{"id":11078,"date":"2014-09-10T15:31:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-10T19:31:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/?p=11078"},"modified":"2014-09-10T15:31:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T19:31:45","slug":"transmissions-interview-with-karl-shaefer-ep-of-z-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/?p=11078","title":{"rendered":"Transmissions: Interview with Karl Shaefer EP of Z Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Last\u00a0week\u00a0Syfy\u00a0hosted a conference call with Karl Shaefer the exe<span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/z-nation.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-11080\" style=\"width: 389px;\" alt=\"z-nation\" src=\"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/z-nation-300x183.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"210\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/span>cutive producer of the new show Z Nation. This new zombie apocalypse starts\u00a0this week on Syfy and the show\u00a0looks great.\u00a0<!--more--><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks so much for joining the <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Z Nation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> conference call today.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">On our line we are very excited to have Karl Schaefer, the Showrunner for <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Z Nation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> and Executive Producer, answer your questions.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And as you know the show premieres this Friday, September 12th, at 10:00 pm<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, without further ado, let&#8217;s turn it over to Karl and your questions.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks so much.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">At this time, I would like to remind everyone in order to ask a question, press pound then the number one on your telephone keypad.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We&#8217;ll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&amp;A roster.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your first question comes from the line of Jamie Ruby with SciFiVision.com.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks so much for talking to us today.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I really enjoyed the premiere.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Oh, good.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.syfy.com\/_utils\/video\/embed.php?\/videos\/small\/_vid2810935\" height=\"170\" width=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, obviously it&#8217;s inevitable that this is going to be compared to other shows of similar subject.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Can you kind of talk about how it&#8217;s different and how it stands out from what&#8217;s on television now?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, first off there is obviously a great zombie show in <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> already on, so our mission is sort of to go where they don&#8217;t, and I think the biggest difference between us and them is our series has a sense of hope and also a sense of humor.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We&#8217;re kind of trying to put the fun back into zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Our heroes have a mission that they&#8217;re on, so we&#8217;re traveling every week.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We&#8217;re going across the country.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They&#8217;re not just sort of fighting for survival and hunkering down into one place.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They really have somewhere to go and something to do.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Our characters aren&#8217;t afraid of zombies necessarily.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, they&#8217;re wary of them and zombies are certainly dangerous to them, but they take the fight to the zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We try and have as much action in an episode as <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> has in half a season.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There&#8217;s a lot of black humor in our show, a lot of social satire, but primarily it&#8217;s that sense of hope and mission and that the characters are really taking it to the zombies as opposed to being afraid of them and hunkering down.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And if you were going to go through the apocalypse, I think you would rather go through the apocalypse with our guys, because they&#8217;ve got somewhere to go and something to do, and I think it&#8217;ll be triumphant in the end.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Can you talk about maybe some of the challenges you faced?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, I think we&#8217;re a reasonably low-budget show, so trying to give it a sense of scope and scale and also just that somebody has thrown down the gauntlet.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The bar is set pretty high for zombie shows, but I think we face the challenge of any show, just making great characters and interesting storylines and doing it all for a price.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And making a show that travels across the country was really hard to do, but we found a great location.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We shot the whole thing in Spokane, Washington, which has been fantastic and just has so many different looks within the Spokane area, from mountains and lakes and beautiful rolling wheat fields and farms and desert and \u2013 so we really, I think, did a good job of making the show feel like it&#8217;s traveling across the country and we&#8217;re in a different place every week.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, thanks so much.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Like I said, I&#8217;m really enjoying it so far.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Good.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your next question comes from the line of Tim Holquinn with ScreenFad.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi, Karl.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks for talking with us today.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hey, Tim.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Happy to do it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Got a couple quick questions here.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Given Perrineau&#8217;s fate in the first episode, which obviously will be a surprise for first-time viewers, can you just talk a little bit about what it was like working with Harold during the pilot?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He was fantastic.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">First off, he&#8217;s just a great guy, but he was totally committed to it and didn&#8217;t treat it like he was coming in to do a low-budget show for the money or anything like that.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, he really had a big influence on the rest of the actors.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have a lot of local Washington talent and some people who&#8217;re much less experienced in the cast.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We also have some other very experienced cast members, but he just brought up every scene he was in and really brought a sense of commitment and drama to what he was doing.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And also it was great with the rest of the cast.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We had some of our sort of younger, local cast members who were a little intimidated on the first couple of days of shooting, I think, and he would pull them aside and say something to them that \u2013 and I don&#8217;t exactly know what it was he was saying to them, but then the next take they would just be a whole step up better at what they were doing.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, he was a blast to work with and it was a shame to see him go, and I think he had a really good time, too, and was a little wistful about leaving just after one episode.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But he was great to work with, and you could certainly see why he&#8217;s worked so often and is in so many classic sort of genre movies and programs and things like that.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And you look at his resume and he&#8217;s just in \u2013 he&#8217;s one of those guys that everything he&#8217;s in is good, and I think he helped make this one of those good things that he was in, so he was great.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As a fan, I was really happy to see him in it.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">What can you tell us about the makeup effects company bringing your zombies to life?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Synapse?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Synapse is great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They sort of came to us through the Asylum, and what they brought was just the ability to do a lot for a little money, and we worked really hard on trying to get the physical effects and makeup to look good with the photographic look that we were doing with the show.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We&#8217;re trying to make a real specific look for the show, so if you&#8217;re just tuning around the dial and you come across our show, it looks different from all the other Syfy shows and most of the other shows on TV.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And getting the makeup to look right after going through that process was a lot of work, and for the small team they have, they just do a great job cranking out 25 zombies a day of all different types, and they&#8217;ve been fantastic.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Corinne Foster and her team have all really come through.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And it&#8217;s been a tough, long shoot with a lot of work and not enough resources normally to do it, but they&#8217;ve delivered every time.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Being that Corinne was a <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Face Off<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> contestant in Season Six, it was nice to see it kept in the Syfy family.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Definitely, and she&#8217;s like a real trooper and a total pro.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks a lot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your next question comes from the line of Mary Powers with TVGoodness.com.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hello.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Mary Powers:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">First question \u2013 first of all, I&#8217;ve viewed the premiere, and it&#8217;s great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I love it, and also I am a fan of <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So one of the questions that came to mind as I was watching is, you call, I guess, the zombies Z&#8217;s.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In comparison to, say, the walkers in <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, are there any fundamental differences between the creatures that you can talk about that we will see now in the pilot and going forward?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, one thing about <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> is they&#8217;re taking a very realistic, straightforward look at \u2013 and they won&#8217;t call them zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They&#8217;ll call them anything in the world but zombies, and our show, we wanted to put it in a universe, where people know about zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They&#8217;ve seen zombie movies, that they&#8217;ve seen &#8220;Night of the Living Dead.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, we have all kinds of zombies and we wanted to be the zombie show that says, &#8220;Yes, we&#8217;ll do that kind of zombies.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have fast zombies, slow zombies, animal zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We had a zombie bear.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have zombie babies, and our zombies are evolving, too.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Our main character, Murphy, who&#8217;s been infected with the zombie virus and given a vaccine, is going to be evolving over the course of the season into what eventually may become a human-zombie blend.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, we wanted to leave the world wide open for the zombie virus to evolve and the type of zombies we deal with to evolve, and I think every week you&#8217;re going to see our zombies doing something different that you haven&#8217;t seen zombies do before, because kind of our goal was to put the fun back into zombies, and we wanted to be the show that said, &#8220;Yes, we&#8217;ll do that.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We come up with a cool idea, we&#8217;ll definitely do that, and I think the audience is going to enjoy that sort of aspect of it, that we&#8217;re not kind of stuck in stone as to what our zombies are like and what they do.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hello?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Maureen Granados:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We can proceed to the next question.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your next question comes from the line of Tony Tellado with Sci-Fi Talk.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi, Karl.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great to talk to you.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;ve been a fan since &#8220;Eerie, Indiana&#8221; and multiple speakers, so \u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u2013 I like as well <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Strange Luck<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You are a fan, then.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">D.B.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sweeney, he&#8217;s great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With this show, with <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Z Nation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, there is humor, but were you conscious of not kind of crossing that line so that it wouldn&#8217;t be too silly and kind of dilute the premise a little bit?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Absolutely.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">When I first came to this project with the Asylum, one of the things we all agreed on right up front was this would not be a campy mockbuster like <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sharknado<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> or some of the other projects that they do, that we wanted to make a real show.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And my sort of view of life is that real life is \u2013 there&#8217;s black humor in the most serious of moments, and the humor&#8217;s all character-based in the show.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s more like <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">M.A.S.H.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> than it is like <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sharknado<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> that I think a sense of black humor is almost a survival skill, that if you didn&#8217;t have a sense of humor in the apocalypse, you&#8217;d probably just curl up and die and that my experience in life is just that in the midst of some of the worst, toughest times you&#8217;ll see a lot of humor on a battlefield, in a hospital emergency room, with cops.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">People that have to deal with danger and hardship on a daily basis sort of have to have a sense of humor.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And we kind of sort of thought a lot about what goes into somebody who survived for three years of the zombie apocalypse, and a sense of humor about it all was one of the ingredients that we thought all of our characters would have.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">As far as the casting besides Harold Perrineau, how did everything kind of come together when you were casting?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, because we&#8217;re shooting in Washington state and we&#8217;re getting money from the state to shoot here, we had to have a certain amount of our \u2013 not necessarily the cast but the whole product has to be Washington-based.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So we looked really hard, first off, at Washington-based actors and found some fantastic people.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Russell Hodgkinson, who plays Doc, is great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He&#8217;s hysterical and fantastic in the show, and Nat Zang, who plays the 10K character, you only see him very briefly in the pilot, but he has a much bigger role going forward in the show.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He&#8217;s like an 18-year-old kid.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was his first audition that he&#8217;d ever done, his first professional audition, and he&#8217;s fantastic.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He&#8217;s going to be a huge star, I think, because he just has that thing about him.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And so we looked hard in Washington.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Also the Cassandra character, who they find in the cage, she&#8217;s a Washington local as well.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">She&#8217;s fantastic.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Kellita, who plays the Warren character, who we hired out of Los Angeles, she was great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We auditioned long and hard for it and didn&#8217;t have the kind of money to throw at big stars that you normally have for a TV show, so everybody kind of came to \u2013 on the whole production we&#8217;re all working for less than we normally do, and it&#8217;s kind of become something everybody&#8217;s in it for the love of the project at a certain point, because I think we all found it \u2013 when everybody came together, it became something better than everybody expected it to be, I think.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I think even Syfy is kind of going, &#8220;Wow, this is really good.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And so I am very happy with the cast that we got, and we worked really hard to get them and gave a lot of people a break.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The guy who plays Murphy was working for the Asylum.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He acted in a couple of their movies, but he was the office manager at the time that I met him between their movies, and we just kind of read him as a courtesy at first.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It was like, &#8220;Keith wants to read for you,&#8221; and it&#8217;s like, &#8220;OK, sure.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And he was really good.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He kept beating people out at every step of the way, and it was like, &#8220;Oh, my God, Keith is going to line up with this thing,&#8221; and we wound up sending three actors to the network and they didn&#8217;t know Keith was being the office manager at the time, and they thought it was great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And he&#8217;s been fantastic in the series.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, he&#8217;s really stepped up and has met everybody&#8217;s expectations and really become kind of a leader of the cast, in a way, both on and off screen, and has turned out to be just a great character, and he&#8217;s hilarious in it, as well as being evil and dark and all the things we needed him to be.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So I&#8217;m very happy with the cast.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great, thanks.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;ll get back in line and let somebody else in.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cool.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your next question comes from the line of Lisa Macklem with SpoilerTV.com.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks so much for talking with us today.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You&#8217;re welcome.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">One of the things that really struck me about the pilot was the humor, and especially D.J. Qualls&#8217; character, which it really felt like <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Good Morning, Vietnam <\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">to me.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Good.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Was that what I was supposed to think?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are we going to see a lot of him?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is he going to \u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He&#8217;s in every episode.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, the idea was to have a character who was stuck at the North Pole, where the zombies can&#8217;t get him, because they all freeze before they get that far, who has kind of an overview of the whole apocalypse but very little that he can directly do about it and that he&#8217;s keeping what&#8217;s left of the Internet and the communications system alive using the old NSA assets spread around the world.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So he&#8217;s in every episode.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He&#8217;s fantastic to work with and so funny himself, and some of the episodes revolve entirely around him.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He has whole shows that&#8217;re just his, so he&#8217;s great and sort of brings a \u2013 there&#8217;s a level of social satire to the whole series, and he helps kind of focus that and is kind of our narrator, sort of the Wolfman Jack of the apocalypse that we use him for.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">He&#8217;s great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Now, you said that you used a lot of the landscape around Washington, so can you tell us if they&#8217;re going to make it all the way to California by the end of the season, or \u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They don&#8217;t by the end of the first season, no.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, do you have a specific story arc?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Is it going to take us through\u2026?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have like a five-year story arc.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">That&#8217;s just how cocky we are about this show.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Go big or go home.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Exactly.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The network asked me to come up with that before we started, and obviously that may adjust, but \u2013 because even once they make it to California, that&#8217;s not going to be the end of the line.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Nothing goes according to plan on this show for our characters, and the Murphy character&#8217;s evolving.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Their mission&#8217;s going to evolve.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The nature of the apocalypse is going to change, and I think the show&#8217;s going to wind up going to places that will really surprise the audience.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you see this show even \u2013 beginning of next season&#8217;s going to be a very different, interesting show from how it started out, and we reveal a lot about the origin of the apocalypse and what&#8217;s going on and where things are going with Murphy&#8217;s evolving character and other people like him that sort of appear in the second season.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, I mean, my job was on the ground at the end of the first episode, so that&#8217;s awesome.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I think that was just such a great way to start.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m just going to ask one more question, if I can.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are we going to see love interests bloom sort of the same way we&#8217;ve seen those characters develop in other \u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Absolutely, both between our characters of our main hero team and also with characters they run into along the way.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s like life.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There&#8217;s going to be tragedy, humor, romance, action, adventure.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Like I said before, we&#8217;re trying to put the fun back in zombies and not take it so seriously and dark, because if you look at wartime and battle, even under the worst of circumstances people still fall in love and have a sense of humor and suffer tragedies and things like that.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So we&#8217;re going to put our characters through a full experience as they go forward.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Lisa Macklem:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you so much.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You have another question from Jamie Ruby with SciFiVision.com.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi again.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, I was going to ask you about the possibility of a second season, but you kind of already answered that, so can you talk about maybe a favorite scene or moment without giving too much away?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Coming up?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I have a favorite moment in almost every show.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, in Episode 2 there&#8217;s flaming zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Let&#8217;s see.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In Episode 3 we have some insane cannibals, and I think one of my favorite moments \u2013 we have an episode, where Citizen Z up at the North Pole gets a new friend with a very intriguing, dark, twisted story that I think will surprise everybody where it goes and where it ends, but somebody makes their way to the North Pole and finds him, and he has a companion for an episode.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But I think our show&#8217;s so different from every episode that I have \u2013 and I hope the audience does, too \u2013 will have favorite moments from every episode, because we&#8217;re really trying to do \u2013 you&#8217;re going to see zombies do something different that you haven&#8217;t seen them do before in every episode and see our characters react in a way that is surprising and interesting, both either funny or dark or \u2013 in every episode I think you&#8217;re going to see something really gruesome and gross, really dark and violent, really funny, and very emotional.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There&#8217;s a lot of episodes where people cry on set when we&#8217;re shooting a scene, so I think if that translates into the final product and we get to \u2013 you make people cry at one of these zombie shows, I think you&#8217;re doing your job.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So \u2026<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Sorry.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Go ahead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">That&#8217;s OK.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I was just going to say is it right, then, to assume that each episode, I&#8217;m taking it, is going to have some sort of a mystery \u2013 well, it&#8217;s not necessarily a mystery but mystery of the week type thing but yet still have obviously that overarching story?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Yes.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, their overall mission to get to California involves each week they come upon some new pocket of humanity or some challenge.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The second episode is all about getting gasoline, and pretty much the whole episode is about getting gasoline, while at the same time Citizen Z has a problem of his own up at the North Pole that he has to deal with with zombie sled dogs.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, there&#8217;s all kinds of different adventures along the way, and each week they sort of have a sub-mission, something that they have to get done in order to get to the next point on the compass for them.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Jamie Ruby:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, thank you so much again.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star1 on your telephone keypad.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You have another question from Tony Tellado with Sci-Fi Talk.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hello again.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hello.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m curious.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">With the arc this season, is it a very firm arc, or as you&#8217;re shooting are you going to be a little flexible and kind of \u2013 when you see the actors and their roles and that kind of thing kind of morph it a little bit as the season goes on?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Definitely the show evolved.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In order to do it properly at the budget level we are, we wrote all the episodes before we started shooting.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have a draft of every episode, but then when I came to Spokane and got up here and we had our cast, I did a lot of rewriting to fit the locations that we found and the cast.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And it sort of becomes a living organism at a certain point that kind of finds its own direction, and the characters make relationships and you start writing for who they really are, and so it evolved a lot as we went along and will continue to evolve.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And I am a very collaborative, open filmmaker, so the actors are also very involved in where their characters go, and they come to me with story ideas and little relationship things that they want to do between each other.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And the directors all have the mandate of, &#8220;If you&#8217;re out there doing a scene and find there&#8217;s something interesting about the location or something comes up between the actors when you&#8217;re rehearsing, do it.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Let it happen.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And I think the results keep it fresh and interesting, and it becomes the sum of all the people involved.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I try and do that with everybody even on the crew, right down to the effects people and the camera people and everybody.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I want them to feel like their contributions are embraced and needed, and after the first couple episodes everybody kind of got into the tone of the show and they understood the sense of humor that I have and how we were trying to keep it funny and different but real.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And once they all kind of got that and it clicked in, then the costumers, the effects people, the camera people all started to come to it with their own ideas and input on how to really capture that tone and keep the show edgy, different, and funny, which is what we&#8217;re going for.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, it evolved a lot as we went and will continue to evolve a lot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And, I mean, even before <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">, we just have a fascination with zombies, and they&#8217;ve kind of made a comeback as a result.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Why are they again so popular in our culture?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;ve given that a lot of thought, because they&#8217;re way more popular than they should be for the genre.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I mean, <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Night of the Living Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> was a great movie, and zombies have always sort of been within the entertainment arena but as a very small niche, not as the most highly rated scripted show.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And as good as <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Walking Dead<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> is, that success isn&#8217;t all about their execution, because even here in Spokane, when we had an open call for zombie extras we thought we&#8217;d have 50 or 60 people come to audition to be extras.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We had 800 people show up to be zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And these people don&#8217;t want to be zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They need to be zombies.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They&#8217;re crazy for this stuff.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And I think that our collective unconscious sort of knows something bad is coming, but we haven&#8217;t really figured out what it is yet and that zombies sort of stand in for that thing, that the zombie apocalypse is kind of like what if the absolute worst thing happened, and how would I respond to that?<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And I think that somehow is part of the attraction to it, in a strange way.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I think it really plugs into our unconscious in some deep way we don&#8217;t really understand yet.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Interesting.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, good luck.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m looking forward to seeing your take on zombies and what you do this season.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Cool.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, we&#8217;re having fun doing it, so I hope that people can see that in the show.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tony Tellado:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Definitely.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thanks a lot.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You have another question from the line of Tim Holquinn with ScreenFad.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Your line is open.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Hi.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl, you mentioned the main principals will be running into new pockets of humanity while they trek to California.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m figuring some characters they meet will last longer than others.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Are there any upcoming guest stars you&#8217;d want to tease for us at this time?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I&#8217;m trying to think of who we \u2013 gosh, I&#8217;ve got all these shows in my head at this point.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, we have not star cast.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We don&#8217;t really have a lot of people coming up in terms of recognizable named guest cast, but we have some great characters coming up in future episodes.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There&#8217;s a Russian cosmonaut that meets up with Citizen Z.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have the leader of a cannibal cult.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have sort of a zombie resurrection cult leader coming up, who&#8217;s \u2013 we have an all-female compound with \u2013 actually with Kelly McGillis playing the leader of an all-female compound that&#8217;s very dangerous and interesting, and she&#8217;s great in it.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">So, there are some really interesting characters coming up, and each week they sort of find a different pocket of humanity that they run into that&#8217;s trying to rebuild society somehow, and that&#8217;s kind of what the show is \u2013 there&#8217;s a social-satire aspect to the show, so seeing our characters run into these different pockets of humanity and how they&#8217;ve tried to rebuild society and how or why it doesn&#8217;t work out for them is kind of the fun or the show.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">At the end of the premiere, I ran to the Internet to look up who that song was by, Johnny Thunder&#8217;s &#8220;I&#8217;m Alive.&#8221;<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And, of course, given the constraints of your overall budget, I&#8217;m just wondering if there might be other classic songs used in future episodes.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And whose choice was it to play Johnny Thunder at the end of the pilot?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, that was in the promo version.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s not actually in the on-air version.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We did our own sort of take on the song that sounds just as good but is a different song.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">But generally speaking we&#8217;re trying to put in music where we can, but we are limited by our budget in terms of how many actual needle drops we&#8217;ll be able to afford.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We have a great composer, Jason Gallagher, who&#8217;s kind of a first-time composer that&#8217;s doing the underscore for the show, and we&#8217;re using him and a lot of new, young bands, unsigned bands whose music we can get cheap that&#8217;re great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">They&#8217;re going to contribute a lot to the show.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">You could raise their profile.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Well, one really fast, quick last question.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">How far into the season have you shot already?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">We&#8217;re actually shooting Episode 12 now.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I really like the pilot, so thanks again for speaking with us today.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I enjoyed it.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Karl Schaefer:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Good.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">And I think the show gets better as we go along, so I think we actually sort of hit our stride at a certain point and have some really great episodes coming up.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Tim Holquinn:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Great.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Times New Roman;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Operator:<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There are no further questions at this time.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I will turn the call back over to the presenters.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Maureen Granados: <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0Great.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you so much, everyone, for joining.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Thank you, Karl, for your time, and, once again, <\/span><i><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">Z Nation<\/span><\/i><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> premieres this Friday, September 12th, at 10:00 on Syfy.<\/span><span style=\"color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman;\">\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last\u00a0week\u00a0Syfy\u00a0hosted a conference call with Karl Shaefer the executive producer of the new show Z Nation. This new zombie apocalypse starts\u00a0this week on Syfy and the show\u00a0looks great.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-transmissions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11078"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11085,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11078\/revisions\/11085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/geekstronomy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}