"Lostlings"
Lion Forge Entertainment to partner with TalesVision to adapt their short-form YouTube sensation, "Lostlings", into a premium long-form series. Production on season one of the live-action YA mystery will begin this summer.
TalesVision founders Tristan Tales and Luke Pounder will pen all episodes for the first season and serve as showrunners. The series will be executive produced by Lion Forge Entertainment CEO and founder David Steward II, Lion Forge President and Chief Creative Officer Stephanie Sperber.
A mystery adventure in the vein of "Stranger Things" and "Outer Banks", "Lostlings" was one of TalesVision’s first short-form ‘pocket pilots’ tested on the TalesVision digital channels, and proved to be an instant hit, accumulating over 17 million views, 1.6 million likes and thousands of comments asking for a full series.
“Tristan and Luke are amazing creators who meet the audiences where they are,” said Stephanie Sperber. “They have a unique ability to create content that is high quality, super watch-able, globally appealing and spot-on for the YA audience. We are very enthusiastic about their YouTube-first model and are looking forward to exploring more IP through their ‘pocket pilot’ model.”
GRIPPING PLOT
"Lostlings" is set in Shadowbrook, where every year a teenager mysteriously vanishes without a trace - a ‘Lostling’ - only to return exactly one year later with no memory of where they were or what happened while they were gone. When their friend Jesse becomes the latest victim - and the first ‘Lostling’ to not return after one year - a group of teens sets out to rescue him and, in doing so, free their town from its curse once and for all. The series will premiere on the TalesVision YouTube channel before it becomes available on traditional streaming and linear platforms in second windows around the world.
“When I watched the pocket pilot for 'Lostlings' I was hooked,” said David Steward II. “We see this as the first project in a strategic partnership to develop YA-focused live action content working with some of the best YouTube creators in the business. We’re happy to make this investment and feel confident that this approach is a smart path forward in the future of live action development and content distribution - especially for YA audiences.”
“From day one, Lion Forge understood that this wasn’t just about adapting a social media hit - it was about reimagining how stories are discovered, built, and delivered. Stephanie, David and the team immediately embraced our YouTube-first strategy, allowing us to deliver the series where our fans discovered it first. We’re hopeful that this partnership will become a blueprint for how future IP can grow - digitally-native and community-driven from the start,” said TalesVision founders Tristan Tales and Luke Pounder.
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