Hello ladies and gentlemen, your pal Muldoon here with a little Q&A fun with Tim Ogletree - the writer/star of THE WALKING DECEASED. Just tossing it out there before I go any further, I actually went to college with Tim and had expected to cast him as my lead in a shadow people feature I was to direct after graduation. He's a solid guy - talented and genuine - so when I caught wind that his spoof movie, THE WALKING DECEASED, was completed and about to hit theaters and VOD - I made sure to hit him up. While I've yet to see the film, I did have some questions I was curious about (knowing nothing beyond the film's title). So what follows is a relatively straight forward question and answer session for those curious about the film. (It's actually full of great low budget filmmaking info.) It lands in select theaters and VOD this Friday (3/20), so if you're a fan of spoofs, zombies, or laughing in general - perhaps you might want to check it out. Thanks again to Tim for taking the time to answer my questions with well thought out responses!
(Whether or not you're a fan of spoof movies, Tim's answers below highlight a solid real world perspective on low budget filmmaking that I find pretty interesting. Hopefully you do too!)
Where did the idea for THE WALKING DECEASED come from? Were you a massive WALKING DEAD fan before? How about now – after you’ve created the feature – do you still find yourself enjoying zombie films?
My co-producer, Derek Nixon, approached me with the idea of doing a zombie parody back in 2013. I initially didn't want to at all because I didn't want to be pegged as a "spoofer" but he sold me on it when he said we'd be the first to market with a zombie pop-culture parody, especially one revolving around the most popular show on TV - which I was and still am a huge fan of! I've always loved zombie movies and have seen every episode of TWD. Shaun of the Dead and Zombieland are two of my favorite comedies ever, I could watch them any time, any day.
What was your writing process like? For instance, how long did it take you to build the script? On that same note, were you able to set aside specific time to write or did it just happen in spurts whenever you found an opportunity to sit down and crank out some pages?
It was actually a pretty quick turnaround. I wrote the first draft in 3 weeks because I had to get it done before my friend got to town to start a different script. Now that I think about it, that friend was Scott Dow, who ended up directing it! After that it was just about getting outside eyes on it, people I trust who know story and give honest and brutal feedback. It went through multiple rounds of rewrites, all the way up to the start of production. My writing schedule usually depends on my work schedule so usually I get my biggest chunks done at night. I actually wrote the last 35 pages of the first draft in one day so I could make my self-imposed deadline!
What was the hardest nut to crack with the script? Characters motivations, creatively working around not having millions and millions to play with… What was the hardest part – that once you cracked, you just knew you had something?
The biggest challenge was figuring out how to bring all these great characters that everyone already loves together into one world and give them their own story. My goal was to take all these archetypes and story conventions of the zombie genre and poke fun at them. Like, why are zombies' skulls so soft? They can run around and grab you and bite through your skin but a light breeze can literally blow their brains out. And somehow there's always one person who hears rumors and whispers even though he's with the same group of people all day and night. And everyone suddenly becomes a sniper over night. I think just seeing all those commonalities in the genre and finding ways to work them into the story in a comedic way was a fun challenge.
Okay, so you’ve got a script you believe in – now what? How did the project go from words on a page to going into preproduction?
Well, Derek and I formed the LLC for the production and then started the funding process. Pounding the pavement, making calls to anyone and everyone who may want to invest in the project. Derek is a straight up budgeting WIZARD and got us in at $130,000, which is crazy low for the production value that we ended up with. But he's never gone over budget on a project and that, along with the obvious marketability of the concept, helped really sell this to investors. So we raised up the $130k and went into a four week preproduction.
Was there any person in particular who pushed you in a positive direction? Or was there a singular person who green-lit the shoot?
Definitely Derek. He believed in the concept even before I really did and made everyone excited and motivated to exceed any and all expectations we would have for a low budget zombie comedy.
As a writer-actor, did you find yourself constantly rewriting your own dialogue on the day? I can assume it’d be both a blessing and a curse – like if your costars felt like ad-libbing, was that something you were comfortable with? What was that like, pulling both duties?
It wasn't so much rewrites as just improv within the scene. I tried to write it with room for the actors to create their own jokes too, and we ended up using a lot of them. Dave Sheridan and Joey Oglesby are both incredible at improv and their dynamic became one of the best in the movie. I love ad-libbing too so I definitely didn't hold it against anyone when they changed up the dialogue. If it didn't work then we didn't have to use it but it usually did work. Got some good bloopers out of it too. There were times when I would have to tweak a scene for a location but once production began I didn't really make any changes.
How’d you guys get the rest of your cast, and how long as the shoot? On that same token, how many folks would you say you had at a given time on your crew? What was your biggest day like and how was it as opposed to your “smallest” (most intimate) day of shooting?
We had a nationwide casting call for the roles that we didn't already have locked in. I wrote Chicago for Joey and knew my brother would knock Romeo out of the park. And Andrew Pozza was perfect for Darnell. But outside them, Dave, Jacqui, Mason and myself we used local Texas talent. Mason was actually our best casting call find. He is from Oregon and when we saw his tape we knew we had to have him. We had a 17 day shoot with about a 20-30 person crew depending on how zombie-heavy the day was. One day at the mall we had 200-300 people show up to be zombie extras and it was amazing. They came on their own time and a lot of them did their own makeup at home but, for those who didn't, we had volunteer makeup artists come just for the fun of it. We owe all of them a huge debt of gratitude! Our smallest day was when the Sheriff was looking for his family at home and it was actually shot at Derek's house. We didn't want to have too many people trampling all over his carpet and his wife almost murdered him.
Did the shoot go pretty smoothly or did you guys encounter any setbacks? Any quick scene rewrites due to unexpected pop ups?
No rewrites, thank God! But we definitely had bad weather days that we had to be flexible with. The first day we shot it was literally 21 degrees outside and my brother and I had the first scene, the window scene making fun of Romeo and Juliet. We had to suck on ice cubes between takes so our breath wouldn't show up on camera. For some reason it worked for Troy but not me, I just got even colder! And we had a few rainy days that we had to move indoors when they were originally scheduled as exterior days. And then we had an ice day that pushed back our first day at the hospital, the only location we had to pay for, about 6 hours. And we still shot those days out early!
How involved were you in post and do you feel the film you have now is any different than the film you initially set out to make? Has it evolved or pretty much stayed true to that production draft?
I was involved in the entire post process, from editing to searching for music with Scott, who doubled as our Music Supervisor, and even into the sales process. We actually ended up with a film that was exponentially higher quality than I ever anticipated. Through personal connections and very generous locations and equipment suppliers we were able to stay within budget while still using studio level equipment like the Arri Alexa and Phantom Flex cameras. It was just a string of blessings and miracles that gave us something that we're pretty proud of.
As you can guess, there are quite a few aspiring filmmakers in the audience. Do you have any advice for them? Any stories or big real world knowledge bombs that you can drop today?
I would say above anything else, never give up on it if it's what you truly want to do in life. You'll have to work some crappy jobs and crash on some couches, as I know well by now, but when you find someone who believes in your work and talent then you'll get the opportunity to show it off on some scale. No matter what road blocks come up, which there will be a TON, just keep your passion and work every day to hone your craft!
What’s next for Tim Ogletree? Are you currently working on any projects, be it writing or acting? Are there any specific genres you feel you’d want to visit or expect to be going after?
Actually yeah, my next project is the complete opposite end of the spectrum - a family/inspirational sports movie called The Round of Your Life. We're in the financing stage right now and it's getting some good momentum so hopefully we can get it shot before the fall! I have a few other scripts in peoples' hands that are more straight horror-comedies and they've been getting good responses. Comedy is definitely where I feel most comfortable but I have a few ideas that stretch into other genres like drama and war, as well as a comedy pilot that my writing partner and want to do more than any of our other scripts. I would love to have a show in the vein of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and Arrested Development, which is the tone that ours has.
And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen, a little insight in to writer/actor Tim Ogletree's mind. Again, the film comes out on VOD this Friday (3/20), so if you're curious - go ahead and check it out or swing by the film's Facebook page for more info. I plan on it. I'm not really a spoof movie guy, but the trailer had me chuckling, so I'm in. I'll see you folks later.
- Mike McCutchen
"Muldoon"
Mike@aintitcool.com
