Living Dead Weekend With Joe Shelby

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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.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_01 (00:02):
Sam Fish the Fishbowl here at Living Dead
Weekend 2024 with Joe ShelbyLiving Dawn the Dead legend.
How's it going, Joe?

(00:26):
Awesome, awesome.
Now, most people don't know thatJoe and me know each other oddly
enough outside of work.
Outside of the convention, Ishould say, through part of job
that I had.
So I used to run into Joe allall the time.

unknown (00:43):
Right in my neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 (00:45):
Right, right.
And and I I I tell my mymanager, I'm like, he he's a
he's a star.

(01:05):
Icon.
This is in Dawn of the Dead.
But you know, it's great to behere at Living Dead weekend
again, see all all my all myclose, you know, Living Dead
friends and everything.
It's a family.
It's a family, exactly.
Exactly.

(01:27):
Right.

SPEAKER_00 (01:33):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 (01:59):
Oh wow.
Very cool.
That's awesome.
Very talented.

SPEAKER_04 (02:13):
Didn't charge it.

SPEAKER_01 (02:28):
Philadelphia.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (02:38):
He came here with a red coat for us.
Didn't charge him.
Same deal.

SPEAKER_05 (02:47):
DVD, the movie.
So this guy is like just a nicefan.
Tree.
Tree is fair.

SPEAKER_00 (02:57):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 (03:03):
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, whilewhile filming, while not
filming.

SPEAKER_00 (03:50):
Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 (03:57):
Yes, yes, I because I'm I'm one of them.
I I I I remember my my dad isthe the pretty much the the main
guy who got me into, you know,everything that I'm into.
And I remember he started me ona regimen, you know, of of
movies that he said for youreducation, you know, you have to

(04:21):
like see, you know, certainfilms to get an appreciation.
And you know, my dad can't namenames like you know, I can and
everything.
And he knows some names throughassociation, but you know, I I
like I I got into it way, waymore than he ever did.

(04:42):
And, you know, I I I I like tosay like I became like a George
Ramiro aficionado, you know, ofhis films.
And like I told you, and like Italk about on my interviews all
the time, how I have his deskand you know, every screenplay I
ever wrote after going to PointPark for screenwriting had been

(05:03):
on that desk.
And I I've like now achievedover 45 different screenwriting
awards.
I have two scripts published onAmazon, and one of them is a
zombie comedy that I sent, Ithink I sent to you, that I'm
still I'm still editing, and Ineed a co-writer.

SPEAKER_02 (05:21):
Yes, uh I still have it awarding us.

SPEAKER_01 (05:24):
Yeah, yeah.
And uh it's it's it's it's awacky, you know, very much
adult, you know, zom zombierom-com.
And since, you know, I I went ina competition and it got
published on Amazon, I own therights to it for life.

(05:45):
And I can talk about, you know,all the jokes in it and
everything, and you know, thethe evolution of it.
But um, you know, uh the goalwas to uh combine all the zombie
movie universes into one film.
And like we like uh you read itand we we talked about that, you
know, I I I do a play on names,you know, and you know, I have I

(06:09):
have Eugene Clark in there, whowas the big daddy zombie in Land
of the Dead, and I have him justas Eugene.
But he's a gas station zombie,you know.

SPEAKER_02 (06:22):
Yeah, you know who he is just from Sam.

SPEAKER_01 (06:25):
Right, right.
And I have I have a role forAlan Alan Truttman, who played
the Parman zombie and Return ofLiving there.
And his name is Alan Parman, andhe's a homeless zombie, and he's
holding a cardboard sign thatsays we'll work for brains.

SPEAKER_02 (06:43):
That's funny.
My movie I did Green Man, GreenMan 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 allzombies because I wasn't a

(07:04):
zombie.
Nick Teller wasn't a zombie, butwe're in it, and uh we have uh
the my killer was next to the uhguy in the bathing suit, right?
So he gets squibbed, but he's mykiller in a movie, and Clayton

(07:25):
Hill and Sharon Hill, we'redetectives.
Um Tommy Lafitte, you know whohe is, right?
Yeah, yeah.
He's a detective also.
Um but yeah, we shot it.
I had all original locations, soum it was really cool because

(07:50):
the road was closed.

unknown (07:51):
Right.

SPEAKER_02 (07:51):
So I had to have a reason to know that the killer
was trapping everybody becausethe road was closed.
Right.
Kids were sneaking in to go tothe green man town.
So what happened was uh I said,well, green man's a good man,

(08:13):
he's not a bad guy.
So I switched it around to wherehe was the he was the savior of
the kids over the killer.
So it worked out good, but my uhgreen man was uh Bill Lang.
He was uh the Mothman in theMothman prophecies.

(08:36):
Oh, awesome! So he was my dreamman.
Um but yeah, I got like I said,Jim Krutz in it also, uh a lot
of zombies, and they're allplaying humans.
Awesome, awesome.
And uh on the cover, the uh guyin the tunnel, when I was

(09:01):
editing the movie, they said, wedon't have a we don't have
anybody in front of the tunnel.
So I had to go down, it's me inthe tunnel.
In front of the tunnel.
But it's uh just the spur of themoment thing, bada bing, bada
boom, right in the coveringstyle.

(09:21):
It was cool.

SPEAKER_01 (09:23):
Awesome, awesome.
And any other projects in theworks?

SPEAKER_02 (09:28):
I don't have anything right now.
My friend Mike Migliori hassomething he wants to do.
So last thing I worked on withhim was I did the effects.
Okay, so and I did I act and Iact a little bit in it.
So uh small part.

(09:48):
Right, but uh yeah, I did theeffects.
So I don't know what I'll do onthis 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 toyou, see what you think.
Cool, yeah, awesome, awesome.
I uh I have uh a script that'sinspired 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 myselfwhen I came up with the idea,
I'm like, you know, what whichbug do people really, you know,
hate the most?
And you know, obviously there'sbeen arachnophobia, you know,
and all and all these different,you know, spider movies.

(10:49):
But but, you know, when it comesto spiders versus cockroaches,
you know, I personally think Icould deal with a spider a lot
better than a cockroach, youknow.
Obviously it would have todepend on the size of the
spider, you know, but uh Ididn't mean to interrupt you,

(11:12):
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 aroach 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 nuclearfallout.

SPEAKER_02 (11:35):
Really?
Yeah, and they're older thanCher.

SPEAKER_01 (11:39):
Right, right.
Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 (11:44):
Yeah.
Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 (11:47):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, Joe, it has been apleasure having you take the
time to swim in the bowl with meagain.
Cool.
I enjoyed it.
It's been a pleasure.
Well, uh definitely touch baseand 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.