The 'zombie apocalypse'

It was a hot Friday morning and the creative team of chanel 23 was trying to figure out an idea for a new reality show that would help the chanel grow, raise fame and get many views.

-If we want to make a difference from other chanels, I think the reality show should be made without the players knowing about it, so that their reactions will be authentic, Lindsay suggested.

-I agree.But in what reality show can the players participate without realising that they are participating?Besides, what are we gonna do if they find out about it?, Jennie asked concerned.

-I have no idea about what kind of reality show is the one that we are looking for,but when they find out, we will have made enough money so we can compensate them.

-What about big brother?, Mikayla asked.

-Definitely not.If they are just living their lives, they will find about it soon when they might see their faces on the web.It would be a big risk and we don't want to stop the show in the middle of the season, Lindsay answered.

-I have a great idea!, Mark said excited.We can create a fake zombie apocalypse!

-What do you mean by that?, Lindsay asked.

-Look, I have 80 per cent of the area of ​​an island, if we buy or rent the other 20 per cent, hire actors to play the zombies and stage the island as if under the power of zombies we will just need to find a way to hide cameras all over the island and the set will be ready.Now, about the participants we can rent a boat, which will be turned into a transfer boat and...

Before Mark finishes his sentence Lindsay interapted him

-Hold on Mark!Do you think that we have the money to do any of this?The chanel doesn't have that much money.

-I think that it is definitely worth it.Ideas such as this are becoming top reality shows and they always pay off the production cost.

-Well, you are right but what if it doesn't?What are we gonna do in that case?

-I don't know but we should better risk it than lose the oportunity!, Mark insisted.

-Okay, okay.Since you want it so much you can ask Bob, our financial manager.

-Okay, I am going to his office right now!, Mark said and seemed to be really excited.

-I don't know Mark, Bob said once he listened to Mark's idea.We can try setting it up but if the cost gets to high and we still aren't able to find sponsors at the time we will have to stop.

-Oh, my god!Thank you so much Bob.Furthermore, if it's a big succes we can also sell it on Netflix, Mark said thrilled.

-Now that you are done with thanking me you need to get to work,Bob said.Find whose is the other 20 per cent of the island and how much money the want for renting it to us

-Okay, I'll do it as soon as I get to my offfice, Mark said.

Before heading to his office, Mark stopped by the conference room to let the other members of the creative team know that they were going to materialize the idea.After doing it, he went straight to his office to contact the owner of the other part of the island

After 3 hours of searching, he finally found him and had a deal with him, so he ran to Bob's office excited.

-I made a deal with him!

-With who?

-With the owner of the 20 per cent!

-Oh, really for how much?

-For only 700 dollars a month!

-That's great!I also did domething about the reality.

-What?

-I contacted sponsors and by the way the were all positive about it.

-Now the only thing that we need is actors and a presenter.

-Ok.We will think about that tomorrow.

-Why not now?

-Mark, haven't you checked the clock?It's 9p.m

-Oh, I did't realise how fast time passed.

-Anyway, we have to go now.See you tomorrow.

The next day Mark woke up excited to go to work, got dressed, caught the bus and went to work.He was so excited that he didn't realise that he had even arrived 20 minutes earlier.The first thing he did as soon as he got to his office was to search for a troupe to participate in the reality as the zombies.Finding a troupe of actors wasn't that hard, but finding one that is available to work 24/7 for not a big amount of money is.However, after a lot of searching Mark managed to find a troupe of 35 actors that were available to work 24/7 and only costed 20,000$ a month.They were called:the amateurs.

While Mark was working on finding the actors, Lindsay and Mikayla were trying to find a presenter that would be relatable for the reality show and Jennie was searching for items that are going to be used as decor.

Fast forward a month later:Everything was done, the island was decorated, the troupe was ready and had made great costumes and the cameras were put.Now the reality show was ready to get started.The creative team had found a way of making some people end up i n the island all of a sudden and it was genius.They put 15 people in a ferryboat to supposedly take them on a tour of some abandoned islands.Everyone was on the ferryboat and things were going as planed.Now it was time for the ferryboat to supposedly sink.The people in the studio were watching everything from hidden cameras in the ferryboat.

Τhe critical moment of the the sank had just happened and everyone in the studio was relieved that everything went well.On the other hand, the people from the ferryboat were swimming to the island to save their lives, confused of what had just happened.They were not wrong, a ferryboat can't just sink without any reason.But that wasn't the point at the time.After everyone reached the island, they started counting each other and realised that everyone was there except the captain, so they thought that he was dead.

They started exploring the island but they quickly saw the''zombies''.The second that they realised that those creatures were zombies, they all started running as fast as they could and the zombies chased them.Most of the players found a place to hide from the zombies, but 2 of them were eliminated-the''zombies''bit them-.

At the same time, everyone at the studio of chanel 23 was watching everyone in real time and the editor had already started editing the scenes because the first episode was going to be realesed the next week.

-Congrats Mark!Your idea is actually working out and everyone on social media is talking about the show, said Bob.

-Thanks Bob, said Mark.I told you it was going to be a good idea.

-Yes, you really did.I can't wait until the premiere.Anyways, what about the 2 players that were eliminated?

-Oh, don't worry about it.The actors kidnapped them and when everyone is asleep we are going to send a ferryboat to transfer them back where they will be given their compensation.

-Okay then.Cheers to the new show!

[Everyone]-Cheers!

Days and days passed and everyone on the island was starting to create safe spaces to hide from the zombies, collecting any knd of food in any way they could and starting to send help messages.Also, the show was premiering the next day and everyone in chanel 23 was working really hard.

-You might not believe what I am going to say but we have already made over 500k dollars from the ads.Everyone is finding your idea impressive!, said Linddsay to Mark.

-Marvelous!I can't wait to see how will the premier go. Anyways, any news from the island?, Mark answered.

-Nothing interesting for the time being.

-Oh, okay.

The time for the show to premier had finally arrived.Everyone at chanel 23 had sat down and opened the Tv, waiting for the show to start.The show started and everything was going great but Mark was anxious until the show ended.And in the end, if it wasn't likeable to people then it would be his fault.

However, the show was a big succes and was so popular that they had to overwork and produce 4 episodes per week instead of 2.

2 months passed and chanel 23 had gotten multiple requests from Netflix and other streaming platforms for selling the show, but chanel 23 denied. Actually, they were about to accept it at first but Bob showed them the statistics and explained them that they would be making way more money if they kept making seasons.

On the other hand, the people in the island were searching for any way for them to leave the island because the ''zombies'' were getting more and more agressive every day.They were searching for any item that could help them make a small boat so that they can leave.But one day, while they were trying to get small pieces of wood from the top of trees, one of them found a tiny camera.

-Guys!He instantly shouted.Come and check this out!

Once everyone found him he showed them the camera.

-What the heck is that?, He said

-Well it seems that something weird is going on, another player said.But, if this is just an abandoned island why would it have cameras?

-It is not an abandoned island!How could we believe that an island was ruled by zombies and that the ferryboat just sank for no reason.It is all conected.

People who worked at chanel 23 were also shocked at that time, because they never expected the particpants to find the cameras.

-Oh, my god!,said Mark devastated.What are we going to do now?

-The only thing we can do at the moment is to send a ferryboat to pick them up and give them loads of money so that they won't send us to jail for what we did, said Jennie.

-You are right, said Lindsay.We have no time.The ferryboat needs to be sent there in 1 hour max!

The ferryboat was sent and everyone arrived to chanel 23 the moment they arrived.

-Why are we here?, one player said.

-You are here because we would like to inform you that the ferryboat sunk was staged, the zombies were actors and as you have noticed there are cameras.Now, the reason for the cameras is that you were being filmed and participated in a reality show called:The zombie apoclypse , said Mark.

-What?, everyone gasped.

-Well that's not only unbelievabe but also not legal.We are going to sue you and after everything that you've done we will ovbiously win the court, said one and evryone agreed.

-Wait a minute guys, we can give 20k dollars to each participant of the reality so that you won't sue us and we will stop the show, Mark suggested but nobody agreed.

The next days, all the participants sued chanel 23 and all the episodes from the show were deleted from chanel 23's website.Also, there was a court testimony that would take place in 1 month.

That month was the hardest for everyone who worked for chanel 23, especialy Lindsay, because she was the one to suggest the idea for a reality show where the players wouldn't know about.

1 month later: the big day had come and many people showed up at court, whether to support chanel 23 or the participants.

However the participants won the court testimony and the penalty towards chanel 23 was a big fine.The fine was 5 million dollars and in order to pay that fine the founders of chanel 23 had to sell the chanel and unemploy everyone who was working there.

It seems that this idea didn't work out very well in the end