What do you do when you get trapped in an abandoned building during a zombie apocalypse? Write a song about it, of course.
ABC iView have today revealed the exclusive new miniseries Soundtrack To Our Teenage Zombie Apocalypse (STOTZA for short). The 10 half-hour-episode feature follows four teenage musicians on a mission to win triple j Unearthed High, with a score from some of the country’s best new artists.
Starring newcomers Mina-Siale, Nick Annas, Ruby Archer and Isaiah Galloway, bandmates Ella and Nick find themselves trapped in the ABC building which is crawling with zombies. Living off vending machine snacks, the two use the time to perfect their entry into the songwriting competition that serves as a rite of passage. Everything changes when Ella’s nemesis, Veronica, and Nick’s crush, Locksley, turn up and their chances of escape and winning Unearthed High fade.
Shot entirely in the ABC building, STOTZA captures the challenging emotions that accompanied the COVID lockdowns. It’s a story of friendship, resilience and creativity through the lives of four relatable teens with a shared goal that may ultimately lead them to freedom. The series is soundtracked by local acts including Ruby Fields, Caroline and Claude, The Rions, HYG, Teenage Joans, Beddy Rays, Smol Fish, Fritz, Maia, Vacation Club and more.
STOTZA is an ABC Original created and developed by Executive Producer Mary-Ellen Mullane and Supervising Producer Lyndal Mebberson. Director Imogen McCluskey’s first feature film Suburban Wildlife was runner-up for the Audience Award at Sydney Film Festival and she was honoured Debut Director for the London Australian Film Festival. The team is completed by writers Adam Bigum, who was a head-writer for ABC ME’s Definitely Not News, and Hannah Samuel, who wrote the Wentworth: The Fall Girl podcast for Audible.
Soundtrack To Our Teenage Zombie Apocalypse launches today and will broadcast weeknights at 6:30pm on ABC ME, with the first five episodes available from 6:30pm Monday 22 August. Watch the pilot HERE.
