"Lambs of God" UPDATE

Well I got word from the composer that Lambs of God screened very well at the 'We Like Short Shorts Film Festival'.

While we didn't win, I'm very happy that we got selected for a film festival. This short was for fun and very last minute. My plan was to put it straight on youtube.  I may submit to a horror film festival, everyone likes a dark comedy.

"Zulu Dawn"

I feel I need to start tying up all my zombie stories and get them out there after watching the second episode of The Walking Dead.  Now I've never read the comic series so I have no idea what this story lines entail except for the summary on AMC.  There was a scene in the second episode that pretty much encompassed my entire 'Disbanded' script.  The scene was about a racist survivor who had trouble following a black man and a hispanic man. There was also an Asian to finish out the trifecta of multi racial.  My script 'Disbanded', ("On the road trying to reach a safe haven, eight people must work together to survive a zombie apocalypse") deals heavily with race relations and differences among a group of people with the same goal--survival.  The zombies aren't the villains in my script, it's the people within the group.

 Now I'm sure the outcome of my story is completely different than the Walking Dead but I was just amazed by the comparison.  Now this single scene pretty much was my entire 96 page script and I applauded the level of writing as compared to mine. I'm still amateur.  (Plus I think they're setting up the Dixon character for something later, probably the hero's villainous foil).  Anyway, I had my story idea in 2004 and it was inspired by American History X meets Road Warriors meets Band of Brothers in a zombie apocalypse.

Anyway, the point is there are no original ideas it's all about EXECUTION.

This brings me to my short film "Zulu Dawn"--"A downed aircrew member in zombie territory fights to survive."  I've had this idea in my head since I saw "Bat 21" in 1988 and after seeing "Dawn of the Dead" in 1986.  And I've come to find out Zulu Dawn is a prequel to the title  "Zulu".  (The 1979 film "Zulu Dawn" bombed at the box office.)  So my title isn't even original.

There is a very similar story in the book "World War Z" about a downed pilot.  Again there are no original ideas.  Anyway my 2010 "Zulu Dawn" is a story that runs parallel to the world I created in "Disbanded".    After reading that chapter in World War Z, the only similarities are the downed crew members are both female and they parachute after their aircraft breaks apart.  So I'm not too worried if people cry, "WWZ!"  Because  the opening of The Walking Dead (TWD) is guy wakes up in a hospital bed, which is very similar to the opening of "28 Days Later".  Now I'm sure people balked at the opening of TWD but overall you don't care. There's a lot of similarities in shows and movies now-a-days.  It's all about execution.

Oh by the way  Hollywood if you're listening, I have a third story from my series that is basically "Taps" meets "Toy Soldiers" in a zombie outbreak.   My fun working title for it is "Chow Hall". So please make that one too. 

"DISBANDED"

I finally finished my feature length zombie script, 'Disbanded'.

"On the road trying to reach a safe haven, eight people must work together to survive a zombie apocalypse".

I started it in 2004.  Wrote half of it for a good six months then shelved it.  I picked it back up in 2008 and finished it in a week.  It's funny I thought it would never see the light of day. Granted I did send it out to a few readers with lack luster reviews.  So I put that in my archives never to be touched again.

 I tried to outgrow my zombie phase as a filmmaker.  Having seen the original 'Dawn of the Dead' as a 3rd grader during a sleep over I loved them.  Not so much the zombie gore but the post-apoc part.  I like to see a situation where society craps on themselves so to speak.  In normal society, folks would go about their day. But in a zombie apocalypse where it's self preservation, I like to see characters either at their very worst or their very best.

After the recent popularity with zombies again...'Zombieland', (I have to totally applaud AMC) the new TV series 'The Walking Dead', the independent film 'Colin' and the upcoming 'World War Z' movie, I don't think zombie movies are a film school cliche' anymore.  Right now everything is lame vampires.

Last month I dusted off my zombie feature to see how far I came as a writer in six years.  Honestly not that far but in a good way. I think it's a great script despite some of the initial feedback. I hit all the right plot points, I have twist and turns.  So I revised again.  I put everything in script format and fixed a lot of the structure.  And I submitted it to a script writing festival, so we'll see how that fairs.

Anyway, my last film at film school was a tip of the hat to the zombie genre.



Also check out The Walking Dead Tonight at 10/9 central on AMC.

"Lambs of GOD"

Here's the latest short film we completed in 20 days.

"While renovating a church, four men find a life-changing suitcase."

Films by Chris in association with Arch and Pillar Productions
Writer/Director: Chris Westfield
Staring: Brian Elles, Michael Karan, Kal Shalash, Zachary McJessy
TRT: 6 min 7 seconds

For limited time you can watch it here:  Lambs of GOD

"Kinship"

The Butler brothers, John and James are gunslingers in the wild west. The younger brother James is a loose cannon that John has to contain. After being on the run for several days, John and James must figure out their next course of action or die at the hands of a posse of gunmen quickly closing in.


Writer/Director: Chris Westfield
Staring: Michael Karan, Trey Kauffman and introducing Makayla Jones
TRT: 7 min 18 seconds

Teaser Trailer