A CINEMATIC ADVENTURE

My first attempt to venture into cinematic stories seemed hopeful.

I entered the contest with cinebooks.com and won more than the 1000 votes required to make the first series in my five-series sci-fi thriller Zeeka Chronicles into a Cinebook.

Things were going fine until it was time to sign the contract. I was told that because Trinidad and Tobago was not a member of the European Union they could not proceed.

I heard nothing further from them, but my book is still listed as one of their projects.

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In August 2022, I decided to get a screenplay written for my five-series sci-fi thriller. I arranged with a screenwriter from Stage 32, but he got into an accident and could not do it. I then asked the daughter of a close friend but she got a new job and could not find the time. I did a crash course and wrote the screenplay myself.

I submitted pitches for both the pilot and series.

Here are both the positive and negative responses.

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK FOR PITCHES FOR SCI-FI THRILLER – SEPT. 2024

 

ZEEKA AND THE ZOMBIES – SERIES ONE - PILOT PITCH

CATALINA RAMIREZ;

POSITIVE: I like how the story keeps you interested and makes you want to keep reading it. I also like how you combine futuristic technology with elements of zombie horror.

NEGATIVE:  clarity is required with high-tech settings and Zeeka’s motivation.

 

JODIE PLATT

POSITIVE: Hi, thank you for sharing this pitch with me. I like that the theme is good triumphing over evil after an event that happened 20 years before. The setting in South America, with the backdrop of Carnival, could make this visually attractive. It is also interesting that this is based on reality with the Zika virus as the inciting incident.

NEGATIVE: Clarity is required with set- up of the series and clarity with Steven Sharpe and Grady.

 

JONNY GUTMAN

 ZEEKA CHRONICLES – Five-series sci-fi thriller

 POSITIVE: This was definitely one of the most unique pitches I've ever read! I love that the inspiration came from a real-life crisis and that Brenda has taken it in such an imaginative direction.  Like I said, this was one of the most imaginative pitches I've ever seen, but I think it's a little too ambitious for me! I wish Brenda good luck with it though because I think it would make an incredibly entertaining series!"

NEGATIVE: Too ambitious. Unclear as to how Janet and Mandy relate to the rest of the story or what were their motivations.

I am re-writing and not giving up.

Here is the blurb for the book:

 GOOD TRIUMPHS OVER EVIL

When 51 programmable zombies unleash chaos and death on spectators at a Carnival event on the tourist haven of Gosh Island, local police, detectives, and a man kidnapped as a boy by their Master, must hunt down Master Zeeka before he kills again.
The fictional series is set in 2036 on an imaginary island, off the coast of South America, well-known for fabulous beaches, resorts, and annual Carnival celebrations.
This science-fiction thriller with lingering themes of human flaws, evil, and good, is purely the author's imagination, inspired by the zika virus in 2016.
Reviewers have compared this futuristic sci-fi thriller five-book series to Frankenstein, Twilight Zone, and Shakespeare’s plays, and some have said it is movie material.
Zombies and robots take center stage.
The mind-blowing episodes begin in Zeeka and the Zombies Series 1 and continue in Zeeka’s Child Series 2, Zeeka Returns Series 3, Zeeka’s Ghost Series 4, and Resurrection Series 5.
The excitement builds with each series as the detectives unearth more clues, and the author succeeds in pulling the various strands together to offer a breath-taking conclusion, where good triumphs over evil.
This futuristic thriller was an award winner in the Category -Young Adult Thriller in Reader's Favorite International Awards 2018, winner in Science Fiction in SIBA Awards 2017, winner of the gold award in the category Science Fiction in Connections Emagazine Readers' Choice Awards 2018, and winner in the top ten finalists for science-fiction in the Author Academy Global Awards 2018.
The International Chamber of Writers and Artists in Spain gave the book an award in April 2023, on the occasion of World Book Day.
Reader's Favorite International gave it a five-star review.
Here is an extract of that review::
"Zeeka Chronicles is a thoughtful series and would delight fans of the genre.
Brenda Mohammed is an author brimming with original ideas, and definitely an author to follow."

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REVIEWERS WANT ZEEKA CHRONICLES TO BE A MOVIE

 

REVIEWERS WANT ZEEKA CHRONICLES TO BECOME A MOVIE

When Master Zeeka unleashes chaos and death on spectators at a Carnival event on the tourist haven of Gosh Island, local police, detectives, and a doctor kidnapped by Zeeka as a child, must hunt down Master Zeeka before he kills again.       

REVIEWERS COMPARISON:      Twilight Zone, Frankenstein, Shakespeare’s Plays.

WHY  THIS  STORY: The fictional futuristic sci-fi thriller is set in 2036 on an imaginary island, off the coast of South America, well-known for fabulous beaches, resorts, and annual Carnival celebrations. The story is purely the author's imagination, inspired by the zika virus in 2016. Zombies and robots take centre stage and Good triumphs over Evil.   

Zeeka and the Zombies is series one in the five-series sci-fi thriller. .  Dr. Raynor Sharpe sees zombies marching outside his beachfront home and they suddenly disappear. A zombie named Number Nine goes to Gosh Hospital to warn Dr. Brown about an impending massacre by his Master Zeeka. In February 2036, 51 programmable killer zombies disguised as a sailor band, unleash weapons at a Carnival event. One hundred and twenty-five people die, seventy-five are maimed for life, and all zombies disintegrate into ash. Police are not clear if Number Nine died in the shoot-out. A manhunt begins for Master Zeeka. Intertwined in this episode is a love story between Dr. Raynor Sharpe and Dr. Janet Jones who marry.

 Zeeka's Child is series two in the five-series sci-fi thriller. Police search for Master Zeeka.  They are searching for Dr. Jason Stephens but chasing the wrong suspect.  Detective Jack Wildy discovers a flash drive revealing the face of the real perpetrator, Chief of Police Bill Grady. Dr. Jason Stephens gives another flash drive to Janet to deliver to Dr, Raynor Sharpe, confirming Wildy’s discovery, and about the child Master Zeeka [ Grady] kidnapped forty years ago. Grady disappears and the police start a manhunt for him. Raynor and Steven unite as brothers.

Zeeka Returns is the third series in the five-series sci-fi thriller. Zeeka [ Grady] abandons his zombies in the forest and goes to the home of Dr. Raynor Sharpe to look for Steven Sharpe. Janet’s helper, Miranda, a beautiful robot, uses her taekwondo skills to capture Zeeka when she sees him holding a gun. The police shrink zombies and demolish them with high-tech weapons found in Grady’s bag. They slap Grady with more than 200 charges and he confesses. He asks to see Steven to beg forgiveness for kidnapping him as a child and tries to explain why he did so. Steven refuses to forgive him and Zeeka commits suicide.

Zeeka's Ghost is the fourth series in the five-series sci-fi thriller. A strong wind throws down Zeeka’s urn and it falls and breaks, his ashes scatter in Steven’s study, and Zeeka’s ghost appears to Dr. Steven Sharpe whom Zeeka had kidnapped as a child. The ghost begs Steven for forgiveness and saves Mandy, Steven’s wife, from dangerous kidnappers. Steven forgives him and Zeeka leaves the world in peace.

Resurrection:  Series 5 is the grand finale in the five-series sci-fi thriller.  Number Nine, the zombie, who police thought was dead in the massacre at the Carnival event in February 2036 is alive. Mandy's robot helper, Eve, encounters him in the backyard, records the conversation on her security device, and plays it for Steven and Mandy. Number Nine collapses in the backyard with an epileptic fit, and Eve alerts the Gosh hospital. 

Tests and records confirm he is Number Nine, he is not a zombie and is the biological son of Bill Grady – Master Zeeka, who made him grow up with zombies because he was misdiagnosed with microcephaly- a disease associated with the zika virus that infected his mother who died in childbirth 22 years ago. Police speculate that the reason Number Nine’s killer gadgets were turned off at the massacre in February 2036 was because Bill Grady did not want him to die.

Raynor helps Number Nine choose Nieman Grady as his legal name, and Steven cures him of his brain ailment, Craniosynostosis with his new invention.  

Dr.Steven Sharpe is the new hero in Gosh because his miracle cures and inventions replace Carnival Tourism with Medical Tourism. 

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