EXIT ZERO

LOGLINE

Horror Anthology Feature

A grandfather weaves together terrifying tales of New Jersey for his granddaughter as they drive down the Garden State Parkway to what awaits them at... Exit Zero.

SYNOPSIS

A grandfather drives his 13-year old granddaughter down the Garden State Parkway to perform a harrowing ritual handed down from mother to daughter for centuries. Along the way they perform their own ritual as he tells her scary stories, and we slowly discover that she is transforming into the Jersey Devil. Will Grandpa stop it from happening? Or make sure it does?

Artistic Statement

The Garden State Screenwriters have been running for 25 years. Filled with accomplished writers, directors and actors, we have frequently helped each other produce short films, which led to the realization that we have everything we need to make an amazing feature. All members were invited to write a short horror inspired by one of the exits on the Garden State Parkway. 25 scripts were submitted. 8 were chosen and developed. The group as a whole developed the story arc that ties our anthology together. And as EXIT ZERO developed, we realized it had become about transformations and how scary they are. New Jersey is always transforming. What was once Lenape territory is now a boardwalk, or the first movie studio, or a pharmaceutical company. We have crafted a unique, terrifying horror script that can be made on a reasonable budget, and we are excited to bring to the screen our stories about the terrifying transformations within ourselves, and this strange, amazing state we love. We invite you on the journey to getting it made. Join us on the ride to… EXIT ZERO, the very last stop on the Garden State Parkway.

PITCH DECK

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DIRECTORS’ REEL

TEAM BIOS

Lisa Donmall-Reeve. Producer

Lisa migrated from a successful and extensive career in theatre, which armed her with all the essential cross transferable skills for producing. She is a true collaborator with a passion for storytelling and has over two decades of production experience. Her company, LDR Creative, plays to its strengths to make an impact. Lisa has been awarded over 15 major film festival awards since the company was founded. Among its celebrated productions are the award-winning short films drama Early Mourning, Double Exposure, the feature documentary Uprooted: The Journey of Jazz Dance, now streaming on MAX, which has garnered numerous accolades from the Rhode Island Flickers and the Pan African Film Festival, and feature documentary ‘Susan Feniger. FORKED’ (due for its US release). She has several feature length projects in development (both scripted and un-scripted) and looks forward to creating, collaborating, and producing the current and future generation’s vision in film.

Kurt Fried. Producer

Kurt is an accomplished, award-winning advertising creative, overseeing the launch of numerous campaigns for everything from big pharma to UNICEF. He is a two-time finalist of the Austin Film Festival screenwriting competition. He is also the award-winning children’s book author of Tooth Fairies and Jetpacks, and a two-time Jeopardy! champion. He co-wrote and helped fundraise for the comedy feature Viral Vignettes, starring legends such as Barry Bostwick, Fred Melamed, Robert Wuhl, and Renee Taylor. The film premiered theatrically and on Tubi in 2023, winning awards at various festivals, including Best Narrative Feature at the Crown Point International Film Festival.

Melissa Mars. Producer and Director

Melissa Mars is an international award-winning actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and filmmaker based in NY. Born in France with Algerian heritage, she gained fame for her pop music career with Universal Music and her lead role in the smash-hit musical Mozart the Rock Opera. In the U.S., she appeared alongside John Travolta in From Paris with Love and had her song “Beautiful” featured on Coca-Cola Music’s 52 Songs of Happiness. Mars made her directorial debut with the music video Love Machine in 2007 and her producer debut with the animated musical Army of Love, which she co-directed, broadcast on French networks like M6 and NRJ 12. Her work, praised as powerful, heartfelt, and thought-provoking, includes music videos and narrative short films such as the award-winning dystopian short The Last Touch, now streaming on Alex Proyas’ (The Crow, iRobot) platform Vidiverse. Currently, Mars is collaborating on the horror anthology Exit Zero and developing My Ancestors’ Song into a feature film.

Vicki Speegle. Producer and Director

Vicki is producer and editor of the documentary In the Night I Remember Your Name, currently airing on PBS. Featuring Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden, the film was a Finalist for the Screencraft Film Fund and nominated for Best Documentary at Kevin Smith's SmodCastle Film Festival. Mirror Images also produced Love’s Baby Soft, starring Alexa Swinton (Maestro, And Just Like That…). The film was nominated for Best Comedy Short at Kevin Smith’s SmodCastle Film Fest and was an official selection of several festivals, including Geena Davis’s Bentonville Film Fest.

Mark Ward. Director

Mark's plans to become a doctor or lawyer evaporated in middle school upon watching Pulp Fiction. He convinced his teachers to let him submit videos for every assignment, all of which received perfect grades and were also banned from school grounds. Mark and co-writer/co-producer Shannon Meehan’s feature screenplay, The Best Version of You, was a semifinalist in Screencraft and an Official Selection at over 20 festivals, winning Best Fresh Voice at the Female Eye Film Festival and Best Feature Screenplay at the New York International Screenplay Awards, and earning a spot at the prestigious Cinestory Fellowship. A camera and lighting test for The Best Version of You became the film short, Masters, which was accepted into dozens of festivals wordlwide including SCAD, Sedona International Film Festival, Woods Hole, and SENE. His jiu-jitsu videos have amassed over 100 million views across platforms, with Jiu Jitsu 101 alone garnering more than 1 million views on YouTube.

Jenny Turner Hall. Director

A Garden State Screenwriters alum, Jenny grew up in Virginia and her first attempt at a podcast was a two-bit mic and a Panasonic cassette recorder. Years later she would become a pioneer in audio fiction. She is an Executive Producer, Writer, and Director of the Peabody-winning series The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel (2021), which Vulture deemed one of “The Ten Essential Fiction Podcasts That Shaped the Genre.” It became the second podcast in history to win a Peabody, and one of the first podcasts to crossover into television. She went on to write and direct an original series for Marvel starring Robert Patrick, Wastelanders: Wolverine. The show became the number one audio fiction podcast in America and around the world. She now creates shows that can exist as podcast, TV show, book, video game, and/or theater. Her stories draw heavily from her teenage kids, her Virginia roots, and her love of the underdog.

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