Living Dead Weekend With Joe Shelby

The floorboards of horror history creak a little louder when Joe Shelby pulls up a chair. We’re recording from Living Dead Weekend 2024, surrounded by friends, fans, and the kind of stories that only happen when a cult classic like Dawn of the Dead becomes a lifelong passport. Joe opens up about working within George Romero’s orbit and why that spirit of resourceful, human filmmaking still guides the way we write, cast, and shoot today.

We trade neighborhood hellos for set secrets, then dig into the art of homage without the handcuffs. You’ll hear how a battered writing desk once owned by Romero turned into a ritual for screenplays, contest wins, and a published zombie rom-com that winks at horror canon while building its own world. Joe walks us through Green Man, a scrappy indie that flips an urban legend from threat to guardian, repurposes road closures into story stakes, and fills the frame with living dead alumni playing against type. It’s a masterclass in practical effects, quick pivots, and the magic that happens when your poster star is you, sprinting to the tunnel for the perfect shot.

Then we turn the screws on fear itself. Inspired by Creepshow’s final segment, we dive into why cockroaches haunt the collective gut more than spiders ever could, and how sound, scale, and suggestion make small creatures feel apocalyptic. Along the way, we swap con-floor lore, celebrate generous fans who bring rare discs and red coats, and underline a simple rule: horror thrives when the community does. If you love Romero, indie filmmaking, practical effects, or the strange warmth of a genre family that remembers your name, this conversation hits home.

If this sparked an idea—or a shiver—follow the show, share it with a horror friend, and leave a quick review. Your notes help us keep the lights low and the stories sharp.

Chapters

• 0:00 Reunion At Living Dead Weekend
• 0:26 Community And Fan Stories
• 3:03 George Romero’s Influence
• 4:50 Screenwriting Wins And Zombie Rom-Com
• 6:31 Casting Legends Across Universes
• 7:45 Green Man: Zombies Playing Humans
• 9:28 Indie Production And Effects Work
• 10:00 New Ideas: Cockroach Horror
• 11:27 Wrap-Up And Staying Connected

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:02

Sam Fish the Fishbowl here at Living Dead Weekend 2024 with Joe Shelby Living Dawn the Dead legend. How's it going, Joe? Awesome, awesome. Now, most people don't know that Joe and me know each other oddly enough outside of work. Outside of the convention, I should say, through part of job that I had. So I used to run into Joe all all the time.

unknown: 0:43

Right in my neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01: 0:45

Right, right. And and I I I tell my my manager, I'm like, he he's a he's a star. Icon. This is in Dawn of the Dead. But you know, it's great to be here at Living Dead weekend again, see all all my all my close, you know, Living Dead friends and everything. It's a family. It's a family, exactly. Exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 1:33

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 1:59

Oh wow. Very cool. That's awesome. Very talented.

SPEAKER_04: 2:13

Didn't charge it.

SPEAKER_01: 2:28

Philadelphia. Okay.

SPEAKER_02: 2:38

He came here with a red coat for us. Didn't charge him. Same deal.

SPEAKER_05: 2:47

DVD, the movie. So this guy is like just a nice fan. Tree. Tree is fair.

SPEAKER_00: 2:57

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 3:03

What what was it like, I mean, working with George? What was what was George like, you know, and you know, while not filming, you know, while while filming, while not filming.

SPEAKER_00: 3:50

Right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 3:57

Yes, yes, I because I'm I'm one of them. I I I I remember my my dad is the the pretty much the the main guy who got me into, you know, everything that I'm into. And I remember he started me on a regimen, you know, of of movies that he said for your education, you know, you have to like see, you know, certain films to get an appreciation. And you know, my dad can't name names like you know, I can and everything. And he knows some names through association, but you know, I I like I I got into it way, way more than he ever did. And, you know, I I I I like to say like I became like a George Ramiro aficionado, you know, of his films. And like I told you, and like I talk about on my interviews all the time, how I have his desk and you know, every screenplay I ever wrote after going to Point Park for screenwriting had been on that desk. And I I've like now achieved over 45 different screenwriting awards. I have two scripts published on Amazon, and one of them is a zombie comedy that I sent, I think I sent to you, that I'm still I'm still editing, and I need a co-writer.

SPEAKER_02: 5:21

Yes, uh I still have it awarding us.

SPEAKER_01: 5:24

Yeah, yeah. And uh it's it's it's it's a wacky, you know, very much adult, you know, zom zombie rom-com. And since, you know, I I went in a competition and it got published on Amazon, I own the rights to it for life. And I can talk about, you know, all the jokes in it and everything, and you know, the the evolution of it. But um, you know, uh the goal was to uh combine all the zombie movie universes into one film. And like we like uh you read it and we we talked about that, you know, I I I do a play on names, you know, and you know, I have I have Eugene Clark in there, who was the big daddy zombie in Land of the Dead, and I have him just as Eugene. But he's a gas station zombie, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 6:22

Yeah, you know who he is just from Sam.

SPEAKER_01: 6:25

Right, right. And I have I have a role for Alan Alan Truttman, who played the Parman zombie and Return of Living there. And his name is Alan Parman, and he's a homeless zombie, and he's holding a cardboard sign that says we'll work for brains.

SPEAKER_02: 6:43

That's funny. My movie I did Green Man, Green Man Time. I have um Tyra Shun in it, little girl from Night Living. Right, right. She plays a judge. I have nine zombies. Well, I shouldn't say all zombies because I wasn't a zombie. Nick Teller wasn't a zombie, but we're in it, and uh we have uh the my killer was next to the uh guy in the bathing suit, right? So he gets squibbed, but he's my killer in a movie, and Clayton Hill and Sharon Hill, we're detectives. Um Tommy Lafitte, you know who he is, right? Yeah, yeah. He's a detective also. Um but yeah, we shot it. I had all original locations, so um it was really cool because the road was closed.

unknown: 7:51

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 7:51

So I had to have a reason to know that the killer was trapping everybody because the road was closed. Right. Kids were sneaking in to go to the green man town. So what happened was uh I said, well, green man's a good man, he's not a bad guy. So I switched it around to where he was the he was the savior of the kids over the killer. So it worked out good, but my uh green man was uh Bill Lang. He was uh the Mothman in the Mothman prophecies. Oh, awesome! So he was my dream man. Um but yeah, I got like I said, Jim Krutz in it also, uh a lot of zombies, and they're all playing humans. Awesome, awesome. And uh on the cover, the uh guy in the tunnel, when I was editing the movie, they said, we don't have a we don't have anybody in front of the tunnel. So I had to go down, it's me in the tunnel. In front of the tunnel. But it's uh just the spur of the moment thing, bada bing, bada boom, right in the covering style. It was cool.

SPEAKER_01: 9:23

Awesome, awesome. And any other projects in the works?

SPEAKER_02: 9:28

I don't have anything right now. My friend Mike Migliori has something he wants to do. So last thing I worked on with him was I did the effects. Okay, so and I did I act and I act a little bit in it. So uh small part. Right, but uh yeah, I did the effects. So I don't know what I'll do on this one. But whatever it is, right, right.

SPEAKER_01: 10:00

I I I I've actually been working on a few new things I'd love to possibly send to you, see what you think. Cool, yeah, awesome, awesome. I uh I have uh a script that's inspired by the last segment in Creek Show with the cockroaches.

SPEAKER_04: 10:20

Uh yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_01: 10:23

That's all I'm gonna say, cockroaches.

SPEAKER_02: 10:26

Yeah. That's all you need to say.

SPEAKER_01: 10:29

Right. I I honestly thought to myself when I came up with the idea, I'm like, you know, what which bug do people really, you know, hate the most? And you know, obviously there's been arachnophobia, you know, and all and all these different, you know, spider movies. But but, you know, when it comes to spiders versus cockroaches, you know, I personally think I could deal with a spider a lot better than a cockroach, you know. Obviously it would have to depend on the size of the spider, you know, but uh I didn't mean to interrupt you, but when I lived in Florida, yeah, they called them palmetto bugs.

SPEAKER_02: 11:16

I said, no, they're giant flying roaches. Right, right. Everybody don't know what a roach is. I said, I do.

SPEAKER_01: 11:24

Right.

SPEAKER_02: 11:25

It's a flying roach.

SPEAKER_01: 11:26

Right, right. You know, the most disgusting, you know, but ugly things, and they can survive nuclear fallout.

SPEAKER_02: 11:35

Really? Yeah, and they're older than Cher.

SPEAKER_01: 11:39

Right, right. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: 11:44

Yeah. Amazing.

SPEAKER_01: 11:47

Awesome, awesome. Well, Joe, it has been a pleasure having you take the time to swim in the bowl with me again. Cool. I enjoyed it. It's been a pleasure. Well, uh definitely touch base and thank you so much for.

SPEAKER_02: 12:02

Stay in touch, send me some uh treatments.

SPEAKER_01: 12:04

I definitely will, I definitely will. It works for me. Awesome, awesome. Joe Shelby, everyone. Everybody have a good night, stay safe, and a blessed night.