Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, known professionally as the Duffer Brothers, are American film and television writers, directors, and producers. They created, and serve as executive producers of, the Netflix science fiction-horror series Stranger Things. They also wrote and directed the 2015 psychological horror filmHidden, wrote episodes for the Fox mystery-science fiction series Wayward Pines, and have been involved in the production of numerous short films. They are twin brothers and have had a close relationship since childhood, working on all their projects as a duo.
Career
After writing and/or directing a number of short films, their script for the post-apocalyptic horror filmHidden was acquired by Warner Bros. Pictures in 2011. The brothers directed the film in 2012, which was released in 2015. Director M. Night Shyamalan read the script and hired them as writer/producers on the Fox television seriesWayward Pines.
''Stranger Things''
With experience in television, they began pitching their idea for Stranger Things, which Dan Cohen eventually brought to Shawn Levy. With Levy's 21 Laps production cothe show was quickly picked up by Netflix. The show is set in the 1980s Indiana and is an to '80s pop culture, inspired and aesthetically informed by the works of Steven Spielberg, John Carpenter, Stephen King, and George Lucas, among others. It was released on July 15, 2016, to overwhelming praise, specifically for its characterization, pacing, atmosphere, acting, soundtrack, directing, writing, and homages to 1980s genre films, and subsequently began to develop a cult following online. Review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes gave the series an approval rating of 95%, based on 82 reviews, with a weighted average score of 7.96/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Exciting, heartbreaking, and sometimes scary, Stranger Things acts as an addictive homage to Spielberg films and vintage 1980s television." On August 31, 2016, Netflix renewed the series for a second season of nine episodes, which were released on October 27, 2017. In December 2017, Netflix renewed the series for a third season of eight episodes, which were released on July 4. On September 30, 2019, Netflix greenlit the fourth season of Stranger Things. In addition, Netflix announced they had signed the Duffers to a nine-figure deal for additional films and televisions shows over multiple years.
Personal life
The Duffer Brothers were born and raised in Durham, North Carolina. They began making films in the third grade using a Hi8 video camera that was a gift from their parents. They attended the Duke School for Children from grades K-8, a private suburban school, and then the Charles E. Jordan High School, a large Durham public school. They relocated to Orange, California, to study film at Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts, where they graduated in 2007. 2017 for Stranger Things Ross Duffer married director Leigh Janiak in Palm Springs in December 2015. The couple met in 2006 at a production company in Los Angeles, where she was an assistant to the producer and he was an intern. 2017 for Stranger Things In March 2018, the Duffer Brothers were accused of verbal abuse on the Stranger Things set by a grip who worked on the show. The crew member stated on social media that she would not return for Season 3 because the Duffer Brothers created a hostile work environment for women. The brothers strongly denied this claim and an investigation by Netflix found no wrongdoing. The brothers had previously been criticized for coaxing teenage actress Sadie Sink into performing an unscripted kiss scene. However, Sink said she did not object.
