The series is produced by Annapurna Television. Series creator, writer and executive producer is Mary Laws (Succession, Preacher); executive producers also include Anvari, Megan Ellison (Bombshell, Hustlers, Booksmart) Sue Naegle (The Plot Against America, Soundtrack) and Lucan Toh (Wounds, Under The Shadow). Other directors include  Desiree Akhavani (The Miseducation of Cameron Post), Logan Kibens (The L Word: Generation Q, Snowfall) and Craig William MacNeill (Lizzie, The Boy). Writers are Aalia Brown and Emily Kaczmarek. Actors include Kaitlyn Dever, Jonathan Tucker, Charlie Tahan, Nicole Beharie, Hamish Linklater, Marquis Rodriguez, Bill Camp, Michael Hsu Rosen, Taylor Schilling, Roberta Colindrez, Adria Arjona, Trieu Tran, Kelly Marie Tran, Mike Colter and Adepero Oduye. 

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Anka shot four episodes of season one of Monsterland including the season finale directed by Babak Anvari (BAFTA Award Winning Director of Wounds, Under the Shadow). Based on the collection of short stories from  North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud, Monsterland explores mythical monsters as a metaphor for the problems faced by the modern world. Encounters with mermaids, fallen angels, and other strange beasts drive broken people to desperate acts in the eight-episode one-hour anthology series.

 

Anka can be seen talking about her work on Monsterland on the upcoming PaleyFest Fall TV Preview weekend (October 2, 3 and 4), discussing the series and particularly epidode 7 titled “Iron River, MI” in a panel with Mary Laws, Desiree Akhavan and Kelly Marie Tran.

 

The look of Monsterland has been inspired by the brooding dreamlike photography of Todd Hido and Gregory Crewdson. Anka says, “Monsterland is one of those rare and pivotal opportunities to create true art and exercise my creativity within the television spectrum.  The show is truly a cinematographer’s dream.” Anka’s stunning images tell heartbreaking stories in a breathless, poetic way – inviting what show runner Mary Laws  calls “leaning  into the monster… creating a world where terror and human darkness draw us in to be exposed through seamless cinematic story telling.”