Payne Lindsey is an American director, documentary filmmaker, Right Side of the Tree lead singer and podcast host.[1] He is best known for co-creating and hosting the hit investigative journalist and true crime podcasts Up and Vanished and Atlanta Monster.[2][3][4][5]
Early life
Lindsey was born and raised in Kennesaw, Georgia.[6][7] He obtained his first video camera at age 10 and later directed local television commercials and music videos.[7] As a child, he wanted to direct feature films.[8] Lindsey made a 13-minute documentary film about people that he met on a cross-country road trip and entered it into festivals.[7] He attended college on and off for a few years, but hated school. At age 23, his dad cut him off and he began focusing on creating and directing videos.[8]
Career
Up and Vanished
In December 2015, Netflix released Making a Murderer. Lindsey watched the show and realized that he wanted to do something similar.[7] With an early interest in investigative journalism, Lindsey was inspired to investigate the disappearance of beauty queen and school teacher Tara Grinstead,[9] a well-known cold case in Georgia.[10] At the time, Lindsey's intentions were to develop Grinstead's story into a documentary film, but he realized he did not have the funds to film interviews on location. Lindsey realized that he "could produce a podcast at home in my boxers," and created Up and Vanished.[7] Lindsey did not have access to police files, so instead scoured through old news articles and online forums to hunt out possible leads.[11] Lindsey's grandmother lived in Tifton, Georgia, near Ocilla, where Grinstead had gone missing.[12] Lindsey broadcast in real-time, week by week, in audio form. Within a 12-month period the podcast received over 50 million downloads,[13] which propelled Grinstead's case into the mainstream[14] media.[15] This helped uncover previously unnoticed evidence which lead to the decade-old case being cracked and two arrests made.[11] Lindsey began podcasting full time once Up and Vanished increased in popularity.[7] A second season of Up and Vanished covered the disappearance of Kristal Reisinger.[16]
Tenderfoot TV
After Up and Vanished, together with his business partner Donald Albright,[17][18] Lindsey launched the content creation company Tenderfoot TV which is based in Atlanta. Together with Tenderfoot TV and Oxygen[19] Lindsey and Albright developed a TV docu-series from Up and Vanished.[20][21] As of January 2020, Oxygen and Tenderfoot TV are working to develop a television special about Kristal Reisinger which will be produced by Lindsey.[16]
In addition to Up and Vanished and Atlanta Monster, Tenderfoot TV also produced the podcasts To Live and Die in L.A.,[22]Culpable,[23] and Somebody.[24] Meredith Stedman is the Creative Producer at the company.[22] As of June 2019, the company had over 400 million total downloads for its podcasts.[22] Tenderfoot TV is represented by United Talent Agency.[22]
Atlanta Monster
In early 2018, in partnership with HowStuffWorks,[25] Lindsey launched Atlanta Monster, a new podcast about the infamous Atlanta Child Murders, which occurred between 1979 - 1981 with over 25 victims murdered in Atlanta.[26][27] Lindsey had never heard of the case until his business partner, Donald Albright, told him about the murders.[28][29] Lindsey hosted the podcast and conducted the interviews featured on the podcast.[30] The podcast had over 70 million downloads.[30]
In fall 2019, Payne Lindsey announced and released the first episode of a new podcast that features true stories with a fictional backdrop, Radio Rental.[4] Lindsey asked Atlanta citizens to reach out and share the paranormal and scary stories to share on the podcast.[30] The podcast is hosted by a fictional character, a 1980s-era video store employee named Terry Carnation, played by Rainn Wilson.[4] Lindsey and Wilson connected after Wilson tweeted that he loved Lindsey's podcast, Atlanta Monster.[4]
Personal life
Lindsey is from Georgia and resides in Atlanta.[4][31] In September 2016, Lindsey married Cassie House.[7][32] He is currently in a relationship with fellow podcaster Sabrina Deana-Roga of Two Girls One Ghost. According to the Up and Vanished website, Lindsey has a brother, Mason Lindsey, who works as a producer for Tenderfoot TV.[33] He is the cousin of 98.5 The Sports Hub radio host Rich Shertenlieb.
