[Next morning] [New York City] [Richard's Hotel Suite]
Jack reached Richard's hotel suite a few minutes after getting the call. He had expected a quick meeting about the Zombieland schedule, so he was surprised when he walked into the living room and saw Emma sitting near the window.
"Emma?" Jack said as he stepped inside. "When did you get here?"
Emma stood and walked over to him with a smile. "Late last night. I was supposed to get here yesterday morning, but my flight got cancelled at the last minute."
Jack gave her a quick hug. "That sucks. I thought you just decided not to come to the signing."
"I would never miss a chance to watch you sign books for six hours straight," Emma said as she stepped back. "I'm sorry I wasn't there. I watched the event online from the airport, though."
Jack smiled a little. "At least you missed the part where my hand stopped working."
Emma raised an eyebrow. "I hope you've healed enough to sign my book."
"Sure," Jack said. "After this meeting."
Richard stood near the table with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Maps, location photos, schedules, and production folders covered most of the space in front of them.
"Now that everybody is here, we can begin," Richard said.
Jack walked over to the table and looked at the material. Most of the pages focused on Georgia, with sections for Atlanta, Newnan, Decatur, Valdosta, and a smaller section for Los Angeles.
Phil looked up from one of the folders. "Good to see you again, Jack. We watched the signing online. It looked like a big event."
"It was bigger than I expected," Jack said. "I thought it would be a normal fan event, but there were thousands of people."
Christopher smiled. "That's what happens when you write one of the biggest fantasy series in the world."
"Thanks. I'll take the compliment," Jack said with a smile. Then he looked back down at the folders. "So, this is everything for Zombieland?"
Richard nodded. "Phil and Christopher have spent the last few days working through locations, permits, crew availability, transport, and the first shooting schedule."
Jack picked up the location folder and started looking through it. There were pictures of city streets, small towns, roads, gas stations, private estates, and amusement parks.
"You got this planned out really fast," Jack said.
Christopher leaned back in his chair. "We cleared our schedules for this movie because we wanted to work with you again. After 17 Again, we knew we wanted to work together when the right project came along."
Phil nodded. "And we saw Emma's talent in Easy A. So, when we heard two of you are coming together for a new movie again, we contacted Richard, and here we are."
Jack gave them a small smile. "Looking forward to working with you guys again."
Richard picked up the Atlanta section of the location folder. "Most of the movie will be filmed in Georgia. Atlanta will be the main production base."
Phil pointed to a map with several streets highlighted. "The early city scenes will be filmed in downtown Atlanta, mainly around Edgewood Avenue. That's where we'll shoot a lot of the urban chaos, abandoned streets, and grocery store scenes."
Jack looked at the street photos. "It has the right look for the beginning. We can make it feel busy enough before the outbreak, then empty it out for the later scenes."
Christopher nodded. "That's the plan. We'll use early morning shooting hours, blocked-off areas, practical cars, background actors, set dressing, and visual effects work later."
Emma looked at the schedule. "What about the scenes outside the city?"
Phil turned to another page. "We'll use nearby suburbs for several of the road scenes and residential locations. It gives us more control over traffic, equipment, and crew space."
Jack studied the notes. "That should also help keep the budget under control."
"It will," Christopher said. "We can make several areas look different without moving the whole production across the state every few days."
Richard placed a photo of a large house on the table. "For Bill Murray's mansion, we're talking with the owners of a private estate at 490 West Paces Ferry Road."
Jack picked up the photo. The house was large and surrounded by trees.
"This works," Jack said. "It looks expensive enough for the joke, but it still feels believable."
Phil nodded. "That was exactly our thought. The group spends most of the movie in empty streets, broken stores, and abandoned places. Then they suddenly reach this huge mansion, and it feels completely different."
Christopher turned to the Newnan section. "Downtown Newnan will be used for multiple street scenes. We're also planning to use the Coweta County Courthouse for part of the town material."
Emma looked through the pages. "You're grouping a lot of scenes together there."
"We want to keep the production efficient," Christopher said. "If we can shoot several scenes in the same area, we save time and money. That gives us more room for the bigger action scenes later."
Jack nodded. "That makes sense. We need the road trip to feel big, but the movie does not need to travel everywhere just to prove it."
Phil handed him another location photo. "For the Gas 'N' Gulp flashback, we found a Pure Service station in Decatur."
Jack looked at the image for a moment. The gas station looked ordinary, which was exactly why it worked.
"I like this," he said. "The flashback should feel normal before everything goes wrong. It needs to look like a place people would stop at without thinking about it."
Richard moved a smaller folder toward Jack. "We'll also spend a few days in Los Angeles."
Jack opened it and found photos of Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
"Only a few scenes?" he asked.
Phil nodded. "Only a few. Grauman's Chinese Theatre is one of the places we need for the story, and it makes more sense to shoot it there instead of trying to copy it somewhere else."
Jack looked relieved. "Good. I don't want the whole production moving to California for a week."
"We don't either," Christopher said. "The Los Angeles unit will be small, and we'll get what we need before returning to Georgia."
Phil moved to the last group of photos. They showed roller coasters, bright signs, food stands, rides, and wide paths through an amusement park.
"For Pacific Playland, we're using Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta," Phil said. "That's where the climax will be filmed."
Emma looked through the pictures with interest. "That place is perfect for the ending."
"It gives us a lot to work with," Christopher said. "The rides, lights, games, food stands, and open spaces are already there. We can turn it into Pacific Playland without building a huge set."
Jack looked at the photos of the roller coaster. "The ending has to feel bigger than the rest of the movie, but it still needs to stay focused on the four of them."
Phil nodded. "Exactly. The amusement park gives us scale, but the characters are still the center of the scene."
Richard leaned back in his chair. "The permit applications have already been sent out. We're waiting for final approval on some locations, but the process has started."
Jack looked over the table again. The movie felt more real now. It was no longer just a script he and Emma had talked about for months. Now, they have locations, directors, and a schedule.
Emma rested her hand on the Zombieland script. "This is what we needed... people who knew how to handle the production side."
Richard looked at both of them. "That's why I agreed to help. You two can focus on the story, the characters, and the performances. I'll handle contracts, permits, insurance, negotiations, and anything else that needs experience."
Jack nodded. "That's probably better after what happened with the fake director. I still can't believe we fell for them."
Richard gave him a serious look. "Exactly. You and Emma should not have to worry about somebody stealing the script or taking advantage of you."
Phil closed one of the folders. "Speaking of the next step, we're holding extras auditions tomorrow."
Jack looked up. "For the zombies and side characters?"
Phil nodded. "We need zombies, background actors, small speaking roles, and people who can handle long filming days. Some of the zombie work will take a lot of patience because of the makeup and movement work."
Emma looked at Jack. "You want to go, right?"
Jack smiled. "Yeah. I've always wanted to see what it feels like to sit on the other side of the table."
"Yeah, me too," Emma agreed with a quick nod. She looked really excited.
Phil smiled. "Then join us tomorrow morning. We'll start at nine."
"Can I choose the actress for the 406 character?" Jack asked.
"You have someone in mind?" Phil asked.
Jack nodded, "Yeah. I've no idea if she's gonna show up for the audition."
"Sure. It's a minor role. Any newbie artist can do it," Phil agreed.
Christopher picked up his folder and stood. "We'll see you all tomorrow morning. After the auditions, we can start narrowing down the main cast."
--
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