When a Florida man stripped naked and tore into the flesh of another man last summer — eating the victim’s eyes, nose and ears — the media speculated he was under the influence of the synthetic drug “bath salts.” While this gruesome act shocked and repulsed many across the nation, it became a source of inspiration for sophomore cinema major EJ Brown.With the help of co-director Jordan Brown and a group of fellow sophomore cinema students at Point Park University, the team began creating “The Cadaver Connection,” a web series about a drug-dealing duo whose new strain of heroin gives its users cannibalistic tendencies during withdrawal. “I honestly don’t like monsters. I don’t like aliens,” said “Cadaver” co-director EJ Brown, “but in this case the cannibalism thing is very real. It has happened and it can happen.”While the bizarre flesh-eating media frenzy got the independent project underway, “Cadaver’s” roots can be traced back to Jordan Brown’s high school project on cannibalism. As his fascination grew, he started writing a crime/horror show, which has since undergone four different scripts and 18 rewrites. Filming is tentatively scheduled to begin next month.“This is my baby. I’ve been writing this thing for two years,” said Jordan Brown, adding that it is not unusual for him and EJ Brown to work on the script from midnight to 10 a.m. Since the project is not for class credit, the students must find ways to work it into their already busy schedules.“The Cadaver Connection” will follow the lives of Seth Andrews and Jared Sampson, two twenty-somethings from Pittsburgh who set up a heroin business venture. The new drug is extremely addicting, with one drawback: it turns average junkies into Jeffrey Dahmers. Initially the plot may sound like a hybrid of hit TV shows “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead,” but Jordan Brown said “Cadaver” is more aligned with the style of crime movies. The team is also steering clear from the typical zombie archetype, which allows for more flexibility and creativity, according to producer Garrett Kennell.“You can almost write your own rules for these cannibals. Zombies already have set rules that you have to follow, but you get to create your own for this type of character,” Kennell said.The cannibals will be indistinguishable from regular people, which “makes the process so much scarier because you never know who will attack you at any time,” Jordan Brown said.Jordan and EJ Brown agreed that special effects are often overdone in movies, so they will be using all real effects for the blood and gore.The main characters are loosely modeled after the directors’ own personalities, with Seth mirroring Jordan Brown’s risk-taking mentality and Jared, like EJ Brown, acting as the more conscientious partner.For Jordan and EJ Brown, their personality differences work as a system of checks and balances so that creative ideas are generated without being cheesy or overdone. The co-directors constantly argue when it comes to “Cadaver,” whether it is over the colors of the graphic or what a main character should wear – with Jordan Brown rooting for a Hawaiian T-shirt – and even squabbling over the details of past arguments.“It always goes one of two ways,” said Jordan Brown. “Either one, I get tired of fighting with [EJ], or two, his idea does make more sense than mine and I’ll slowly let him win, but it looks like I came out somewhat victorious.”Choosing a name for the series was another point of contention, but they eventually agreed on “The Cadaver Connection,” inspired by heroin kingpin Frank Lucas’ practice of smuggling drugs into America in the 1970s by hiding them in the caskets of dead Vietnam soldiers. The drugs were shipped to Fort Bragg, N. C., about 10 minutes from Jordan Brown’s home.While the decision-making process can be a tug-of-war, both Jordan and EJ Brown are always happy with the end results. The crew members of “The Cadaver Connection” are a close-knit group of sophomore cinema majors, with one freshman as the exception.The team set a goal of raising $600 for the first episode through crowd funding website Indiegogo, but they quickly surpassed every other film on the site’s board and raised $1,000 in two weeks.They hope to sign a deal with Hulu or YouTube, but will continue to use Indiegogo as a fundraising source for all future episodes. With the script written for the first four episodes, they will soon set a date for auditions and begin filming in December.Since “The Cadaver Connection” is an independent project, it requires hard work and dedication from each student involved. But EJ Brown thinks it will be well worth the effort when the series is finally finished.“I personally think that the story and the acting itself is very tricky for an independent thing that we’re doing,” EJ Brown said. “It’s awesome because, first of all, we’re students doing something outside of the school, and it will also put Point Park on the map locally.”