Zombie Reign: A Fake Zombie Story Read online

  “Wow! That was incredible,” he said. “I mean, I’ve seen some good ones today, but that was just phenomenal.”

  “Oh my God! Really?” she squealed.

  “Yes! Fantastic. Um...have a seat.”

  She sat down at the table and looked at the three of them.

  “So I’m Clarence the director, this is Lisa my casting director and Brody my assistant director.”

  “Hi!” Chloe said.

  “So, what I’d like to do is to offer you a part in Zombie Reign.”

  The girl almost fell out of her chair. She placed her hand over her mouth, as her eyes grew wide.

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. I’m serious. The part is yours.”

  “Which part is it?”

  “Well, I wrote the script, but I’m in the middle of a re-write. So I had a character in mind I had just added in, and you’d be perfect.”

  Brody had no idea what he was talking about since he hadn’t seen a script.

  “Wow! I...I’m speechless.”

  “So do you accept the part?”

  “Yes! Yes absolutely!”

  “Great! So just so you know, there is something. There is one scene where you’ll be kissing a male actor. Are you ok with that?”

  “Um, I guess. Do you know who the actor is?”

  “Yeah. It’s me. I’m cast in this as well. I’m playing the lead.”

  “Oh. Um. Ok. I guess that’s ok.”

  “Great. It’ll be no big deal. You’ll do great. Plus wait until you see what it pays. It’ll be worth it. Trust me.”

  “Ok! Sounds awesome!”

  “It is. This is going to be amazing.”

  “Do you know when filming starts?” she asked.

  “Next month.”

  “Wow! That soon?”

  “Yep. I just met with the investors last week. And they are excited about this project. So they are giving us our budget in a couple weeks. We’ll do contracts then, and begin filming.”

  “Wow! That is just. Wow!”

  “I know right!” he said, laughing. “Ok. Any other questions?”

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  “Great. I’ll give you a call soon, and we’ll be having a cast meeting coming up. So I’ll see you soon.”

  “Great! Thank you so much!”

  “Sure. Just one thing, since we aren’t casting everyone yet, please keep this quiet for now ok? I know you’re excited, but we need to maintain confidentiality until all the roles are filled.”

  “Ok. Sure. No problem.”

  The girl got up and headed out of the room. Brody looked at his phone, it was almost four.

  “How long do we have the room until?”

  “Six,” Clarence said.

  “You think we’ll get through everyone? There are tons of people out there still.”

  “Oh yeah. It’ll be fine, I got this.”

  They took a few more auditions before an employee from the convention center stepped into the room.

  “Hey guys,” he said. “You all about to wrap it up?”

  “Not for another hour. Why?” Clarence said.

  “You only had this booked until four. We gave you some extra time, but there is another meeting coming in that has it reserved.”

  “Well, we still have all those people out there to audition. We can’t just pack up and leave.”

  “I’m afraid you have to. I’m sorry. We gave you more time.”

  “I don’t care. We need another hour. You know what this is? You know what is happening here?”

  “Yes. You’re casting for some film or something.”

  “Not some film. The film. This is Zombie Reign.”

  “Ok. Whatever. But you all need to go.”

  “I already told you...,” Clarence said, his voice getting louder.

  “I know what you said, sir. But we have other clients who have paid for their time. You got half the day for free. Now we need it.”

  Clarence glared at him, chewing on his bottom lip. Finally he stood, grabbing his tablet.

  “You know what. Fine. Next time we’ll just do business somewhere else,” he yelled as he stormed out the side door. Lisa grabbed her things and hurried after him. Brody sat there, staring at the employee and shrugged.

  “Sorry,” Brody said. “I just came to help out.”

  “We need all these people to leave,” the man said.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Brody said as he headed to the hall. Nothing like being left holding the bag.

  Chapter 4

  Three months after auditions

  Clarence stood in the warehouse looking over his cast. By his last count they had about three hundred cast and crew. Lisa kept asking him if he felt like that was too many, but he didn’t think so. They’d need lots and lots of zombies for this project. All these wide eyed young people were packed in looking up at him, hanging on his every word. It just doesn’t get any better than this!

  “Welcome everyone! Thank you for coming to our first Zombie Reign cast meeting. I’ll try to make this quick and then I’ll take any questions,” he said. “First we are still in pre-production. I just met with the investors. They originally were going to give us a $4 million budget. After seeing the promo, they have increased it to $10 million!” He pumped his fist in the air as the cast cheered. Someone actually screamed they were so excited.

  Lisa nudged him as he leaned in. He mouth the word “Promo?” holding her hands up confused. He just shook his head and gave her a thumbs up. Lisa was so sweet, always worried about him. She didn’t know though, he’s got this. Once the cheering died down he continued.

  “We’re now securing some locations and I just hired an excellent artist to work on the graphic novel!”

  More cheering burst out as he smiled, taking I all in. It was hard for him to believe his vision was happening; this was all actually happening.

  “Now, I’m ready to answer any questions you all my have.”

  A girl in the front raised her hand.

  “Do you know when we start filming? I remember we were supposed to start a few months ago.”

  “Right. In this business, delays happen; it’s pretty common. So right now we are looking to start next month. We’ll have contracts out next week, then checks and then scripts. That sound good?”

  Everyone cheered once again as more hands went up.

  “How much will the pay be?”

  “Pay will be at SAG rates. So you can look up a $10 million movie and see what the daily rates are, but you all will be paid up front. Does that sound good?” There were more cheers. He spent the next hour answering questions. Many of them were the same questions. Some weren’t actually questions but cast members decided to cite their resumes for some strange reason.

  Once everyone was done they began to file out. Lisa walked over to Clarence.

  “What promo?” she asked.

  “The promo we shot.”

  “When did we shoot a promo?”

  “It was before I met you. I’m still putting it together.”

  “I thought you said the investors liked it.”

  “They did. It just needs some cleaning up.”

  “Oh, ok. But they really liked it.”

  “But I’m not in it,” she said hanging her head.

  “You will be. We are gonna shoot more soon and I’ll add it in. It’ll be great.”

  She looked up and smiled as he put his arms around her. As he held her, she squeezed him tight when someone came up behind him. It was one of his actresses.

  “Hi,” he said. “Jenny right?”

  “Janie.”

  “Oh yeah, Janie. What’s up?”

  “Well I wanted to talk to you like, about my character?” Janie asked. She was a short Hispanic girl with her hair pulled back into a ponytail.

  “Ok, what about it?”

  “Well, like I don’t know anything about her. Can you at least tell me her name?”

  “Yeah, it’s u
m...Carla.”

  “Carla? So what’s her backstory? What is she doing?”

  “Look, I’ll tell you what. We’re going to do some acting workshops coming up. At those we can go over things like characters and backstory in more detail.”

  “Oh, cool! Is my character like, you know. Like a main character?”

  “Oh yeah, absolutely. You’re one of our leads.”

  “Really?”

  “Definitely. You get a lot of camera time. Trust me. People will know who you are. Ok?”

  “Awesome! Thank you so much!” she said as she scurried off.

  “You have such a way with people babe,” Lisa said.

  “I know. Just one of my many gifts.”

  “I can’t wait until the world sees what an amazing filmmaker you are.”

  “I know. They had better watch out!”

  They both laughed as they walked out of the building and to his car. She had driven separately since she had to be at work right after the meeting.

  “Oh, Lisa?”

  “Yeah babe?”

  “Can you help me out with my car payment? I missed last month’s payment and if I don’t pay it, it’s getting repoed soon.”

  Her forehead wrinkled.

  “Well how much is it?”

  “Four hundred.”

  “Jesus.”

  “I know. I know. I’m sorry. If it gets repoed I can’t drive to Vegas next month to meet with the investors. You know what that means.”

  “I know. I know.”

  “You know I’ll—“

  “Yes, you’ll pay me back. I know you will. I trust you with all my heart babe,” she said as she took out her checkbook and wrote him a check. When she handed it to him it was for six hundred.

  “Why so much?” he asked.

  “For any other bills you might have, or food or something.”

  “Oh ok. Thanks honey.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. He put the check in his wallet and climbed into his car, smiling to himself. Part of him felt bad for not telling her this was his mom’s car. Oh well. At least now he could buy the new TV he’d been wanting.

  Chapter 5

  Chloe was so excited when she got home. She’d had some other recent auditions and ended up getting a job waiting tables. While being cast in “Zombie Reign” was exciting, she hadn’t been paid yet, so she had to take the job. She hadn’t done any other work for a while, but figured she’d pick up some other projects on the side until they began filming.

  Just as she pulled up at her house, her phone rang. It was Clarence.

  “Hello?” she said.

  “Hey, Chloe?”

  “Yes?”

  “It’s Clarence Ringo, sorry to bug you. I know you just left the meeting but I didn’t get a chance to talk to you.”

  “Oh, hi! You’re fine!”

  “Ok cool. Hey, I was hoping we could meet up tomorrow. We’re filming soon and I need to go over some things with you about your character and some other stuff.”

  “Um, tomorrow is pretty busy for me. I have a couple of auditions.”

  “Auditions? For what?” he asked.

  “A couple of commercials and a feature.”

  “Oh, Chloe. No, no, no. That’s no good.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well I thought you were committed to Zombie Reign.”

  “I am...”

  “So why the other auditions?”

  “Because I need work, and I thought this would be good experience.”

  “No, I’m sorry. If you’re committed to Zombie Reign, then you can’t be doing other projects. It’s in the contract.”

  “But I never got a contract.”

  “I know, you will. And it’s in there. But either way, if you want to be a part of this production, you can’t work other projects. Our investors said it’s a conflict of interest and they don’t want it.”

  “How is it a conflict?”

  “Look. Are you dedicated or not?”

  “Of course I am.”

  “How much do these other roles pay?”

  “Like a couple hundred I think.”

  “Ok, Zombie Reign pays thousands. Literally thousands, maybe even tens of thousands. That’s why it’s taking longer. I’m doing everything I can to get as much money for every single one of you. Now isn’t that worth you holding on for a little longer? And skipping a few little gigs?”

  “Well, I guess so...” Chloe said.

  “Great! I’ll see you tomorrow!” he said as he hung up.

  She looked at her phone while shaking her head. What the hell was that? It took her a few minutes to process the whole conversation. She’d spent weeks scheduling these auditions, and now he wanted her to cancel them? For what? A meeting about her character? It all seemed kind of weird. In other short films she’d done, it was never anything like this. But this was no little indie short. This was a major motion picture, big budgets and all.

  So she figured she may as well cancel the interview and see what this meeting was about. It had to be a big deal if the director himself wanted to meet with her. Maybe he was going to give her a script so she can finally learn about her character. So far she barely knew anything. Well nothing at all really.

  As she went in the house, her phone rang again. This was Liz. They’d exchanged numbers after the auditions.

  “Hey! How’s it going?” Chloe said.

  “Oh good! So you got the Zombie Reign part?” Liz asked.

  “Oh yeah! I thought I told you.”

  “No. I didn’t hear anything at first, but a few days ago they called me and offered me a part.”

  “That is awesome! I hope we get to work together, that’ll be so cool.”

  “I know,” Liz said. “They said mine was a primary character.”

  “Really? Mine too. That’s weird.”

  “They told you that? Did they say how many characters there were?”

  “No. He said we’ll go over all that when we get scripts,” Chloe said.

  “Interesting. So you haven’t heard anything else?”

  “Not really. He said he wants to meet with me tomorrow to go over my character. So maybe I’ll get a script then.”

  “That would be cool. One of my friends said she auditioned for Zombie Reign last summer and that it was some scam,” Liz explained.

  “Scam how?”

  “She didn’t say. Just said something seemed off about the whole thing.”

  “I don’t know. Everyone has been real cool so far,” Chloe said, but then remembered Clarence just telling her not to take other parts while part of Zombie Reign. That in itself was strange.

  “Yeah. I’ll give it some time. Doesn’t hurt anything. He said the pay is going to be through the roof.”

  “I know. It’s hard to believe.”

  “Well cool. Hey, let me know how that meeting goes tomorrow. I’m really excited to sink my teeth into this role.”

  “I sure will. Bye Liz!” Chloe said as she hung up. Finally she went inside the house where her mom was in the kitchen pouring a glass of wine.

  “Hey Chloe. How’d the meeting go?”

  “Went good. The director wants to meet with me tomorrow to go over my character.”

  “Oh yeah? That’s pretty cool. You guys get contracts or anything yet?”

  “No not yet. I’m hoping he’ll tell me something tomorrow.”

  “That would be nice. You’re not going to work for him for free are you?” her mom asked.

  “Oh no way. This is a paying job. Big budget and everything. He said it’s up to $10 million now. They’re just waiting on the investors to come through.”

  “Wow. That’s a lot.” Her mom took a sip of her wine. “It’s not a porno is it?”

  Chloe rolled her eyes.

  “No mom. It’s not a porn!”

  “Do you have to take of your clothes or anything?”

  “He said I have a kissing scene, but that’s all I know.” She left out the par
t it was with the director; that would set her mom off for sure.

  “Ok. You’re a big girl. Just be careful.”

  “I know. I always am,” Chloe said before heading to her room.

  Chapter 6

  Lisa sat at her desk staring at a blank computer screen. For the past few months, it was becoming increasingly more difficult to focus on her day job as it got closer to filming. Not only was she the executive producer, but also the lead actress. Her amazing man, Clarence would be her leading man as well. She couldn’t think of a more perfect way for their dreams to come true.

  Filming a movie was much better than sitting at work. Her day job was as a web developer. There was once a time when doing web development and graphic design was her dream job. Now, it was just a mind numbing hellhole. A big reason was that her heart was no longer in it. Ever since she was a little girl, she had wanted to be an actress.

  She had given up on that dream years ago. At thirty five and single, she had given up on most her dreams. Another dream had been to have a family, but that hadn’t worked out either. It had been years since she had resigned herself to living a life of work and the occasional fun weekend and maybe a vacation here and there. That is until she met Clarence.

  It was on one of her weekends out, at a bar with some friends of hers. He was sitting at the bar alone, looking tired. Lisa had just ordered a drink and saw him sitting there looking at her. Striking up a conversation seemed like the natural thing to do.

  “Hi,” she said.

  “Hey there. What’s your name?”

  “Lisa. Yours?”

  “I’m Clarence.”

  “Hi Clarence. You here alone?”

  “Yeah, I’m afraid so. Been working all day. I figured I needed some time off.”

  “That makes sense. What do you do?”

  “I’m a filmmaker,” he’d said. That part she had figured was bullshit. Guys always said they were filmmakers or musicians or whatever, but she just went with it.

  “Oh really? What kind of films have you made?”

  “I’m in the middle of a big project now.”

  “Oh yeah? What kind of project?”

  “Can’t tell you,” he said.

  “Well! Now I’m intrigued. This sounds like a big deal.”

  “It is. At least, it’s getting there. Someone already tried to steal it. Not to mention I had an idea stolen from me already.”