British Comedy Guide

Zombie Sitcom (Part 2)

Okay so this is a quick follow on from my previous thread. I have written a synopsis for my zombie sitcom idea. Let me know what you think???

At Home With The Brain Dead! (Working Title)

This sitcom surrounds the lives of a working class family of zombies.

Zombies have been around for a few years ever since a nuclear power plant in London blew up and turned a lot of its workers into braindead, flesh eating maniacs.

At first, society did not accept these bloodthirsty undeads but soon realised there was too many to kill, so instead decided to live and let eat and work with the zombies and accept them into society.

After only a few months of educating the zombies, society soon realised that these people were just like humans, only with a taste for human flesh rather than animals or poultry. There is even a string of restaurants especially for zombies that only sell human meat.

However, a lot of zombies are also humanitarian, which basically means they don't eat human meat as they believe it's wrong to kill humans for just their sick nourishment needs.

Zombies started to fit in and even started families with other zombies. At first they did keep to themselves and only worked in industrial jobs, like building sites or shopping centres as trolley pushers, where not much thought was required.

As time went by, zombies started to completely immerse themselves into society, and even some humans had relationships with zombies. Mixed races of humans and zombies were becoming more and more, however, the zombie gene pool was much stronger than the human genetic makeup so children would look more zombie-like.

Zombies even started to play sports, and some became professional. The first English soccer team to field a bunch of professional zombie players, was Tottenham Hotspur, thus improving their premier league status for the first time in years!

The family depicted in this sitcom are known as 'The Rabies'.

Jack Rabie is the father of the family. He is 45 years dead, and works as a manager for a local Life Insurance company. Jack is only half zombie as his father was human.

Wendy Rabie is Jack's wife and mother of the family. She is actually human and works as a nurse for a local hospital. They met 20 years ago at a mixed night club for zombies and humans. At first, Wendy's father had forbidden her to date Jack, as he was a zombie and all. Plus, Wendy's father was a long standing member of the British National Party, who didn't take kindly to foreign blood.

Harry Rabie is the son of the family. He is 13 years dead and is a typical zombie teenager. He likes to play video games, play sports and watch movies. Harry is going through his adolescent years and sometimes gets into trouble at school for biting the other children.

Felicity Rabie is the oldest of the children. She is 15 years dead and is currently studying for her GCSE's. Felicity is a vegetarian and wants to become a vet when she finishes school. Felicity and her younger brother are always fighting.

I really like the idea, but you will have to be careful not to make it just seem like an extended version of the end of Shaun of the Dead.

I'm not sure how you sustain, over a full sitcom as opposed to a one off, zombies as your main characters; I'm just not sure how that would work, really. Not saying it wouldn't, I'm just not seeing how it would.

At best, you could have zombies in a recurring sketch on a ~Harry and Paul style show. Plus, the make-up would make it expensive. Unless you just employed sickly looking actors.

Is makeup expensive? That doesn't sound right.

Quote: Nat Wicks @ November 1 2010, 11:23 AM BST

Is makeup expensive?

Massively. ;)

Quote: Matthew Stott @ November 1 2010, 11:20 AM BST

I'm not sure how you sustain, over a full sitcom as opposed to a one off, zombies as your main characters; I'm just not sure how that would work, really. Not saying it wouldn't, I'm just not seeing how it would.

That's interesting, because when Shaun of the Dead was announced I was pitching a zombie feature around and read the title of the Simon Pegg vehicle thinking "Wow, a zombie film with a zombie as its protaganist - how innovative!" As it turned out my script had a lot more in common with Shaun than the title suggested.

Maybe you could write a film with a zombie as a protaganist but it wouldn't be easy. Or else a character slowly turning into a zombie - perhaps searching for a cure as his brain functions slowly atrophy. I'm laughing already!

Quote: David Bussell @ November 1 2010, 11:26 AM BST

Maybe you could write a film with a zombie as a protaganist but it wouldn't be easy.

It's been done. Colin did it.

Quote: chipolata @ November 1 2010, 11:22 AM BST

Plus, the make-up would make it expensive. Unless you just employed sickly looking actors.

Nah, you can knock out zombie makeup on the cheap. Even with prosthetics and lenses you wouldn't be spending much. The production cost is the makeup time - but if you were shooting recurring sketches you'd film a bunch at a time.

Quote: chipolata @ November 1 2010, 11:27 AM BST

It's been done. Colin did it.

So it did. Haven't seen it. Any good?

Quote: David Bussell @ November 1 2010, 11:28 AM BST

So it did. Haven't seen it. Any good?

Dunno. The £500 price tag for making it put me off. :$

Quote: chipolata @ November 1 2010, 11:30 AM BST

Dunno. The £500 price tag for making it put me off. :$

Is that why you insist on your porn being shot on 35mm?

Quote: David Bussell @ November 1 2010, 11:32 AM BST

Is that why you insist on your porn being shot on 35mm?

On the contrary, I'm happy to gonzo it for porn.

Quote: chipolata @ November 1 2010, 11:34 AM BST

On the contrary, I'm happy to gonzo it for porn.

Image

Yeah I was thinking about the cost of it all, not sure if a producer would touch it for that reason. I'll do some brainstorming and see what works better, maybe a one-off 60 minute mocko about a family and a few individuals??

I'd say 60 minutes or a series of shorts. Mocumentary style can happily go either way.

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