Script File

Cavendish, Pepys, and the Zombie Kiss of 1666

Samuel Pepys, amateur scientist and Navy Secretary, has lost his wife, Elizabeth, to the London plague of 1666. Margaret Cavendish's anti-plague julep is a sure remedy for this scourge, but it requires generous amounts of Sam's blood. The plan is to employ Robert Boyle's pump to drain the poor Navy Secretary dry -- after Sam's carnality has been brought to a boil by the blandishments of Aphra Behn and others. Elizabeth Pepys, looking much the zombie, rides to the rescue of her beleaguered husband and a flurry of neck biting ensues, ending in a relaxing evening at the famed Hell Fire Club.

  • James Fitzmaurice
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Screenplay
  • Number of Pages:
    10
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • First-time Screenwriter:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • International Independent Film Awards

    Award Winner
  • Hollywood Blood Horror Festival
    Hollywood, CA
  • Rocky Mountain International Film Festival
    Silverthorne, Colorado
  • Independent Shorts Awards
    Encino, CA
  • Hollywood Forever Film Festival
    Hollywood, CA
    December 8, 2019
    Quarter Finalist
  • NYC Indie Film Awards
    New York City
    September 21, 2019
    Selected
  • Marina Del Rey Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    October 16, 2019
    Selected
  • LA Live Film Fest

    November 1, 2019
    Selected
  • Florence Film Awards
    August 3, 2019
    Florence, Italy
  • Florence Film Awards
    Florence, Italy
    August 3, 2019
    Selected
Writer Biography - James Fitzmaurice

James Fitzmaurice, Emeritus Professor of English at Northern Arizona University, Honorary Fellow at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Retirement writing: "Barack Obama Remembers a Young Poet" and "Margaret Cavendish, Virginia Woolf, and The Cypriot Goddess Natura" (performed in Nicosia at the CVAR Museum in April of 2017). Producer - "The Farce of the Fisherman," performed in Nicosia at the CVAR Museum in March of 2018.

Additional pre-retirement activities: Post-doctoral Fellow, Yale University 1983; Guest Professor, University of Tuebingen, 1986; Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, 1996.

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Writer Statement

For this short, think Ben Elton's "Upstart Crow" meets "Young Frankenstein."