The Point Radio: The Town That Loves Zombies

For six years, the town of Jasper, Alabama has been struggling to complete an independent zombie film. Now SyFy is shining a light on their plight with the docu-series, TOWN OF LIVING DEAD and we talk with resident Tina Teeter on how her life has been eaten up by they project. Plus BAR RESCUE star, Jon Taffer, is back with checkbook in hand but is there anyone who deserves his help?

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Transcript

The Point Radio Hey it's Mike Raub before we're out the door and on the floor of the New York Comic-Con let's talk zombies. In particular, a zombie film that's been six years in the making and still isn't quite ready yet. It's part of a new documentary on the Sci-Fi channel. Plus there's Bar Rescue. John Tapper's back with his checkbook but is there anybody left

to save? Let's get to The Point. This is The Point. The Point Radio. Get The Point Radio. These days everybody loves zombies but six years ago a particular independent filmmaker loved it enough to begin the production on an independent zombie film called Three Days Dead. Like a lot of independent films there were problems right off the bat even before

the cameras started to roll. However, in this particular case the filmmaker managed to be in a town where well the residents got involved. The project is still underway and it's also the focus of a new documentary series on Sci-Fi called Town of the Living Dead. And the head of it all is town resident Tina Teeter who after sinking $20,000 of her own money is the head of production and still trying to get this project made. I talked to her

about how the whole thing got started and how she got involved. Basically John Wayer wrote the script about two years, two to three years before I met him. He was up and running, had already done his auditions and was getting ready to begin filming. I actually went into Radio Shack one day to buy my daughter a telephone and that's how I met John. I didn't know at the time that he was doing, that he had planned

on making a movie and then later down the road I heard that he had written a movie and he was going to do this zombie movie. I've been an actress for a long time and I would have thought, I would love to be a zombie. I didn't want a big part, I just wanted to be a zombie, it was cool. I spoke to him again and I said to him, if you need extra zombie, let me know, I would love to be one. And he said, well, actually I heard you were an actress,

I didn't know about you, but I need a mom. Do you want to be the mom? And I said, sure, I'd love to, I'll be the mom. I said, does she get to be a zombie? Yes, okay. So that's how I met John actually and that's how I got involved with the movie itself. So the problems started right away. Now John and I really, we didn't have a lot of contact because he was still pulling everybody together and then we started doing read throughs. I'm

old school and I'm theater and when you work, you work. And when you get together to work, you work. And because there was so much, people really was doing it, they wasn't a lot of professional actors. It was just a bunch of guys getting together just like we are now pretty much with the exception of me and I'm a taskmaster. I like to do things, how they're supposed to be done. And I decided I would help John. He was struggling a little

bit because he's not a real aggressive person. And I just sort of jumped in and helped John. I think he was struggling. He needed somebody to help him. So I agreed that I would help him and that's what's been ever since then. I'm kind of the bad guy and I push him and get everything done. John's a really, really great guy. He's a real friendly guy. Everybody likes John, but he's not aggressive. He's not one to jump up and down necessarily if

he don't get his way. He does now because he's noticed for so long. But that's how I become involved. I just started doing a little bit piece I was going to do. I've seen that he needed some help along the way and I just sort of jumped in and helped him out and here we are. Trouble came from all directions including money and equipment. Our computer that we actually do our editing and all on. Our computer has gone down on us. It's a very old computer.

It's gone down on us. We've lost C drive. We've lost a year's worth of filming on our computer going down. So we lost everything and we had to go back and redo things. We've had several recasts. We've recast Valerie four times. Two of the girls got pregnant. You know, everything like every time we get somebody something would happen. So we've had a lot of recasts. The last crew that we have is stuck. It was almost like they were

meant to be together once we pulled this last crew together. Everybody just clicked. It's done very, very well. All the other ones in between, all the ones that was cast before did great jobs, but we just needed to click with us because we only filmed one day. John only had one day a week off for the first two years. That was on Thursdays. So on Thursdays everybody knew we filmed on Thursdays. Um, and it's hard to get people on Thursday to

do anything for free for that long. People don't like to work for free for years and years. It's kind of annoying to them. So that was the biggest hurdle. You know, we just, it was just the money. We couldn't pay people. We couldn't buy what we needed. I mean, I've spent at this point, the financing has come basically for me. I'm probably about 20, probably close to 25 now into the movie. Um, you know, just money budget when you're

on the lake in Alabama and the rainy season, it rains a lot. And when you're only filming one day a week, that's a big hindrance in getting things accomplished. So it's rained a lot on us. We had a boat. We would borrow a boat one time to do our stuff and turn around and the guy got sick and we had to get the boat back. So it just seems like it's been one thing after another. John has actually had a stroke. He had a stroke, um, almost

two years ago and he's 33. So of course when stroke come up, that's it. We're shutting down. It's just been one thing after another. One of our lead star, one of our co-stars in the movie, he's a little fun, a five years old. Um, we lost Colin this year. Um, we've had death. We've had major sicknesses. We've had equipment break. We've had people quit right when we just absolutely didn't need them to quit. Money has been a huge issue

because when the computer broke, you know, we didn't have the money to fix it. So that shut us down to where we, and we lost the footage. So we had to go back and reshoot. It's just been very difficult. I don't think it was not because of our tenacity. We stuck to it and we were going to finish the movie, you know, come hell or high water, we were going to do this movie. I made a promise to this little boy that I would finish this movie.

But when you ain't got money and your computer equipment is faulty and people are rumbling because you know, they like to eat. They have to have jobs and at the end it was getting where we needed to film more than one day. Um, it's just been hard. So what's three days dead all about? Basically what it is, is we have three friends that go fishing one morning and while they're gone, while they're out on the lake fishing, um, there's several

things that go on around them. Um, and it spreads quickly and they get trapped on the boat on the lake and can't get off. So the story is the guys getting off the boat and trying to make it to safety. Um, to see about their families and their friends and um, that's, that's the plot of the story is the guys get off their boat. They meet up with another family, another set of friends and they all go on this journey to try to run away from

these zombies and get to safety. With the sci-fi show behind them, hopefully things will move forward here, right? Absolutely. That's the plan. I mean, we just, we are so thankful to sci-fi for coming in and just, you know, recognizing us. So at this point, um, it's, it's a great thing and I think it's going to let people see too. Here's the thing. Um, you know, Mike, we're not pretending to be movie makers and I think that's where the

confusion maybe with the show is going to come in. I think people think that maybe we think that we are professional. We know we're not, we have no, we're not pretentious at all. We have no, we're not delusional. We're not anything. We have simply said, this is what we chose to do and it has taken us a long, long time, but we knew we were going to finish sci-fi. Thank goodness. Come in and said, you know what? We get you. We know

you're trying, you're struggling here. You know, we're interested in your story. Um, and they have, it's just been a blessing in disguise and it's definitely going to be a boost for us if we can make it, you know, and we're, we're pushing. If we can make it and we can get this film finished, you know, sci-fi is going to show it for us, but we have to get it finished in time. So that's the thing is with the show is we have to get

this movie finished. See how it's all going right now on town of the living dead with new episodes every Tuesday on sci-fi and you can catch up on past episodes at sci-fi.com. So what's going on in pop culture after months of rumor and speculation? It looks like a lot of that might be true and Marvel might be bringing the fantastic four to an end. According to a solicitation from diamond comics issue number six 45 scheduled for mid 2015.

Looks like it may be the final issue of the FF, which has been Marvel's flagship title for well over 50 years. Why make a move like this? Well, Marvel execs are upset with the fact that Fox is still refused to relinquish their rights to the FF back to Marvel Studios and in fact are making a new Fantastic Four movie that will debut sometime around August of next year. The plan would be for Marvel the company not to support that movie in any

way, including publishing an ongoing Fantastic Four title. Netflix is beefing up its comedy stable with another new edition. This time it's Doug Dynasty, an hour long special from Doug Benson, which will debut on the streaming service on the 6th of November. This joins a number of other comedy specials already announced, including ones by Bill Cosby, Jim Jeffries, Chelsea Peretti and Chelsea Handler.

Heads up gamers, Legendary Entertainment has announced it's turning Myst into a series. Been reported in the magazine variety, but it's a little unclear as to what it all means. Is it a TV show or a digital series? No one knows yet, but Myst did first debut well back in 1993 and since that time it's been hugely popular, selling more than 15 million copies. Hasbro is moving at least some of its Transformers franchise to a new home. The Cartoon Network

will be where you'll find Transformers robots in disguise when it debuts the first part of 2015. And by the way, it is all part of the big anniversary, the 30th anniversary that is of the Transformers franchise, which is being celebrated right now. Iron Man 4 looks like a go on The Ellen Show of all places. Robert Downey Jr. confirmed that there will be an Iron Man 4 and more than likely he'd be involved and of course that would

have to be as Tony Stark. Oddly enough, other appearances by Downey, not long after The Ellen Show, had him deny being a part of Iron Man 4, although he did say he would be appearing as the character in other Marvel movies. No official word from Marvel yet, but that'll be the one that'll set this in stone. FX has given a straight to series order for a companion to American Horror Story from

Ryan Murphy. This will be American Crime Story, an anthology series of where each season will focus on a different sensational true crime. First one up will be The People vs. O.J. Simpson. The 10 episodes will be said to be in production and probably debut in FX sometime around the end of next year. Early next year, the TV Guide Network gets a rebranding. It'll be known as POP and they're promising a complete schedule with what they call fun, fan-driven

content. It'll include new series like the reality competition Sing It On, a documentary about the making of soap operas called Queens of Drama, Unusually Thick, the reality show with Alan Thicke returning for another season, and a lineup of a lot of familiar shows that need a new home like Jericho, 90210, Melrose Place, Survivor, Amazing Race, and Big Brother. Well, graphic novel sales in the month of September were good. It was pretty much a

flat year so far for the sales overall, but that's good considering the fact we were way under the mark at the beginning of 2014. And now we head into the fourth quarter, pretty positive as we look at the things that sold the most in comic bookstores in September and a pretty good month for DC too, best-selling graphic novels in comic stores during the month of September. We're starting at number 10, Saga, volume 3 from MIMH. Number 9, Fatale,

volume 5 also from MIMH. Marvel comes into number 8 with Kick-Ass 3, the premiere hardcover. Another saga comes in at number 7, first volume of that from MIMH. Harley Quinn, Vengeance Unlimited, the trade paperbacks at number 6. Walking Dead, volume 10 from MIMH at number 5. Guardians of the Galaxy, volume 2, Angela was the fourth bestseller. Number 3, Yu-Gi-Oh! Volume 6 from Viz. And at number 2, the Forever Evil hardcover from DC in the number 1 best-selling

graphic novel in stores in September. Batman Death of the Family, the book and mask set, special and pretty high-priced item too from DC. Right now in Restaurant and Bar Consultant, John Taffer is back for another season of the highly-rated Bar Rescue on Spike TV. If you haven't caught it, here's how it all comes down. John gives failing bars nationwide one final chance to succeed by reviewing and revamping pretty much every aspect of the business,

including food, drinks, crowd and so much more, and usually ends up butting heads with managers, owners and employees to get the whole job done. I asked John that after having three seasons under his belt, how difficult is it to go out and find really qualified candidates to receive his help? Oh boy, you know, now that Bar Rescue is such a hit, we have bars lining up to be rescued.

The problem is that everybody's trying to hustle and remodel, Mike. So we really have to do background checks, check bag balances, make sure that they're really losing money. But this season, we have owners that are off the charts. It is truly, this season was a war for me against owner after owner after owner. Incredibly frustrating, but I've got to say the remodels are the best we've ever done. So I'm really excited for everybody

to see this season. Other than needing his help, is there anything that these bars all seem to have in common? Yeah, there is. And you know, it's taken me years, but Bar Rescue is interesting, Mike, because Bar Rescue taught me so much about failure. Before Bar Rescue, I learned everything about success, and Bar Rescue, I've learned everything about failure. The common denominator

of failure is excuses. They blame the president, they blame Congress, they blame the economy, they blame construction in the street, they blame the competitor across the street, but they don't wake up in the morning and blame themselves, Mike. And the problem is that if you're failing at something, and you wake up in the morning and blame somebody else for your failure, you have no reason to change. So I have to make them blame themselves. I

have to make them wake up in the morning and feel like a failure, and then they'll change themselves in their business. And that's a challenge, they don't like it. So how do you get started doing something like this? You know, I actually have been doing this for 35 years. I'm in a bar business, I've won Operator of the Year, Property of the Year, Legendary Leadership Awards and such.

And about three, three and a half years ago, I was giving a keynote speech at an industry convention that somebody came up to me and said, John, you should be on TV. So I put together a little write up, came to Los Angeles, shot a three minute sizzle reel, which was pretty much me screaming and yelling at people, Mike. And brought that sizzle reel to three ball productions who brought it to Spike. And the show was picked up in about four days.

Then we shot a pilot, and now I just completed my 70th episode. I had to know, has the doctor ever really lost a patient? Oh, yeah, there's several. Now we run about an 84% success ratio. So we do well as far as success. But that's 16%. Some of them changed the name back. Some of them sell the businesses after we leave. One of them, believe it or not, we remodeled the bar, the landlord took

it away from the tenant to rent it for more money because it was so beautiful. Sometimes the failure isn't because of the bar owner themselves. It's because of the landlord or a creditor or something else. But it's a challenge to take a failing business and make it profitable. Turning from failure to profitability is much harder than making something more profitable. With so much home entertainment and social media that keeps us pretty much occupied at

home. Is it tougher to get people to go out to bars in the first place? Well, you know, the bar industry survives on what we call leisure time. And leisure time in America has gone down the past few years. People are working more hours. They're working from home, emails, social media, etc. It takes a lot of their time. So we have less leisure time and less potential. But this year was the largest graduating college

class in the history of our nation. 13 million college graduates this year. They are all approaching 21 or close to 21 years old. So there is a demographic boom in the bar business that's happening the next few years for that prime young audience of 25 to 34 year olds. New episodes of Bar Rescue right now on Spike TV. Check out more at Spike TV dot com. That doesn't for the podcast, but as you probably know, we're headed out the

door to the New York Comic Con. Find out what we're up to by following us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram right now under The Point Radio and see everything going on live at New York Comic Con with exclusive video showing right now at GetThePointRadio.com. We're back here early next week with everything you need in all the usual places, including ComicMix dot com. Michael Davis World dot com, GetThePointRadio.com and in the iTunes podcast directory. Have a

great weekend. Don't forget to check out the Comic Con. It's showing live right now at GetThePointRadio.com. GetThePointRadio.com.