P1- Market Position and Competitors

AMC (American Movie Classics) is a specialty television company that produce TV shows of specific genres or demographic.Popular shows that AMC have distributed including The Walking Dead are Breaking Bad and Mad Men. Generally, AMC is a Male Interest Channel however due to it's television show's high popularity it is both genders that watch it's contents. AMC was founded by a division of Cablevision, the eighth largest cable provider in the United States. This division was a subsidiary, Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC. 

This article discusses competitors for AMC- 
SOURCE: http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/09/16/amc-networks-breaking-good.aspx

Below are some points which best describe the competition AMC is against.

Industry-leading content
The first aspect to consider with any media company that engages primarily in content creation is the content itself. In this regard AMC Networks leads the basic cable television pack. With the three aforementioned drama series and a steadily expanding portfolio of unscripted shows, the small-cap company has built a rather robust portfolio of critically and commercially successful franchises over the years.

The Walking Dead is the most watched show in the history of cable television, as the first episode of its third season opened last October to a record-breaking 10.9 million viewers. This number represented an increase of 50% over the show's season two opening episode. Even more impressive is that the show's third season ended in April on an even higher note, with 12.4 million viewers tuning in to watch the season finale. This indicates that demand forThe Walking Dead is the strongest it's ever been and means that the show's season four premier coming next month should be another high point for AMC channel and could even boost shares in the process.

Growth through new technology
Perhaps one of the company's greatest potential drivers of growth is something that is rarely mentioned: The possibility of offering a streaming service, similar to Time Warner's (NYSE:TWX  ) incredibly popular HBO GO service. While Discovery Communications (NASDAQ:DISCA  ) recently made news when it announced intentions to eventually allow subscribers to view select content online via a monthly access fee, I believe AMC Networks' lineup of content is much better suited for a paid streaming service. There is much more demand among viewers to try to get caught up with the popular drama series that everybody seems to be watching at the moment. The potential is huge because it would open up an entirely new revenue stream for AMC Networks by giving them the ability to further monetize its popular shows before they fall under contract with other streaming services like those of Amazon.com, (NASDAQ: AMZN  ) and Netflix, (NASDAQ: NFLX  ) . While non-traditional media companies like Amazon and Netflix are busy trying to create original content of their own, the former recently tested five new pilots and the latter has found success with its original show House of Cards, AMC Networks is well ahead of the competition with an already exhaustive content lineup that can easily be put to work and made more available via a streaming service.  

The massive success of AMC Networks' content offerings has propelled the company higher in recent years, with shares up more than 80% since September of 2011. Thanks to what is shaping up to be one of the most talked about series finales in Breaking Bad, a final season of Mad Men in 2014, the likely continued success of The Walking Dead and a plethora of new scripted and unscripted series in the works, the company is projected to grow at a feverish pace, with revenue and EPS expected  to grow 11.65% and 45.65%, respectively, in 2013-2014. As long as the company can remain a leader in creating popular and compelling content, the future looks very bright for AMC Networks

P2- Meaning

This scene from the Walking Dead is quite iconic within fans of the show as it is a very emotional scene. In which it is discovered that one of the group members, a 10 year old girl named Sophia, is a zombie and has been locked in a barn by farm owner, Hershell, throughout this period Sophia's mother and the rest of the group have been searching for her, presuming Sophia to still be alive.

Aside from the obvious villain being the zombies, another villain could be interpreted. One interpretation is that Hershell is a villain in this plot as he had harbored zombies in his barn as he still thinks that they are 'alive'. This is villainous to some viewers as this act is careless and stupid as it puts all of the group's lives at risk. Clearly in this scene other group members are against what Hershell is doing, Shane, for example runs forward to proclaim 'Enough is enough'. This is where Shane can be interpreted as the villain, while he is right in disagreeing with the zombies being kept in the barn it is what he does next that is also careless and possibly cruel. Shane opens the locked door to the barn whilst all of the group members are stood by it's entrance. Opening these doors meant to zombies could escape right into the path of the group some of whom are children. This was un-necessary of Sane and he put all of their lives at risk.

Also in this clip it can be deduced that some of the characters change. Shane changes in the sense that he has stepped up to take action instead of just mindlessly following group leader, Rick. By standing against Rick, Shane destroyed Hershell's foolish rules on not killing zombies, an idea that none of the group agree with. However, it is shown that Shane would still not be a good leader like Rick as he still puts the people he claims to care about at risk.
Hershell also changes in this scene as he seems to realise that what he has been doing isn't safe for anybody involved and that it was foolish to hold onto the hopes that these zombies are still alive. Clearly, this change was for the better.

P3 Audience- Questionnaire Results.

In order to collect accurate data for the audience demographic for The Walking Dead, I conducted a questionnaire and handed it out to ten individuals in my daily life. The individuals were of a variety of ages. By conducting a questionnaire I can collect specific data on why a individual either does or doesn't watch the show, the information I have received will enable me to conclude what types of people the show is popular with. 

Below are my results:

I found that eight out of ten people watch TWD, this is a very high percentage and shows how popular the program actually is. Only two out of the ten participants have not watched TWD. 

I asked all of my participants if they had heard of the show, the three options listed in the bar graph are options which i provided for the participants to select from. They were asked to tick the applicable (meaning they could tick more than one). Nine out of the ten people I asked had heard of the show from other people who watch and enjoy TWD. Again, this highlights the program's popularity, so much so that it could be labeled a 'water cooler show', this is the idea that workers gather to talk about a popular show. Eight out of ten participants said that they had seen a lot of advertisements for the program, this shows that AMC and Fox have distributed the show successfully over both TV and print ads.

The Walking dead is classified as an 18, but I know that younger audiences are viewing the show, myself included. So taking this into account I decided to include a younger age demographic of 15-17 and out of the 8 individuals who watch the show two fell into this category. The actual targeted demographic for TWD is 18-49 so my results show an accurate portrayal as the two options,  18-35 and 36-50 were the most popular with 3 viewers for each. The two participants of my questionnaire that do not watch the show fell into the 15-17 age range, I asked four people of this age range as I felt like this was the most popular age for the show. However, my theory proved inconclusive. 

According to my results, The Walking Dead is more popular with female viewers. However, I do not agree with this accuracy on a whole, I think that the show is equally as popular with both genders and that it is just my biased questionnaire which has asked more female recipients than male.

In earlier research I found that Netflix was quickly becoming a highly popular method of entertainment, threatening to over take cable networks such as AMC. Which is why I found it surprising to see the not one of the viewer's taking part in my questionnaire used the media player to watch TWD. The majority vote showed that watching TWD on Fox TV channel was the most popular, perhaps because of its simplicity and also the hype generated by it being a 'Fox Exclusive'. Others watch the show online in order to watch episodes not yet released in the UK. Understandably, there were no votes for watching the show on DVD as prices are very costly and rising, it's much easier to watch the show on Fox and simply record missed or favourite episodes.    

Seven of the viewers already watching the show said that they would continue watching the show, this proves it's high entertainment factor that seems to only be rising through out the seasons. However, one viewer decided they would not watch any more of the popular show after only watching the pilot episode. The remaining two questionnaire results showed that these people were not interested in the show at all and wouldn't be starting to watch it. Overall, from the random people I selected to complete my questionnaire the majority do watch the show, this proves how successful the show is across a wide demographic of viewers.   

P3- Audience Demographic and Profile

Age
The audience demographic for The Walking Dead covers a vast range, recently the fourth and latest season has broken its record with more than 16 million viewers. The majority of these viewers were of the age range 18-49, the exact number was 10.4 million. Previously the third season's highest record of viewers was 12.4 million and within that 8.1 million were of the key 18-49 demographic. For the final episode of season 3, the Walking dead was the highest rated show on television and beat competitor shows such as, Game of Thrones, in the highest 18-49 demographic. This demographic is coveted among TV shows, as it is a 41 year range between viewers which means they are reaching to young and older audiences and keeping them all engaged. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that nobody below or above this age range watches the shows, as the records show there was at least 6.4 million viewers watching the fourth season that did not fit into the coveted demographic. 

Gender
Whilst the content of the show may suggest an entire male following, women are too loving the popular TV show. In fact The Walking Dead is the highest rating cable TV show among women between 18 and 49. With female lead characters like Michonne and Carol it isn't hard to understand why women are enjoying the hit show, these two characters are favourites for men and women. But the way they are breaking stereotypes that are normally portrayed as overly sexualised, weak women is highly successful as finally women are being shown to be strong and independent. 

P2- The Walking Dead Promo Trailer / STYLE

STYLE - The Walking Dead Season 1 Trailer

Structure- This trailer is structured as a story, it shows the beginning of how the protagonist, Rick Grimes, found himself in this zombie apocalyptic world and then leaves the rest of the plot unsaid with only build up of what Rick is going to do next. This effect builds tension for the audience and engages them so that they want to find out what happens next. Above is a screen shot image from the trailer, which shows Rick's motives and what his primary purpose is. His family who are missing, this visual of his wife and child suggest how important they may be for the rest of the TV show, it suggests that the audience needs to know what they look like. The contrast as well in how the family are all smiling happily makes the audience question what they may be feeling now and how could they leave Rick to wake up alone? What has happened to them? This element of the TV show would stereotypically attract women as they would be interested in the relationship side of this apocalyptic world. They would want to relate and picture themselves in the situations of these character's, how would their relationships be affected.

Colours- The colours used in the trailer are all very dark and gritty, this reinforces the content of the show and it's dark, horrific scenes which would appeal to a male audience. The very beginning of the trailer itself depicts a classic American car chase and the use of violence only foreshadows for the audience the much stronger action and horror elements to follow. Between the different clips shown in the trailer, there is text on the screen which reinforces the idea of the show, 'He Woke Alone... The World He Knew Gone'. 

The simplicity of these phrases arises many questions for the audience, 'what exactly was the world he knew?' and 'what is this new world?'. Like previously mentioned, the colours are grim and the overall image almost has a dirty quality to it. This reinforces the ideas that the survivors are having to go back to basics by means of living and defending themselves. It draws in audience with the darker themes created.

Costumes- Costumes are shown in the trailer, the most obvious being the main character's Police uniform, the uniform like the rest of the trail is dark and gritty. Any bright colours in this genre of horror would be out of place and ruin the dynamic of the show.
Another set of 'costumes' shown are that of the zombies, all of their costumes are different but have the same theme of filthy, bloodied clothing and facial masks that make the characters look as if they are rotting. 

P5- Representation

Ethnicity:

The Walking Dead does feature characters of different ethnicities, as of season 4, three members of the main cast are of a different race. Michonne and Tyrese are both African-American main characters in the TV show and the comic book it is based off. They're both tough characters and fan favourites, though they did not come into the show in the first season but have since survived to the latest episodes. These characters are seen as heroic, brave members of the group and have no stereotypical traits. 

However, before Tyrese was introduced into the show there was another black male character stereotypically named 'T-Dog'. Whilst this character was kind, he was portrayed as a stereotypical 'ghetto' black man by his use of language and clothing, i.e. backwards cap. T'dog's character was present through out season 1-3 and gradually got less and less screen time over this period until he eventually sacrificed himself for another character. The article in which I found on different ethnicities in the show said that, 'T-Dog has no role in the show. He may as well be called Token Black Inclusion No.1'. 

Also in the article that I found on race in The Walking Dead, another female black character, Jacqui, was given a unexpected death when her character had not been given any real story development. It was to complaint that before Michonne arrived on the show, 'the only woman of color in the TV series was Jacqui, and the team was more than happy to leave her to die at the CDC when it exploded, while Dale stayed behind to guilt Andrea, a white woman, into leaving.  Everyone ran out of that building without giving Jacqui a second thought, and no one has thought about her since.' The fact that these two characters have been neglected and left for dead when they're story lines had no importance is surely a sign of discrimination and how much white characters are valued in the show in comparison. 

However, as I previously mentioned there are still four African-American currently alive as of season 4, two of these (Michonne and Tyrese) are main characters in both the show and comic book whilst the other male and female characters are starting a tentative relationship. 

Another ethnicity is featured with the character of Glenn, another fan favourite and reoccurring cast member. Glenn is an Asian-American man who was first seen as nothing but '[zombie] bait than an actual member of the team'. That is until Glenn met Maggie, a white woman and the pair have since gotten married. Whilst Glenn's beginnings in the show may not have been as equal as the other members of the team, he has since been given more valuable and riveting plot developments with his wife, the couple are popular and fans certainly root for the pair.

Source- http://www.racialicious.com/2012/10/12/25626/

Regional and National Identity:

^Source- http://razoofoundation.org/2013/03/3-things-walking-deads-daryl-dixon-teaches-about-social-media/ )

The Dixon brothers as pictured above are a stereotypical representation of 'rednecks', however, as the show has progressed we have witnessed the characters becoming humanized. Daryl (left) has even grown to become a fan favourite due to his background of negligence and abuse. This is why the 'redneck' stereotypes portrayed by these two brothers are not quite as offensive as they appear to be, they are shown to move on from their prejudiced views of racism when thrust into the post apocalyptic that unites all survivors. This stereotype is not so much an offensive one as the viewers see the brother's moving on and growing up, instead they are viewed in a much more positive light.

Gender:

In season 1, Carol was portrayed as a weak, scared woman at the hands of her abusive husband. This serious issue in the show was handled very well and after the death of her husband audiences finally were able to watch Carol's growth into an independent and strong woman able to fight to protect herself and others. 

The following piece of text has been taken from an interview with Melissa McBride, who plays Carol.

The representation of females in characters such as Carol gives female audience a role model with whom they can relate to in the show. It's important that character's such as Carol exist in order to break stereotypes of women being the weak, sexualised objects that men have to protect. Of course if Carol did fit these out dated gender stereotypes then TWD would lose it's female audience which has proved to be an equal percentage as he male audience. 

P3- The Walking Dead Classification

Above is the Walking Dead season 4 official trailer, I am going to 'rate' this trailer on all of the aspects and themes featured which would determine what classification the trailer would be set as. 

Bad Language

Horror

Dangerous Behaviour

Drugs

Violence and Threat

Sex & Nudity 

Weapons

Themes

Discrimination 

Weapons are present throughout most of the trailer, they are in plain sight and not being disguised. Guns are fired multiple times with the intention of killing as well as more brutal weapons like knives are shown in action. Horror is primarily shown with the theme of zombies and gore that is shown in the trailer, these depictions are graphic and brutal which is where the Violence and Threat is shown. As well as this horror This is shown with scenes of shooting, stabbing and impaling to cause death of 'zombie characters'. The threat primarily comes with the threat of the zombies going to attack the human characters. One zombie is shown pulling away from a dead body with blood and flesh dripping from it's mouth in a menacing manner. Horror is also shown with the images of the decomposing dead bodies of animals. These images are very graphic and feature gore, flesh and blood, they are disturbing to look at. Dangerous Behaviour is shown with the characters jumping out from a two story window and also jumping out of the top window of a car. This needs to be classes as dangerous behaviour as younger audience may try and copy the scenes. Sex & Nudity is shown briefly and implied with a scene of a man and woman in bed, but only there naked shoulders is shown, it is implied that they have been close and are still naked.

P2 Production Process- Timeline

2005

Frank Darabont is the man who developed the hit TV series, He came across The Walking Dead comic book in 2005 in Burbank California. He initiated a deal wit NBC for the copyrights to The Walking Dead but was later declined. Darabont took his ideas to AMC.

20th January, 2010

AMC officially announced that it had ordered a pilot for a possible series adapted from The Walking Dead comic book series. Due to Darabont's involvement, strength of the source material and the television scripts the entire first season was pre-ordered. 

15th May, 2010

The pilot began filming in Atlanta, Georgia on this date, after AMC officially ordered six episodes in total for the first season. 

2nd June, 2010

The remaining five episodes of the season began filming with Darabont as show runner. 

31st August, 2010

Darabont confirmed that AMC had ordered a second season of the show with production to begin in February 2011. 

31st October, 2010

One month later, on Halloween, the pilot episode aired for the first time in the United States. It received 5.35 million viewers. 

1st December, 2010

Frank Darabont fired all his writing staff and instead hired free lance writers for the second season. Robert Kirkman, creator of the comic book and executive producer, called the decision 'premature'. 

11th July, 2011

Darabont was fired from his position as show runner due to his strained relationship with the executives of AMC and the show's reduced budget. 

7th October, 2011

Netflix began streaming the first season of The Walking Dead on this date, the other seasons were also made available on Netflix at later dates.

16th October, 2011

The second season premiered in the US with the first episode titled, 'What Lies Ahead', to 7.26 million views. 

25th October, 2011

AMC confirmed it had ordered a third season of the popular show. 

18th March, 2012

The second season broadcasts it's series finale and achieves the highest amount of viewers for the show as a whole with 8.99 million viewers. 

21st December, 2012

AMC announced that The Walking Dead would be picked up for a fourth season much to fan's delight.

October, 2013

The Walking Dead was featured as the main attraction at Universal Orlando Halloween Horror Nights, the event was titled 'No safe Haven' and was a huge success that the show has been confirmed to be returning to the park in the Halloween of 2014.

P1- AMC

Ownership- AMC Networks was launched in October of 1984. It is a commercial conglomerate that owns other Products such as the cable  channels AMC, IFC WE tv and Sundance Channel. It also owns the Independent film company IFC films. Josh Sapan is the CEO of AMC Networks, the company is not to be confused with AMC Theatres which is a different company altogether. AMC TV is the networks most popular channel which broadcasts my chosen TV show, The Walking Dead.

Competitors- In the past 10 years, Cable TV has had much higher ratings than Public Service Broadcasting but in much recent years  AMC's biggest competitor is Netflix and other online ways of watching television shows.  In 2013 cable tv went down 1.5%, Netflix are looking to buy popular, original shows which is why networks like AMC are creating much more popular TV shows in order to compete and draw in audiences. Two of AMC's highest rating shows, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad are now available on Netflix. It is very common for broadcasting channels like AMC to create very successful and popular shows which have cult following of fans, then the highly rated show would be sold as part of a 'bundle' across sees for example the UK.    

P2- The Walking Dead Genre, Comparisons and COMPETITORS

The Walking Dead falls into the action, thriller, horror and drama. Its post apocalyptic theme is more commonly seen in films rather than TV shows, which is why The Walking Dead is so popular. However, the sci-fi aspect can be found in a range of television programs and they can relate in some ways to my chosen series.

Supernatural:

Supernatural like The Walking Dead (TWD) fits into the horror, action and thriller genres and unlike TWD also has the fantasy genre. The popular show, which has ran from 2005 to the present, is like TWD in the aspect that the lead characters are 'hunters'. This style convention is practical of the idea of the show and it would be strange for either of these shows to not feature characters who want to fight and survive. Rick Grimes and his fellow survivors in TWD kill zombies, similarly brothers, Dean and Sam Winchester, hunt supernatural beings like monsters and demons. Another similar aspect between the two shows is the use of male family members taking the lead roles. TWD sees father and son duo, Rick and Carl, where as previously mentioned Supernatural follows two brothers and occasionally their father. The use of these close relationships adds a sense of security and even more a need for the characters in their respective shows to stay alive. Both shows deal heavily with death and show a lot of gruesome murders, hence the horror genre. In the UK both of these shows have a certificate of 15, however some episodes of TWD are certified as 18 due to explicit content. As well as this in both shows there is a lot of traveling around, Supernatural more so as the two brothers travel the country looking for demons to hunt where as TWD survivors travel around looking for shelter from the vicious creatures. Another key aspect which links the two shows is the need for answers. The Winchester brothers are looking for answers to the mysterious creature that killed their mother and TWD survivors are looking for the answer to the disease that has turned the nation into flesh eating zombies. 
(Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernatural_(U.S._TV_series) )

Dead Set:

Dead set is a British mini series that ran for only 1 season consisting of 5 episodes. It is very similar to The Walking Dead as both shows feature zombie outbreaks and follow a group of survivors. However, the idea of 'Dead Set' is that the main group of survivors had been competing in the popular show 'Big Brother' when the epidemic started, they are unaware that outside of the Big Brother house all of the fans of the show are either dead or undead until the show runner breaks into the only safe place around. Not before long they need to venture outside for supplies. This plot very much follows the conventions of a typical horror series like TWD, although it does have its own unique style with the introduction of comedy into the genres (the other two genres like TWD are drama and horror). This comedy is shown in the setting of Big Brother and would attract audiences of the original show, the mini series even includes the real presenter Davina McCall playing herself. Like TWD 'Dead Set' is certified as an 18 due to its gory, violent scenes and adult content. Another key similarity of the two shows is the broadcast date. Dead Set was created two years before TWD and ran consistently through five days starting on the 27th October, this means that the last episode of the mini series would be shown on Halloween. TWD broadcasted their pilot episode on Halloween 2010, this use of the holiday would garner a lot of publicity and interest as audiences would be in a horror mood. Dead Set was shown on E4 as the show it was modelled after (Big Brother) was created and shown on channel4. Dead set was nominated for four awards; BAFTA TV award (Best Drama Series), British Comedy award (Best Television Comedy Drama), Broadcasting Press Guild award (Best Multichannel program) and TV Quick Award (Best new Drama). All of these nominations were given in 2009 and none of them won.
(Source- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1285482/)

Jericho:        

Jericho was discontinued after it's first season until fans demanded a second to finish the imaginative plot. The plot shows the aftermath of a nuclear explosion caused by several terrorist attacks, which have destroyed 23 cities in America, residents of a small Kansas town must come to terms with a new and very different reality as they wonder if they're the only ones left alive. The first season of Jericho consists of 23 episodes whilst the second season was much shorter with 7 official episodes and one alternative ending to the show. The pilot episode garnered the most viewers than any other in season 1 or 2 with 11.66 million viewers on it's initial air date September 20th, 2006. However, this number quickly declined, the season finale was met with only 7.72 million viewers and shockingly the second season had a high of 7.09 million, this was for the first episode of the second season and is lower than the least watched episode of the first season. When Jericho finished its TV run, Devil's due Publishing picked up the story and turned it into a comic book. This is similar to the Walking Dead as that show originated as a comic book which is still being made now. The comic was titled, 'Jericho Season 3: Civil War', it was published from November 2009 until June 2011. 

(Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jericho_episodes )

P2- The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is the hit US TV series created by AMC, it is the most watched drama in basic cable history. Having already ran four successful seasons of the popular show a fifth season has been confirmed much to fans delight. 

Purpose- The purpose of The Walking Dead is to entertain.

Genre- The genre of the show is horror and also falls into to sci-fi and action/adventure genres. Primarily horror due to its graphic scenes.

Form- The form of The Walking Dead is a on going series of episodes. There have so far been 4 seasons consisting of a total of 51 episodes. Season 5 is set to premier October 2014.

Origins

The American horror drama is based on the comic book series of the same name and was developed by Frank Darabont who has directed many famous films (The Shawshank Redemption and The Green mile for example). Frank found himself intrigued with the original comic book series created by Robert Kirkman and first initiated a deal with NBC (The National Broadcasting Company) to own copyrights of the show, but they declined and so Darabont took his idea to AMC Networks. Darabont wrote and directed the pilot episode and was executive producer for the first season, this happened between 2010 and 2011. After this first season Darabont was fired from position as show runner due to the low budget and strained relationship with the AMC executives. (Source- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Darabont)

Content/Plot

The story tells us of how the police Sheriff wakes up from a coma (in which he slipped into when shot on duty) in a trashed hospital completely alone. He quickly discovers something is deadly wrong when the area is littered with dead bodies and violent scenes. Rick must find his wife and son but when he does more secrets and troubles are unraveled. 

Success

The Walking Dead's pilot episode aired on October 31st 2010 in the US, it's halloween release date caused a large buzz that won the pilot episode 5.35 million viewers. The episode entitled, 'Days Gone Bye' focused on the shows main character, Rick Grimes played by Andrew Lincoln and shown above in the promo picture. The TV show has now more than doubled in viewers in the fourth season which hasn't even been finished airing yet. Viewers have increased with each season, two having a highest of 8.99 million, three seeing 12.40 million and finally the current season having 16.11 million in just the first episode. All of these statistics were found at http://walkingdead.wikia.com/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_Series).

Awards and Nominations

The Walking Dead has been nominated for many awards as a show and for individual actors due to it's high quality in plot, graphics and acting. It was nominated for 'Best New Series for 2011 Writers Guiled of America Awards' and also 'Best Television Drama' at the 68th Golden Globe Awards. At the American Film institute Awards 2010 it was named one of the top 10 television programs of 2010. At the 2011 Saturn Awards the show received six nominations; for Best Television Presentation, Andrew lincoln for Best Actor in Television, Sarah Wayne Callies for Best Actress on Television, Steven Yeun for Best Supporting Actor in Television, Laurie Holden for Best Supporting Actress in Television and Noah Emmerich for Best Guest Starring Role in Television. The pilot episode was nominated three times for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series, Outstanding Special Visual Effects for a Series and won for Outstanding Prosthetic Makeup for a Series.

Production Process-

The Walking Dead is filmed at Riverwood Studios in Gerogia, USA. Several other iconic locations in the show were filmed in Georgia, just a couple to name are a character, Hershel Greene's, farm where a group of survivors seek refuge before the farm is overrun with zombies and the Prison, where the characters found themselves next for two seasons. These settings are Lone Oak Dr Senoia and the West central Prison, Zebulon respectively.

In its first season The Walking Dead had an astonishing budget of $3.4 million per episode. However, the show's budget then decreased to $2.8 million per episode in season 2.

(Source- http://www.omg-facts.com/Fun+Facts/The-Walking-Dead-Has-A-2-8-Million-Dolla/56246 )

Content/Cast-

• Rick Grimes - Andrew Lincoln (Plays 'Mark' in Love Actually)
• Carl Grimes - Chandler Riggs 
• Glen Rhee - Steven Yeun 
• Daryl Dixon - Norman Reedus (Seen as 'Scud' in Blade 2)
• Carol Peletier - Melissa McBride (Dr Rachel Woods in Walker Texas Ranger)
• Maggie Green - Lauren Cohan (Also known as Rose in The Vampire Diaries)
• Michonne - Danai Gurira 

The Walking Dead at Universal Horror Nights

Every halloween Universal Studios theme parks host an elaborate and terrifying event known as 'halloween horror nights'. This includes 8 haunted houses that are modelled after famous horror movies or in the case of The Walking Dead TV show. As the AMC show is so hugely popular Universal decided to make it the theme of the 2013 horror nights and have also already confirmed they are bringing the walking dead haunted house back for 2014. As it was the theme, a street experience for during the day was created so that visitors to the park could walk between attractions and be chased by zombies and witness recreated scenes straight from the show. The was called, 'The Walking Dead: The Undead Streets'. 

By doing this universal were able to market and publicise the amazing show and give fans an opportunity to feel as though they are actually in the walking dead world.