Six years after the Zombie Apocalypse, a suicidal widow must protect an orphaned child as the world descends into literal Hell on Earth.

CAST LIST:

Narrator: Geoff Mays
Sophie: Elizabeth Rose Morriss
Fiona: Hannah Ehman

Get to know the writer:

1. What is your screenplay about?

Necrotica is about breaking new ground in the sacred (but tired) Zombie Apocalypse genre. It's about uncompromising survival, family, and finding meaning in the face of devastating loss.

2. What genres does your screenplay fall under?

Horror/Zombie Apocalypse with a healthy spoonful of Lovecraftian terror.

3. Why should this screenplay be made into a movie?

Necrotica is a character-driven story that flips the zombie genre on its head. It's something new that still feels familiar. With only two characters who have a lot of speaking lines and easy set pieces, it would be a great showcase for two actors to demonstrate their character chops while being producible.

4. How would you describe this script in two words?

Festering doom.

5. What movie have you seen the most times in your life?

Ridley Scott's "Alien."

6. How long have you been working on this screenplay?

I spent the better part of a decade slowly building and tweaking the outline/beat sheet. When I finally sat down to write the first draft, I knocked it out in two weeks, but I knew exactly what I was doing. I probably spent around a week+ on each subsequent draft. Once I started, I couldn't stop and was just manically writing 10-12 hours a day and not eating.

7. How many stories have you written?

Believe it or not, my first illustrated children's book is being published soon. I just signed off on the final proof. I have two more children's books written that I am still working on the drawings for. I have a solid 128-page draft for my next script that still needs some work. I wrote two other screenplays years ago that I was never happy with and gave up on. I hope to knock out a couple of novels I have been working on outlines for for years. I have a good mind to do novelizations of the screenplays I'm happy with.

8. What motivated you to write this screenplay?

Necrotica was born out of an argument I had with my little sister about female representation/portrayal in the action/horror/sci-fi space. I was using examples like Lt. Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise as the paragon of female badassery but my sister proclaimed that this portrayal was an exception, not the standard, so I wanted to change that. They are an actress, and I wanted to write something for them. As a USMC combat veteran, I wanted to make the action feel as realistic as it was hard-hitting in an apocalypse setting that takes nothing for granted, such as the fact that gasoline goes bad. Who was making gasoline and cutting the grass in The Walking Dead?

9. What obstacles did you face to finish this screenplay?

I am a long-winded person. My biggest obstacle is always keeping the screenplay tight. If I could let it rest at 140 pages, I would, but then nobody would read it.

10. Apart from writing, what else are you passionate about?

I am a total movie junkie. I need them. If you locked me in a room with food/water and endless new movies forever, I'd be okay. Aside from that, I enjoy illustrating and am an avid hobbyist. I have a handsome trophy from a Warhammer 40K tournament I won, and have recently gotten really into Battletech. So I love building and painting miniature sci-fi guys and rolling dice.

11. What influenced you to enter the festival? What were your feelings on the initial feedback you received?

I have these stories in me that need to get out. I have always wanted to make/write movies and tell wild tales. I spent a decade selling my soul in the corporate world, and not working on my art was slowly killing me inside. This is all the personal battle to save my soul from itself. It simply had to be done, or I was going to implode in the worst way. Necrotica being so well-received means the absolute world to me!