LOST / FOUND
an original series by outjogging pictures
STORY
LOST/FOUND is a new short form anthology series that bends genre while staying tonally grounded within the vein of dark comedy. In Season 1, over five episodes in the realm of supernatural and psychological horror, a writer on a deadline makes an ominous discovery in the backyard of his rural vacation rental.
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The basic premise of LOST/FOUND is simple: in each episode, an object of importance is lost by one person and found by another. Because the conceit is deliberately broad to generate many variations, the beating heart of each season is found in the characters who find themselves on the side of losing or finding. The series explores how people with seemingly nothing in common relate to each other when brought together by strange, random objects.
LOST/FOUND blends the high-concept narrative stylings of THE TWILIGHT ZONE and ROOM 104 with the idiosyncratic humor and atmospheric excellence of more character-driven programming like ATLANTA and HIGH MAINTENANCE. The show lifts up a Southern Gothic aesthetic, placing magical realism, dark humor, and a literary sensibility at its center.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
The American South has a rich tradition of horror, but there’s more to the Southern Gothic aesthetic than crumbling mansions or swamps full of ghosts and alligators. Authors like Flannery O’Connor and Toni Morrison grounded their masterpieces in the very real pains of poverty, illness, exile, and violence, and Season 1 of LOST/FOUND aspires to follow in those footsteps.
LOST/FOUND is thematically concerned with how the unexpected arrival of unfamiliar objects can throw an unsuspecting person’s life into disarray. It also explores the unique fears and anxieties awakened in people when they lose something of great value to them. While the series doesn’t present as hyperlocal, it does tap into the broader cultural patterns and social attitudes of the South, particularly with regard to the complex alienation and longing inherent to the region.
The series explores the intersection of class, race, small town culture, and the very real limits of southern hospitality. We want to bring to life characters who have found themselves at an unusual crossroads—one that’s both emotionally taxing and crookedly funny.
EPISODES
Episode 1
"Breathe"
Marcus Tate is under pressure from his publisher to turn in edits on a long-awaited new book, though he harbors reservations about the work. He rents an old farmhouse in rural Georgia in order to buckle down and finish, but when a tornado passes over the town he discovers a brand-new obstacle standing in his way: an iron lung has crashed-landed into the backyard containing the dead body of an elderly woman.
Episode 2
"Does He Still Write"
Marcus, rattled and horrified by his discovery, has a difficult time getting the authorities to retrieve the body in the backyard. As night falls and the power remains out from the storm, he grows increasingly paranoid, not merely on account of the unclaimed corpse out back but on account of all the eerie porcelain dolls watching him inside the home.
Episode 3
"Country Air"
Marcus wakes up to discover neighbors in the yard who all but accuse him of being an intruder. Marcus explains that he’s renting the property—the only trespasser is the lady in the lung. With his phone and laptop dead and no rescue personnel in sight, Marcus reluctantly accepts his role as unofficial caregiver of the deceased.
Episode 4
"Verna Speaks"
Marcus wakes up to find the lady in the iron lung all cleaned up and sitting pretty on top of the machine. She gives him a good scare, but it’s only a dream—right?
Episode 5
"Lovely Day"
The electric is back on and the iron lung lady’s family comes to collect her, but signs point to Marcus not being all right after the ordeal. As for the book? Something tells us he’s not going to make that deadline…
CREATIVE TEAM
RICKY JORDAN II
ACTOR
Ricky Jordan II plays novelist Marcus Tate in Season 1 of LOST/FOUND. He’s an actor, director, and producer in Atlanta as well as the founder of Endless Time Productions. His recent acting projects include BEING PURPLE (2020), THE VERSO VERDICT (2019), PARKED (2018). He also recently directed the short film JIKAN (2021). His story expertise and lived experience as a filmmaker and a Black American were instrumental in the development of Season 1 both in pre-production and during filming.
Find out more at endlesstimestudios.com.
BRIAN CHRISTOPHER WHITE
DIRECTOR
Brian Christopher White has a knack for story hooks with sci-fi and supernatural bents. When he’s not cooking up stories about tragi-comic characters stuck in time loops or hordes of Vikings crossing into parallel dimensions, he’s producing original shorts with his production company, Outjogging Pictures. He’s a graduate of the Art Institute of Atlanta and has written and directed multiple award-winning short films, the most recent of which include THE BECOWING (2020), CIRCLES (2020), and PARKED (2018). He has over twenty years of experience behind the camera.
Find out more at outjogging.com.
RACHEL HOILES FARRELL
WRITER
Rachel Hoiles Farrell is a Georgia-based writer whose work is character-driven and features a robust blend of comedy and drama. She has a talent for creating distinct and compelling dialogue — a skill she credits less to her formal training as a writer than to her upbringing in a Florida mill town, a place where the twangs are thicker than biscuit batter and the morning air smells like the Devil’s asshole. She holds an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Joyland Magazine, Jezebel, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, VQR, and elsewhere.
Find out more at rachelhoilesfarrell.com.
Contact
L O S T / F O U N D