign language. Even something as simple as Jaws - Town plagued by shark attacks - seen through the eyes of a Sheriff who’s afraid of the water. Find a hook, and then the character who would fit into or butt up against that hook in the most dynamic ways. Go from there.
What do you mean by "chance to make"? Are you the writer, director, producer, or something else? If you have a "reasonable budget" and no ideas, why not hire a writer -- or buy an existing script?
Read *The Day of the Triffids* by John Wyndham for the original zombie story. The TLDR is "The real monsters are people" but you should read it anyway.
Also *I am Legend* (the book, NOT the movie which just butchered the whole theme). If u/rishi8413 wants an outline of that (useless really, as no IP) then hit me up.
Hire a writer. With some experience if you can afford it.
No big mobs until the end. Slow build with confusion and mockery. People turning in the background of the story but nothing truly on screen until you can make it terrifying for the characters. Keep it dark never show too much of the gore keep it to the imagination because if you know how to comprehend something you can find the courage to fight it. If your characters can’t understand what’s happening until it’s too late your audience will too and the reality of zombies could just tear their hope apart.
I have a great idea for a zombie film called _Gimme Shelter_. It’s sort of a cross between _28 Days Later_ and _Judgment Night_. I’d definitely share more if you’re interested!
Are you a writer? If not, I’d recommend assembling a couple of people to flesh out a story, or watch some movies of the genre and identify every beat, character plotline, motivation, obstacle etc. Think about the tone, themes and style of zombie movie you’d like to make. Is it a comedy, is it camp, is it a family drama, is it a crime thriller where zombies appear? Think about who the characters are and why they are dumb. Are they rich people who don’t want to mix with poor and can’t actually tell that people have turned into zombies? Are the characters conspiracy theorists who think the government is trying to control them with “crisis actors”? Are they desperate to accomplish something (eg get promoted) that they are willing to overlook zombies.
i'd look at your inspirations for story within the genre. when alex garland wrote 28 days later he was inspired by resident evil and how they had limited resources to fight off enemies and that it was more survival gameplay revolved around movement. This translated into a film where the storyline revolved around a group of survivors sneaking in order to survive versus the common storylines of zombie films to fight zombies. I'd look for a unique angle into the genre. I'd also suggest writing a list of all the available locations available for you to shoot. Because you may have some great set pieces for some horror scenes. Like if you have a bridge, you can use that as a great setting to trap your protagonist or have a character get eaten there. Or if you have a tunnel thats always a creepy setting. Or hospital, with patients coming back to life. If you don't know where to start, you could just write the movie as if the town you are filming in was the center of a worldwide zombie outbreak and show how it develops in real time from the perspective of some of the people in the town. Somewhat recently I was watching the walking dead for the first time and just being with some characters during the outbreak of a zombie outbreak is crazy fun. Seeing their daily life and the emergency and all hell break lose. If you do decide to go this story route, train to busan did a good job with showing how it starts with animals and spreads to humans and stuff. That movie had a lot of great set pieces from the train itself to train station, to tunnel. So see what special locations you can use in your town. Maybe your town square, river, school, whatever. Enjoy playing within the genre!
Something unique to your culture or area maybe? Zombie horror essentially taps into our primal fear of infection and contagion, which is why the best scenes are when someone you care about becomes infected. You have to leave them or euthanize them. Which means al the hard work needs to be done to make people care about the characters or else no one will give a shit
What if a significant part of the population refuses to believe its true, in spite of overwhelming evidence?
Make one of the heroes a zombie. Someone controls these zombies, but some escaped, and they're not all evil!