A FeaturE HorroR AntHOlogy
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
8 Stories - 4 directoRs
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 family ritual as he tells her scary stories, and we slowly discover that she is transforming into the Jersey Devil. Will Grandpa stop the transformation from happening? Or make sure that it does?
This is Exit Zero, a horror anthology set in the SCARIEST state in America. New Jersey. Our stories explore not just the Jersey Devil, but… Jersey drivers, the boardwalk at night, the Pine Barrens, pharmaceutical companies, even Einstein's Brain, which actually went missing for a time in Princeton, and more...
ORIGINS
Exit Zero is being developed by 10 members of the Garden State Screenwriters, a writing group of accomplished writers, directors and actors that's been continuously running for 25 years.
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.
​
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 this strange, amazing state we love. We invite you to join us on the ride to… EXIT 0, the very last stop on the Garden State Parkway.
8 stories - 4 directors
MEET THE DIRECTORS
Jenny Turner Hall
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, 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.
Previous Work
Director
Melissa Mars
Melissa Mars is an international award-winning actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and filmmaker based in NY. Born and raised 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 compilation.
Mars began writing and filming at age 13. She made her official directorial debut music video with “Love Machine,” for Universal Music in 2007, and co-directed the animated short Army of Love. She has since directed and co-directed all her music videos and narrative short films.
Her dystopian short film The Last Touch has won multiple awards, including at the Miami Sci-Fi Film Festival, and her award-winning short screenplay My Ancestors’ Song is in development as a feature. Her filmmaking has been praised for its powerful, heartfelt, thought-provoking, and disturbing storytelling.
Previous Work
Director
Vicki Speegle
Vicki Speegle is a writer, film fanatic, and ice cream addict. Her documentary In the Night I Remember Your Name is currently airing on PBS. Featuring Academy Award winner Marcia Gay Harden, the film follows Joyce Speegle’s struggle with faith in the wake of Alzheimer’s. Vicki’s infatuation with storytelling began as a kid when her gay pastor Mom took her into work and Vicki fell in love with the typewriter. Since then she’s worked odd jobs to support her writing, from tracking submarines in the US Navy to her NYU internship with the editor of Ken Burns’ The West. Vicki’s script Loved Ones was developed at Amazon Studios where it was finalist for Best Screenplay of the Year, and her credits include some really rhythmic radio scripts for jazz great Wynton Marsalis. Vicki's work has placed in the finals of the Sundance Screenplay Lab, among others.
Previous Work
Director
Mark Ward
Mark Ward'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’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.
Previous Work
Director
MEET THE PRODUCERS
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.
Lisa donmall-Reeve
Producer
Previous Work
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 an award-winning children’s book author, 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.
Previous Work
Melissa Mars
Producer
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. Mars made her directorial debut with the music video Love Machine in 2007 and her producer debut with the animated musical tale Army of Love, which she co-directed. Broadcast on major French networks like M6 and NRJ 12, this project marked the launch of Made in Mars Studios. 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.
Previous Work
Vicki Speegle
Producer
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. Vicki’s screenplay Loved Ones was developed at Amazon Studios where it was a finalist for Best Screenplay of the Year. Her company 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.
Previous Work
MEET THE CREATORS
10 members of the Garden State Screenwriters, a group of accomplished writers, directors and actors that's been continuously running for 25 years, 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.
(in alphabetical order)
Meet the creators...if you dare...
dino A. Barlaam
Dino Barlaam is a teacher, published comic book writer, and an award-winning screenwriter. Dino's screenplays have placed as a finalist or semifinalist in several worldwide competitions. Dino’s short script In the Running was produced and aired on the PBS series, 24 Frames. One of his latest short screenplays, The Legend, was made into a film and won Best New Jersey Film in the 2024 Grindhouse Nights Horror Film Festival. Another one of his shorts, Just Like Selina Kyle, is currently in production.
Richard Stephen Bell
Richard Stephen Bell is a screenwriter, actor and filmmaker. His screenplays have placed in such prestigious competitions as the Academy Awards’ Nicholl Fellowships for Screenwriting, Austin Film Festival, Final Draft Big Break, BlueCat Screenplay Contest, Creative World Awards and Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope. He also wrote, produced and starred in the award-winning short, Bartleby 2013, based on Herman Melville's short story.
Kurt Fried
Kurt Fried is one of the writers of Viral Vignettes, an award-winning series of short films starring Fred Melamed and Barry Bostwick, among many others. Kurt is also a two-time JEOPARDY! champion (the actual show, not just watching in his pajamas), a two-time finalist in the Austin Film Festival screenwriting competition, a children’s book author, and an award-winning advertising creative.
Melissa Mars
Melissa Mars is an international award-winning actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and filmmaker based in NY. Born and raised in France with Algerian roots, she has been described by Le Monde as “Tinker Bell transformed by Tim Burton.” Her work—spanning her songwriting on Universal Music-released albums, projects such as the award-winning dystopian short The Last Touch, and the acclaimed screenplay My Ancestors’ Song—has been praised as “Powerful,” “Heartfelt,” and “Thought-provoking.”
Shannon MeeHan
Shannon Meehan was born in Englewood, NJ and grew up in Hawthorne, NJ. She is the youngest of three children. Her love for acting began during high school and was solidified during her senior year when she was cast as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. Since then, she has pursued acting, film production, and screenwriting, and her work has been shown at film festivals in multiple parts of the world.
Melissa Mitchell
Melissa Mitchell served as associate producer for The Legend and production assistant for the comedy Masters, both award-winning short movies. She read more than 100 scripts for the Austin Film Festival Screenplay & Teleplay Competition, identifying 2 semifinalists. A short she wrote, The Interview, received honorable mention on MoviePoet.com and was subsequently produced by two independent filmmakers. She currently pays the bills as a medical editor for a global advertising agency and calculates that she’s read more than a billion words so far.
William d. Prystauk
Prystauk (Billy Crash) is an award-winning screenwriter, novelist, filmmaker, and educator, as well as a published poet and academic. He is co-host of The Last Knock, which Entertainment Weekly called one of “Five Essential Podcasts for Horror” fans. He has written for a season of television's Macabre Theatre. Bloodletting went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the L.A. Neo Noir Novel, Film, & Script Festival. Consent, book five of his award-winning Kink Noir crime thriller series, came out in the summer of 2024 and he is currently working on his second horror novel.
Nat Rosen
Nat Rosen is a lifetime cinephile and has been writing for the last fifteen years. He wrote and produced the short film To The Lees which was shown in multiple film festivals across the nation. He is currently a teacher at the Montclair Kimberly Academy where he runs the MKA Radio Drama Project, a program where students participate in all aspects of the production of an annual 6-episode narrative podcast, including writing, acting, directing, and editing.
Vicki Speegle
Vicki Speegle worked odd jobs to support her writing, from tracking submarines in the US Navy to her NYU internship with the editor of Ken Burns’ The West. Her script Loved Ones was developed at Amazon Studios where it was finalist for Best Screenplay of the Year. Vicki's work has placed in the top five of Bluecat and the finals of the Sundance Screenplay Lab, Austin Film Fest, and Zoetrope, among others.
Mark Ward
Mark Ward started writing and making films at age 12. He is the writer and director of multiple short films that have earned numerous awards and festival selections including the comedy, Masters. A feature screenplay he co-wrote, The Best Version of You, was a semifinalist at Screencraft and Final Draft, and an Official Selection at over 20 festivals. It won Best Fresh Voice at the Female Eye Film Festival, Best Feature Screenplay at the New York International Screenplay Awards, and earned a spot at the prestigious Cinestory Fellowship.
FAQ
How can I be part of this film?
You can make a 100% tax-deductible donation to support a unique horror film and have your name included in the Special Thanks of the movie credits!
Why is my donation 100% tax-deductible?
Exit Zero is an official selection of Stowe Story Labs, a nonprofit dedicated to helping emerging filmmakers develop their work. As a fiscal sponsor, Stowe Story Labs accepts tax-deductible donations on our behalf, ensuring these contributions go directly toward the production of the film.
Because donations are made to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, they are tax-deductible where legally allowed. Stowe Story Labs retains a small administrative fee (up to 9.5%) to oversee and process donations, and the remainder directly supports our film.
Will I receive a receipt for my tax-deductible donation?
Yes! When you donate through Stowe Story Labs, you’ll receive an official receipt for your records, along with our heartfelt thanks in the credits of the film.
Note: Contributions made directly to us or in exchange for goods/services (e.g., product placement) are not tax-deductible.
Can I invest instead of donating?
Absolutely. If you’re interested in becoming an investor, we’d love to discuss the opportunities and risks with you. Please email us for more information.
What other ways could I get a credit in this movie?
All donors through Stowe Story Labs will receive a Special Thanks credit. For other credits, such as Associate Producer, Co-Executive Producer, or Executive Producer, please contact us for more information about credit tiers and investment opportunities.
Is there a minimum or maximum I can donate?
We suggest a minimum donation of $25, which qualifies you for a Special Thanks credit in the film. There is no maximum donation limit. For substantial contributions (e.g., over $5,000), please email us so we can discuss how best to handle that.
What if I want to be part of the cast or crew?
We’re always excited to collaborate with talented individuals. If you’re a NJ local or can work as one, and you’re interested in joining the Exit Zero team as part of the cast or crew, please send us an email with your resume, reel, or portfolio. Let us know how you’d like to contribute, and we’ll get back to you if opportunities are available.
