Mercury

Mercury: A Broadcast of Hope tells the story of a small group of resident and a growing number of recurring characters living in a small radio station during the zombie apocalypse. Their mission is to communicate with fellow survivors via a daily broadcast (distributed here via podcast, but the story will retain the conceit that it is an actual terrestrial broadcast) that brings them thoughts, musings, stories, practical survival tips, and other messages that are intended to keep up the general morale and enable listeners to survive whatever hardships they may be encountering. Including zombies.

Origin of the name

The name Mercury came to the creators after a few meetings. Originally the series was to be focused on the lighthouse and how its beacon would shine light and hope on survivors, just as it signaled hope and salvation for ships lost at sea. All those names were taken, however, and to avoid confusion the series creators looked elsewhere, eventually settling on Mercury.

There are many reasons why Mercury is a fitting name for this podcast, presented here in summary:

• Mercury was the messenger of the gods in Roman mythology. In addition to this obvious tie-in to a radio broadcast, Mercury was also the patron god of travelers and luck and guided souls to the underworld.
• Mercury the element is sometimes known as quicksilver due to its liquid nature at room temperature. It is metaphorical for the ephemeral nature of life, but it also has a practical tie-in to the series because the Fresnel lenses of old lighthouses used to float and rotate in a bath of mercury which acted like a bearing.
• Mercury the planet has a unique orbit and rotation in the solar system, corresponding to our unique publication schedule. There are few daily podcasts and there are even fewer fictional daily podcasts.
• Perhaps most importantly, Mercury Theatre on the Air. This is the program that ran the infamous "War of the Worlds" broadcast. While the stories of that broadcast's ability to incite panic may be apocryphal, it is still part of the lore and stands in contrast to Mercury: A Broadcast of Hope's mission to bring a purposefully positive message.
• Mercury is referenced in a number of literary works in all of the above incarnations, including poetry (which Mercury was also the patron god of), that can be explored.

Timeline

1. Zombies were part of regular pop culture before the outbreak.
2. There were isolated outbreaks in towns and then a ramp up to cities
3. Government covered it up until they couldn’t anymore. They called it ebola (zika? antibiotic resistant bacteria? some other illness?) and would issue a series of lockdowns, instructing people that a patient was at large and that people should stay indoors until the patient could be contained and isolated. There would be more and more of these until we get to our present situation.
4. We have some supplies, but need more and can go fishing off the coast if necessary
5. Incubation period for a bite is 18-24 hours
6. Zombies do not freeze in winter, although they should. The characters will explore why this is.

Setting

The Surrounding Geography

The characters are living in a small college radio station adjacent to the marine science building at a coastal university. Within sight of the station is a lighthouse. INSERT MORE SETTING DETAILS HERE

The Building

INFO ABOUT THE BUILDING HERE

Characters

Due to the small size of the station, there is a limit to the number of permanent resident characters. That limit is set at five, but to begin the series will have only three so as to allow for easy expansion. Once the limit of five is met no new resident characters may be introduced without finding a way to remove another resident character within the rules outlined below.

The most challenging part of a writing collaboration this large will be character continuity and consistency. Whenever a significant event happens to a character or is described as part of their past, it must be entered here for other writers to reference to avoid inconsistency.

Survival Techniques for Characters

• Fishing
• Supplies brought by others
• ETC

Resident Characters

Max O'Brien

Max O’Brien (portrayed by David Benedict) is the middle-aged program manager at WEHG 870AM. He’s been on the job at the station for the last 3 years following a career change from basic web design. He’d hoped to be able to someday write code for the big boys, but he just couldn’t keep up with the changes in technology as web design advanced. He simply didn’t have the passion for it to keep re-learning new techniques to accomplish the same old goals, so he’d convinced the station to take him on as an unpaid intern for a year so he could learn new skills.

Today, as program manager, he coordinates which shows get aired at what times. He works closely with the advertising manager to keep the bills paid and the lights on by relaying listener statistics that potential clients will want to see.

He is unmarried and has no kids.

He also has a curiosity and a wild imagination. When the zombie outbreak became serious enough that law enforcement and the military could no longer ignore it or sweep it under the rug, he became interested in the root cause of the disaster. Who was patient zero? Was the condition viral? If so, which virus did it mutate from? What other explanations might be available? He’s done quite a bit of research, some of it coming from some pretty crackpot sources, and, while he has no actual answers, he loves to speculate. Some days it’s all that keeps him going.

He has above-average knowledge of web design and can make his way through modern code, although he’s no expert. He has an eye towards efficiency and resource management. He gets frustrated easily.

Dr. Rosalind Clark

Dr. Rosalind Clark (portrayed by Diana Lancaster) is practical and a realist. Wants to find out the how and why of the infection. Divorced. Early 40s

Agnes Drew

Agnes Drew (portrayed by Nicole Isaac) is emotional and heavily dependent on the other characters. Whimsical and an eternal optimist.

Little brother couldn’t pronounce the “G” so he called me “Anus,” long running joke in our family. Brought in a cat. Why can’t keep it. Cat. Too much maintenance. Hiding it for weeks. ANIMALS. They can be bit but don’t manifest symptoms so there’s no way to know whether they’re infected. I hide the cat for a while until D. finds out. She doesn’t make me kill it. Says I can release it back out into wild. I know killing it would be more merciful. But I can’t. Sees this whole experience like an internship Comparative Literature major> Personality: Young, hopeful, naïve, head in the clouds. Still believes that someone will find a cure and mankind will build itself back again Foil to “rational science” of D. and “wild paranoia” of conspiracy theorist She has Walt Whitman’s “song of myself” under her pillow, picture of family as bookmark. She has a tape recorder with last message of her boyfriend, Sam. Keep a journal. Later episodes reads from pages to see how my attitude has changed Don’t call them “zombies” JUST call them THEY. THEM Millennial mentality: MISS my phone. Whine

Recurring Characters

In development. Ideas for recurring characters include:

• Survivalist. Lives off the land and has no interest in staying at the station permanently. Regards it as a vulnerable position. Brings practical supplies (fuel, food, water, medicine) and provides survival tips to listeners.
• Information gatherer. Has family living in the lighthouse, but can't bring them to shore because the boat is too small and there isn't enough room at the station for them all to live there. Brings some practical supplies, but mostly brings news of zombie movements through scouting missions and a high vantage on the lighthouse.

Episode Ideas and Prompts

• “It’s been about three and a half months since we last heard from the authorities.”
• Getting the generator working, getting the transmitter working.
• Illness concerns.
• Interview format with a “zombie expert” - totally normal, like nothing’s wrong
• Episodes about how to get fresh water - boiling, distilling, reverse osmosis, rainwater, etc.
• Pets
• An episode about how we have to rescue someone and then ask them to leave because we have no room
• Agnes keeps a diary and reads entries from early days before broadcasting

Writers Bible

World Rules

1. You must be bitten to be infected. Just dying isn’t sufficient. Exploration of the causes of the zombie apocalypse are welcomed. Biting is the primary method of transfer, but it is bloodborne and therefore bleeding on an open wound will also effect a transfer.
2. The station is secure. We cannot be besieged or overrun by zombies. Because reasons.
3. We are well into the apocalypse. The station has been offline for some weeks, if not months, and repairs have had to be done to get back on the air.
4. Zombies are effectively hydrophobic - they will not enter the water and cannot function under it. If a zombie is immersed in water then it effectively enters torpor but will reanimate when removed from the water. Zombies that are in the water for an extended period of time will suffer physical effects and the body may disintegrate.
5. The station is only big enough for 5 people to live there permanently. There is enough room for people to stay the night if necessary, but scarcity of supplies, physical space for actual residence, and the risk of attracting too many zombies preclude more than 5 people living there.
6. We have a small boat available. It has a small outboard motor. A 12’-16’ boat that can’t hold more than a few people.

Series Rules and Structure

1. The overall theme of the show is hope and keeping up morale. If a writer wishes to use despair to help emphasize a point, they may do so, but the series cannot degenerate into a hopeless morass.
2. No characters will die “on camera”.
3. Each episode should be between 5 and 7 minutes long. Longer episodes are acceptable if necessary, but should be kept to a minimum because of the increased need for editing.
4. Episodes should be recorded “as-live”. Our setting is essentially a recording booth, so there’s no need for additional SFX to be added after the fact. Actors should feel free to move about the booth, open the booth door, etc. If the script calls for typing or other sounds, those objects should be brought in for the recording.
5. There will be no “pickups” or “drop ins”. All characters must be present for the recording of the episode they appear in. If a mistake is made, either cover for it or, if covering isn’t possible, back up and retake the line immediately.
6. A backlog of episodes in the can and more written is essential to maintain the daily release schedule. That said, if a current event demands a commentary (within the context of the zombie apocalypse), then a special episode may be written, recorded, and inserted into the feed as needed. To preserve the numbering system (below) we may do supplemental episodes on specific days, rather than re-recording the intro for any episodes already in the can.
7. Each episode shall establish the episode number by stating “this is # days since we went back on the air” or some variation thereof. Each episode shall conclude with the tagline "Take care of each other."