LOGLINE:

After losing his girlfriend and his job, a biogeneticist and obsessive TWD superfan goes off the rails, locking himself in his apartment to develop a serum, which could potentially infect a person with zombie-like symptoms. He’s about to start animal trials when his sister and his worried ex-girlfriend show up to check on him.

 

PLOT/ARC:

Open on this dude (let’s call him Ed) furiously typing on a computer while testing some kind of chemical he pulled out of a mini fridge. He’s talking to a lab rat he’s about to infect like it’s his best friend. Ed tells rat friend about the reason he thinks his ex broke up with him. “She thought I was too intense.” He’s totally too intense… He also didn’t want kids which is the lead in for this manifesto he goes into about restoring order, the beauty of a high stakes world, and how fun it will be to shoot zombies all day.. insert quotes from Negan (TWD villain).

 

The ex (Pamela) knocks on his door, interrupting his diatribe. She’s checking up on him because his family asked her to. He literally dropped off the face of the earth 2 weeks ago and they’re freaked out. She stumbles onto this deeply manic moment from her weird-ass ex-boyfriend. Pam asks what the hell he’s been doing the past few weeks. He deflects and starts rehashing their breakup, but eventually connects her rejection of him with society’s rejection of him and his plan to start the zombie apocalypse, cause “fuck it” modern love is impossible and he might meet Emma Stone in the zombieverse he’s about to create. At this moment, sis shows up.

 

Ed’s sister (Maura) walks in on the reveal of Ed’s true insanity, and she’s not having it. Pamela succinctly breaks down Ed’s delusion. Maura calls on her older-sister persona to try to calm Ed down. He feels ganged up on, decides he loves his rat friend the most and is going to run the first trial on a human subject. He lunges for Pamela with the syringe of zombie juice. A struggle ensues. Maura helps Pamela defend herself and in the process accidentally stabs the needle into Ed’s arm. They all freeze. Ed starts to freak out and zombify. Lights out.

 

TONE:

Comedic, post-modern critique. Self-referential.

 

THEMES:

Millennial dating drives people to the brink of insanity.

Our relationship with binge-worthy TV is stronger than our relationship to real people.

The effects of a beautifully-crafted fictional universe on our mental state and subsequent disinterest in reality.

emotional/irrational man vs. level-headed/logical women

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