Interview With Skot Of Lost Zombies
If you’re reading this site, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Lost Zombies, the giant zombie social network-slash-film project. If not, consider signing up, even if you don’t think you can contribute anything to the film. There are lots of ways to contribute, as evidenced by the upcoming Lost Zombies book, *Dead Inside: Do Not Enter*, a collection of notes from survivors and soon-to-be-undead coming in September 2011.
We talked to Skot, the guy behind the multimedia zombie empire, to get the lowdown on the book, the film, and the social network:
Holly, Buy Zombie (BZ): For the uninitiated, what is Lost Zombies, and how did it come about?
Skot, Lost Zombies (LZ): Lost Zombies is a zombie themed social network with the goal of making a community generated zombie film. I studied film in school, but I’ve always loved technology, specifically web and mobile related tech. Filmmaking is traditionally a slow and expensive craft, but the web is fast and fluid. After working for many years at hi-tech startups the idea occurred to me that I could solve the resource and cost challenges of filmmaking by leveraging the web. I had an idea to create a community generated film. That was the seed of Lost Zombies.
BZ: How would you describe the new book “Dead Inside: Do Not Enter”?
LZ: The book, “Dead Inside: Do Not Enter”, is made of handwritten notes form our community. Each note is written from the perspective of someone surviving the zombie apocalypse. We scanned and photographed the notes to capture the texture of each piece. In terms of theme, the book is not so much about zombies as it is about people. The notes range from funny, to horrifying, to sad, to sweet. The book tells an incredibly human story of survival.
BZ: How long did it take to compile?
LZ: We saw users drafting and posting notes on our site. We were reading these and the idea occurred to us that we should compile a book. We put out an request for more notes. I think we spent 4 months or so asking fro entries then another 3 months gathering and laying out the book. We were about to self publish it when we found and agent and publisher.
BZ:. Do you have any favorite entries?
LZ: There are so many great ones. I tend to like the short ones because they leave a lot to the imagination and they feel powerful for me. For example, “I hope I get bit first so I don’t have to shoot any of my family” or “good bye.”
BZ: Who’s publishing the book?
LZ: The book is being published by Chronicle Books. Steve Mockus is the editor. He was very helpful and offered excellent ideas for the book’s presentation and content. Our agent Luke Janklow got us the deal with Chronicle. Both Luke and Steve understood the vision we had for the project.
BZ: When and where can we get out hands on it?
LZ: The book will be released on September 21st. You can pre-order
BZ: When will we get to see the film?
LZ: We’re in the final stages of collecting content. We hope to have a rough cut done around the end of the year. It’s hard to say when you’ll see it because we still aren’t sure how it will be distributed.
BZ: What other Lost Zombies projects are members working on?
LZ: The biggest project at the moment is finishing the film. Some members on the site have organized and are compiling a book that’s a collection of stories. That’s something we’ll look closely at once the film is complete. We have a back story that details specifics of how the zombie outbreak began. We’re sitting on that for now, but if the right opportunity comes along I’d love to tell that story.
