Missing (2023) Production Notes

From the minds behind Searching comes Missing, a thrilling roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s (Storm Reid) search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers...and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.

Please note: Some production notes may contain spoilers.

From the minds behind Searching comes Missing, a thrilling roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s (Storm Reid) search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. Before long, her digital sleuthing leads her down a twisting rabbit hole of secrets and lies.

Stage 6 Films and Screen Gems present a Bazelevs production, a Search Party production, Missing. Starring Storm Reid, Joaquim de Almeida, Amy Landecker, with Daniel Henney and Nia Long. Directed by Will Merrick and Nick Johnson. The screenplay is by Will Merrick & Nick Johnson. Story by Sev Ohanian & Aneesh Chaganty. The film is produced by Natalie Qasabian, Sev Ohanian, and Aneesh Chaganty. The executive Producers are Timur Bekmambetov, Adam Sidman, and Jo Henriquez. The co-producer is Congyu E. The director of photography is Steven Holleran. The production designer is Kelly Fallon. The editors are Arielle Zakowski and Austin Keeling. The music is by Julian Scherle. The costume designer is Lindsay Monahan. Casting by Lindsey Weissmueller, CSA.

FROM THE MINDS BEHIND SEARCHING COMES A UNIQUE NEW MYSTERY THRILLER

What do you do when a loved one disappears thousands of miles from home – and you have no way to get there to search for them? For 18-year-old June, the answer lies in the digital world she inhabits every day. “We live in a social media era,” says actress Storm Reid, who plays the role. “Everything is on our phones. All information is at the tips of our fingers. To experience a movie where you’re using all of the social media platforms that people usually use to solve a mystery is a magical combination.”

In 2018, audiences were wowed by the ambitious story in Searching, which earned over $75 million at the box office, the Audience Award at Sundance, and wide critical acclaim for director Aneesh Chaganty. Now, with a new story that builds on the themes and storytelling motifs of Searching, Will Merrick and Nick Johnson– who edited the first film – have stepped up to write and direct Missing, the next movie in the franchise.

“When we worked on Searching, we made so many storytelling decisions in the editing room that we proved we could do it – we knew how to tell a story like this,” says director Nick Johnson. “We were creatively involved in Searching from the very beginning, and I think that is what gave the studio the faith in us to give the opportunity to direct Missing.”

“We knew how to develop this story in a way that’s unique to this format,” adds director Will Merrick.

“Will and Nick were such a fundamental part of Searching that giving them the reins to Missing was a no brainer for us,” says producer Natalie Qasabian. “They helped create the visual language that enabled us to tell this story. It’s really amazing to watch them work – they touch every part of the filmmaking process.”

For producer Aneesh Chaganty, Missing offers a chance for the filmmakers to explore new possibilities that they couldn’t fit into Searching. “One of the first things I realized when I directed Searching was that every single day there was another app or another website that allowed human connection in a new way. We realized that as long as technology is evolving every day, then our storytelling possibilities continue to evolve with that. The concept has evolved, there’s more adrenaline in the story, and it’s a fresher and faster experience than the first one.”

Like Searching, Missing is a roller-coaster mystery thriller that takes place entirely online. 18-year-old June is glad to get some space from her anxious mother, Grace, when Grace goes on a trip to Colombia with her boyfriend Kevin. When Grace and Kevin disappear, though, the investigation is hindered by international red tape, and June turns to Facetime, Taskrabbit, and other digital tools to find her mom half a world away.

“This movie is bigger and crazier and more international than Searching. It puts a new spin on the classic kidnap story by making the child the detective,” says producer Sev Ohanian. “It has a whole new set of characters, but you can expect all the same twists and turns and emotional ups and downs.”

Ohanian explains that the seed of Missing’s story came from the image of a girl going to the airport to pick up her mother. “We love the idea of this young girl holding up a sign for her mom, and of course the sign is embarrassing, and her kind of TikTok prank backfires because her mom never shows up. We just had that image in our heads and then we built the story around it.”

That young girl at the center of Missing is June, who is 10000% ready start a new life at college. “She’s very strong-willed – sometimes stubborn, impatient,” says Storm Reid. “Her dad, unfortunately, hasn’t been in her life for a while, so she’s just grown-up in a single parent household. She feels that her mom can be very overprotective – she’s a teenage girl and she’s growing up, and sometimes parents and children butt heads. But despite all that, she loves her mom, and when her mom goes missing on vacation, the stubbornness takes over as June tries to find her.”

“Grace is definitely overprotective of June – but as the movie unfolds, it becomes clearer what she’s trying to protect June from,” says Nia Long, who plays June’s mother. “She tries to keep a close watch on her daughter, but obviously, you can’t – kids have to live their own lives, which June does on line. And Grace’s struggle with new technology and the way people use the internet not only deepens that divide, but ultimately unravels all of the protection that Grace has tried to put in place.”

With her mother missing from vacation in Colombia and June stuck in Los Angeles with time running out, June puts her internet savvy to good use. That’s a key element that gives June in Missing a step up on John Cho’s character in Searching. “My generation has grown up the majority of our lives with computers, with telephones. We know how to work Instagram and Twitter and all of the things faster than our parents,” says Reid. “To be a kid in this circumstance, she’s able to move faster because it’s innate, not something that she has to figure out how to do.”

June finds an unlikely ally in Javi, a father living in Cartagena and doing odd jobs on Taskrabbit. “Javi is not good with phones,” says Joaquim de Almeida. “He’s not good with technology, and all of a sudden, he’s asked to do something that he has never done before, and he doesn’t feel very comfortable with it. But he feels for June when she tells him that her mother is missing and she needs his help to find her. Javi has a son that he hasn’t seen in a while, so he responds to this 18-year-old girl who’s scared and vulnerable, and he ends up caring for her.”

Ken Leung plays Kevin, Grace’s mysterious new boyfriend. “He seems like the perfect guy. But when he and Grace go missing, June finds out that Kevin has a dark past,” Leung says. “What is his role in Grace’s disappearance? Is he masterminding everything, or is he a red herring?”

Thanks to technology, June is able to learn Kevin’s story even though he vanished thousands of miles away. “What’s interesting about using devices like cell phones and laptops is that the whole world is your neighborhood,” says Leung. “We live in a world where there are cameras everywhere, and if you’re clever enough, if you know what you’re doing, you can use them to your advantage. In that sense, June and Grace’s story is global, but not in the way you might think.”

Amy Landecker plays Grace’s friend Heather, tasked with checking in on June during Grace’s trip. “Heather is like the annoying best friend of your mom who wants to be one of the kids, so she’s always calling you bestie,” Landecker says. “She can be annoying, but June and Grace still love her because she’s family. She’s Grace’s closest friend, and she’s an attorney, so Grace puts her in charge with making sure that June is fed and staying out of trouble.”

“Heather is a lot of fun because she’s got a lot of character and spirit,” Landecker says, “which can be hard to convey sometimes when there are a lot of characters and plot. But I feel like the writers really allowed all the characters to have a lot of personality.”

The movie’s theme of connection extends to the audience, too. Even though the movie takes place on small screens, Leung can’t wait for audiences to see it on the big screen. “Theaters offer us that communal campfire sort of feeling,” he says, “where you’re able to be part of the story.”

Part of the franchise’s DNA – expressed in Searching and continued in Missing – is the filmmakers’ eye toward casting a diverse group of actors that reflect the real world. “I really wanted to be in this film because Searching did such a great job of normalizing people of color in lead roles,” says Megan Suri, who plays June’s best friend, Veena. “I’m super interested in moving the needle forward and making stories about people that look like me.”

“There are people from every color and every race in this film,” says de Almeida. “It’s great to be part of such a diverse cast.”

“Working with Miss Nia Long was a dream,” says Reid. “She is a legend who has paved the way for young Black talent like me, and to work with someone like that is a blessing. But she’s also super-duper talented and fun to work with. She loves her job but also loves being a good person.”

“Storm is an incredible young actress,” says Long. “She’s in nearly every shot of the movie, often without being able to act against another actor, which made it an incredible thing to watch her create an emotional journey for this character. I’m a fan.”

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

Fitting for a film that looks drawn from the phone calls, surveillance cam footage, and viral videos that populate our digital lives, Missing was filmed in a highly unusual way. “Obviously, this is a very unique movie,” says Henriquez. “There’s no traditional coverage. Some of the time, the actors are even holding cameras and filming the movie themselves.”

The actors found that the movie’s unique format had a steep learning curve – but it was worth it. “I’ve never done a film this way, where you talk to the camera all the time,” says De Almeida. “In my scenes, I’m holding the camera because it’s supposed to be Javi’s phone, and it’s weird to always be filming yourself. The other actor’s often not there. You don’t see the other actor when you’re performing the scene. In a couple of scenes, Storm was in LA talking to me, but most of the time we filmed with one of the directors reading her lines. It’s a very new experience.”

To widen the scope of Missing, the filmmakers decided to give it an international focus. “June’s mother isn’t just missing,” says Ohanian. “She’s missing in a different country. For us, that meant planning a shoot that would take our entire cast and crew to Colombia.”

“We were really excited to shoot in Cartagena,” says Chaganty. “We’re really grateful to the city for having us, and we’re so glad to showcase the actual place. In every single alley, you turn around and there are new colors, new plants, new experiences, and great, great food and coffee. Missing is so much about traveling abroad that we wanted to make sure it took place in a really cool country. We’re so excited that we got the opportunity to shoot on location.”

“Cartagena is a beautiful city,” says Henriquez. “It’s just been such a pleasure to shoot here in this amazing city every day.”

Charged with editing the film into a feature film that appears to be entirely online were editors Arielle Zakowski and Austin Keeling. “Editing this film was the most creatively fulfilling and technically demanding project I've worked on to date,” says Zakowski. “Nick and Will pioneered a wholly unique workflow on the first film that we built upon with Missing, pushing the technology even further and creating sequences the likes of which have never been seen on screen before. The pixel-perfect attention to detail means viewers can watch this film ten times and still discover new pieces of the puzzle buried in the background. Our entire post-production team has put years of work into the film and we can't wait for audiences to come along for the ride."

"Editing a film told entirely on screens was an ambitious undertaking, one that challenged us every day of the post-production process,” adds Keeling. “We were lucky to have the guidance of Will and Nick from the very beginning of the process; having edited the first film, they had already encountered most of the challenges we ran into along the way. As a team, we were able to expand the scope of screen-film storytelling, really pushing the medium to places it has never gone before. It was an incredibly complicated and (at times) difficult task, but working with Arielle and the rest of the post-production team to bring this story to life has been the most rewarding and exciting experience I could have asked for."

ABOUT THE CAST

Storm Reid (June) an actress, producer, and current sophomore at USC. She is best known for starring as Meg in Disney’s live action adaptation of the acclaimed children's novel A Wrinkle in Time, which was directed by multi-award winner Ava DuVernay. The film also starred Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling. With numerous credits to her name, Reid is a fresh face and she has emerged as one of Hollywood’s most sought-after young actors.

Reid landed her first feature film role opposite Brad Pitt, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Michael Fassbender in the Academy Award® winning film Twelve Years a Slave, directed by Steve McQueen, and continued in Judy Greer’s directorial debut A Happening of Monumental Proportions, as well as Sleight, which premiered at Sundance and was picked up by Blumhouse.

In 2020, Reid was seen in Blumhouse’s Invisible Man alongside Elizabeth Moss. She also appeared in the Blumhouse thriller Don’t Let Go, opposite David Oyelowo – the film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was released on August 30, 2019. On the small screen, Reid can be seen in Ava DuVernay’s Netflix limited series When They See Us, based on the Central Park Five – the series launched on May 31, 2019. The series racked up 16 Emmy Nominations and garnered two wins. She also stars alongside Zendaya in HBO’s “Euphoria,” which was recently nominated for a 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series. Reid plays Gia Bennett, Rue’s (Zendaya) younger sister. The story follows a group of high school students navigating issues of drugs, sex, and violence. The gritty drama first premiered on June 9, 2019 and recently finished airing its second season. Reid also voiced Nia in Hulu’s animated children’s series “The Bravest Knight.” The series received a 2020 GLAAD Media Award nomination for Outstanding Kids & Family Programming.

In 2013, Reid and her mother, Robyn Simpson launched A Seed & Wings Productions, an independent multimedia production house rooted in narratives that forge multi-cultural conversations, entertain, educate, and uplift. Their desire is to create authentic storytelling that is impactful, honest, and reflects the perspectives of all people. In 2021, Reid starred in Facebook Watch’s “Chop it Up,” a conversation series by way of cooking. The series was created and produced by Reid and her mother, Robyn Simpson, through their production company. Each episode, viewers watched Reid and one of her friends discuss topics from dating to ethics, all while preparing a meal together. It was just announced that Reid will star and produce, alongside Simpson under their banner, the Paramount feature Becoming Noble.

Reid was seen in the 2021 DC Comics film The Suicide Squad. Most recently, she starred alongside Machine Gun Kelly, Kevin Bacon, and Drea de Matteo in Saban’s ONE WAY which dropped in select theaters September 2nd. Next up, she will star in MISSING, the standalone sequel of the SEARCHING franchise, out January 20th, 2023, opposite Nia Long. She will be seen on the upcoming HBO Max series “The Last of Us,” out January 15, 2023, and is currently in production on The Nun 2.

Reid is a brand ambassador for Prada, Maybelline New York, New Balance and Dark & Lovely. She recently released a 4th drop of swimsuits and coverups with Pacsun, a partnership that was created in the summer of 2021 to commemorate her 18th birthday.

Actress, producer, and director Nia Long (Grace) may currently be seen in Peacock’s highly anticipated limited series “The Best Man: Final Chapters.” Long will reprise her role in the uber-successful franchise alongside the original cast.

In January 2023, the multi-award-winning actress can be seen starring opposite Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Lauren London, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the Netflix film You People from writer/director Kenya Barris.

Previously, Long produced and starred in the Netflix smash hit thriller Fatal Affair that debuted at #1 on the platform. She also starred with Samuel L. Jackson & Anthony Mackie in the Apple feature The Banker, for which she received an NAACP Image Award nomination. Other recent film credits include Janicza Bravo’s Sundance-nominated Lemon, as well as Netflix’s Roxanne Roxanne.

On the small screen, she recently appeared in Kenya Barris’ #BLACKAF and Justin Simien’s “Dear White People.” Long is widely known for her iconic work in Boyz N the Hood, Friday, Love Jones, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Best Man franchise, to name a few.

Megan Suri (Veena) can currently be seen in Season 3 of Netflix’s highly popular series “Never Have I Ever,” which is presently streaming on the platform. In Season 2, Suri was introduced as the breakout role as Aneesa and completely took the role by storm, with much of the season revolving around her character’s arc as the new girl at Sherman Oaks High School. The show was renewed for a fourth and final season, eyeing a release in 2023.

Upcoming, Suri will appear in two upcoming horror films with Neon, one directed by award-winning director Bishal Dutta. Also recently announced, Suri will star in the LGBTQ+ adaptation of Sara Jo Cluff’s book The Kiss List, opposite Parminder Nagra, Emjay Anthony, and Lachlan Watson.

Suri began her professional acting career at the age of eight, booking her first role in the 2010 blockbuster Valentine’s Day, directed by the late Garry Marshall, co-starring alongside Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher, and Jamie Foxx. She has since appeared on several TV series: “Atypical” (Netflix), “Fresh Off the Boat” (ABC), and “The Brink” (HBO).

Suri is an American actress from Los Angeles, California. Born in the U.S. to Indian immigrant parents, Suri also lived in India for two and a half years during her childhood, and she speaks fluent Hindi and Punjabi. She has a profound opinion about Indian representation on screen, and she has very clear goals about the roles she is bound to play as her career inevitably builds momentum – all the while hoping to blaze a trail for the emerging generation of actors following in similar footsteps.

Ken Leung (Kevin) was born and raised in New York City. He can currently be seen starring in HBO's “Industry.” Films include M. Night Shyamalan’s Old, Spike Lee’s Sucker Free City, and Edward Norton’s Keeping the Faith. His television work includes ABC’s “Lost,” HBO’s “The Sopranos” and “High Maintenance,” and Netflix’s upcoming live action “Avatar: The Last Airbender.”

Joaquim de Almeida (Javi) made his name in the 90s as the villain in such features as Desperado, Clear and Present Danger, and Beyond Enemy Lines. He will next be seen in MGM’s Road House opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Doug Liman. De Almeida is reprising his role in the second season of Netflix’s series “Warrior Nun,” inspired by the manga novels and created by Simon Barry. He will soon be seen in the upcoming FX series “Shogun” and on the Brazilian television series “Aruanas.” Recently, he was seen in the feature film Fatima opposite Harvey Keitel, Goran Visnjic, Alba Baptista, and Sônia Braga, directed by Marco Pontecorvo, and in the feature Land of Dreams, directed by Shirin Neshat, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Other film credits include: The Hitman’s Bodyguard with Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Reynolds, Our Brand Is Crisis with Sandra Bullock, Fast Five, Downsizing, directed by Alexander Payne, amongst many other films. He was a series regular on “Queen of the South” for USA, had recurring arcs on FOX’s hit series “24,” FOX’s “Training Day” reboot, and NBC’S “Parenthood,” and has guest starred on “Revenge,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Elementary,” “Bones,” and many more. De Almeida starred in Guillermo Arriaga’s The Burning Plain opposite Charlize Theron, Kim Basinger, and Jennifer Lawrence, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008.

Daniel Henney (Agent Pak) is an internationally accomplished film and television actor in America and overseas. He is currently a lead in Amazon’s hit fantasy series “Wheel of Time” opposite Rosamund Pike, which was just picked up for a third season. Henney became a household name in Korea after starring in the hit television drama “My Lovely Sam-Soon” and later went on to star in the Korean series “Hello Franceska,” “Spring Waltz,” and “The Fugitive: Plan B.”

Henney made his American television debut in “Three Rivers” and hasn’t stopped working since. After serving as a series lead on two seasons of “Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders,” Henney joined the franchise’s flagship series “Criminal Minds,” where he was a series regular for the show’s final four seasons. Additional television credits include “Hawaii Five-O,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” and the Emmy Award-winning “Revolution.”

In addition to his work in television, Henney’s experience in film includes lending his voice as the role of Tadashi Hamada in the Academy Award®-winning Disney animated film Big Hero 6. His additional film credits include X-Men Origins, Wolverine, The Last Stand, Seducing Mr. Perfect, My Father, the Spy, Undercover Operation, and Shanghai Calling, which was the first American/Chinese co-produced romantic comedy with an Asian leading man and a Caucasian female lead.

In addition to his film and television career, Henney is an accomplished model, having worked in Italy, France, Paris, London, New York, and Hong Kong. He has graced the covers of 13 magazines in the South Asia region, some of which include Vogue Korea and GQ Taiwan.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Will Merrick (Director / Writer) is an LA-based filmmaker originally from North Carolina. After graduating from USC in 2015, he edited Searching, which premiered at Sundance in 2018 and was acquired by Sony Pictures for international distribution. He then served as editor on Lionsgate thriller Run, which became Hulu’s most viewed film premiere ever in 2020, and as a writer for an in-development feature at Paramount. Missing is his first film as writer/director, alongside Nick Johnson, his original editing partner from Searching.

NICK Johnson (Director / Writer) is an LA-based writer, director, and editor. Born in St. Louis, MO and a graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, he served as editor and director of virtual photography on 2018’s Searching, which was acquired by Sony Pictures at Sundance and released worldwide, with critics praising the innovative editing and visual style. Since then, he’s served as editor on Lionsgate’s 2020 thriller Run, starring Sarah Paulson, and as a writer for an in-development feature at Paramount. With Missing, he and his creative partner, Will Merrick, return to the cinematic screen format they helped originate, this time as writers and directors.

Natalie Qasabian (Producer) is an Armenian-American film producer based in Los Angeles. In 2018, Qasabian produced Searching, a thriller starring John Cho which was acquired by Sony Pictures at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to gross $75M at the box office. Qasabian has also produced three films for the Duplass Brothers, including Duck Butter, directed by Miguel Arteta. Recently, Qasabian produced Run, a thriller starring Sarah Paulson for Lionsgate, which was released on Hulu and broke the record for most watched original film on the platform. Currently, she’s working with Warner Bros. TV on a series based on the novel “The Future Is Yours.” In 2021 Qasabian was awarded the Sundance Institute Amazon Studios Producers Award. She earned a bachelor’s degree from USC’s School of Cinematic arts and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Sev Ohanian (Producer / Story by) is an Armenian-American screenwriter and producer, and founder of Proximity Media alongside Ryan and Zinzi Coogler. His film Searching, which he co-wrote and produced, was released by Sony Screen Gems in the summer of 2018 and grossed $75M worldwide. He also co-wrote and produced Run for Lionsgate, starring Sarah Paulson, which became the most-watched film ever on Hulu when it premiered. Ohanian served as executive producer on the Warner Bros. movies Space Jam: A New Legacy and Judas and the Black Messiah, which won two Academy Awards® and was nominated for six, including Best Picture. In 2018, Ohanian received the Sundance Institute / Amazon Studios Narrative Producer Award and the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Award, and in 2021, he was named as one of Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Under 35 (alongside his sister Ramela!). Up next for Ohanian is Creed III and Marvel's “Ironheart” for Disney+.

Aneesh Chaganty (Producer / Story by) is the writer and director of Searching and RUn. His breakout, a 2-minute short film that was shot on Google Glass, became an internet sensation after garnering more than 1 million YouTube views in 24 hours. Following its success, Chaganty was invited to join the Google Creative Lab in New York City, where he spent two years developing, writing, and directing Google commercials. His work has been aired during the Super Bowl and the Summer Olympics, and has bene viewed more than 45 million times online. His directorial debut, Searching, premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize, and was acquired by Sony Pictures for distribution, during which it grossed more than 75 million dollars worldwide. His second film, Run, starring Sarah Paulson, was released on Hulu this past November and became the streaming service’s most watched movie ever during its opening weekend. He’s now writing his third feature.

Steven Holleran (Director of Photography) broke into the filmmaking world in 2016 with his first three features making premieres and sales at Sundance and TIFF alongside a Variety nod to the Artisans List. Since, he’s built a reputation as an award winning feature cinematographer on the blockbusters Creed II and Godzilla: King of the Monsters alongside continuing his life-long passion for global adventure and documentary work. Holleran has embedded cameras and crews into some of the most extreme and cutting-edge environments known to man for viral Amazon, Youtube, and Netflix programming hosted and produced by Robert Downey Jr, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jason Momoa, winning a LEO Award for Best Cinematography. Driven by first ascents and motivated by an inexhaustible curiosity for the world, Holleran’s filmmaking journey began on an unlikely international documentary film career at the age of seventeen for IBM’s Watson Foundation, living with a spearfishing family on the edge of the Samoan archipelago chronicling their recovery after a volcanic explosion and tsunami wrecked their village. A champion for the next generation of artists, Holleran spends his time off-assignment working abroad through his art-centric humanitarian non-profit Artalyst and frequently chasing big waves and new adventures.

Kelly Fallon (Production Designer) is a Los Angeles-based production designer and set decorator. She is a member of both the Art Director’s Guild and Local 44, and is known for her work on McMillions and The Sex Lives of College Girls. Fallon’s artistic sensibilities lie in character-driven narratives and the visual depth of the spaces that those characters inhabit. Her passion for creating unique, layered worlds shapes her approach to the aesthetic, design, and decoration of every project.

Lindsay Monahan (Costume Designer) has been costuming for film, TV, and theatre for over ten years, and shows no signs of stopping. Her most recent projects include the first season of HBO’s comedic drama “Somebody Somewhere,” directed by Robert Cohen and Jay Duplass.

She has previously collaborated on multiple projects with comedian Sarah Silverman, costuming both her comedy special “A Speck of Dust” and two seasons of her show “I Love You, America.” She is also a frequent collaborator with the Duplass Brothers and has costumed numerous features for their production house, including Duck Butter and Manson Family Vacation. One of her most beloved projects is another Duplass Brothers’ production, the HBO series “Room 104”; Monahan loved the variety of decades and genres she got to work with over the course of the show’s four seasons.

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, Monahan first became interested in costuming when she would alter her clothes in high school to make them more unique. She was formally introduced to the art of costuming through theater. While she was working on her Studio Arts degree at the College of Charleston, she painted props and set pieces before transitioning into costuming. Her first feature as a costume designer came from a classic moment of Los Angeles serendipity: at a comedy show, she happened to sit next to a production designer who was seeking a costumer for her feature film. The rest is history.

When not researching fashion history or designing thoughtful, character-driven looks, Monahan enjoys baking at her home in Atwater Village. She lives with her husband, a musician and music teacher, and is expecting her first child in the new year.

ARIELLE ZAKOWSKI (Editor) is a film, TV, and commercial editor who avoids the harsh LA weather by spending her days holed up in edit bays. She spent a decade in the advertising world editing commercials for clients such as Apple, Subaru, and Gucci, and was named a rising star by Shots Creative. Her short-form work has been recognized by the Cannes Lions and the Emmys, and has premiered at film festivals around the world. Zakowski cut two feature documentaries – Dan Chen's Accepted and David Gelb's Wolfgang – which both premiered at Tribeca Film Festival in 2021. She has also edited episodes of the Netflix shows Chef's Table, Making a Murderer, and Trial by Media.

AUSTIN KEELING (Editor) is an editor, writer, and director working in both film and immersive theater. After graduating from the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he returned to his home state of Kansas to write, direct, and edit the acclaimed indie horror film The House on Pine Street. As a member of the LA-based company E3W Productions, he has also written and directed multiple sold-out immersive plays, live events for film festivals, narrative podcasts, and alternate reality games, including “Arcana,” an online ARG which was named one of the 10 best games of 2020 by the LA Times.