A Holy Ghost Prep grad is a producer on the spooky Netflix hit ‘Stranger Things’

Netflix’s monster hit series Stranger Things follows a group of teens on the run from ugly monsters who live in an alternate universe, walk through portals, and terrorize residents of small-town Indiana. To my delight it’s also quintessential angst-ridden 1980s teen drama where teens bug out in shopping malls wearing acid wash jeans.

I keep waiting for someone to get gobbled up while trying to solve the riddle of Rubik’s Cube.

Holy Ghost Prep graduate Rand Geiger is the man who makes a lot of the strange things on Stranger Things happen. Geiger, who grew up in Langhorne and now lives in Southern California, is a producer on the Emmy-winning show that last week celebrated its fourth consecutive week at the top of Nielsen’s weekly U.S. streaming rankings.

“This is a dream job,” said Geiger, 38, a 20-year Hollywood veteran. Geiger also produces Netflix’s Shadow and Bone. Past movie credits include FX’s American Crime Story, Rush Hour 3, and both Night at the Museum movies.

“I feel so lucky to work with such talented and passionate filmmakers,” Geiger said. “We have so much fun telling this story.”

On the cusp of its fifth and final season, Stranger Things launched the career of some of Hollywood’s youngest and most sought-after talent including Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Caleb McLaughlin (Lucas), and soon-to-be University of Pennsylvania student, Noah Schnapp (Will). The show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, announced earlier this month they are working on a Stranger Things spin-off.

Let us not forget the pop music phenomenon that is the Stranger Things bump. That’s when a hit song from the 1980s finds new popularity after its featured on the show. Last week, Metallica’s 1986 “Master of Puppets” hit No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Other songs to receive the Stranger Things bump include Kate Bush’s “Running Up the Hill” and Musical Youth’s “Pass the Dutchie.”

Excuse me, while I have this middle school dance flashback.

The show is also at the center of the entertainment industry’s most gossipy headlines. Schnapp confirmed fans’ suspicions in Variety last week that his character, Will is in love with Mike (Finn Wolfhard) And Doja Cat called Schnapp “a whole snake” last week after Schnapp posted on TikTok that Doja Cat asked him to hook her up with co-star Joseph Quinn (Eddie Munson). Schnapp picked up close to one million followers. Doja Cat lost 200,000.

We chatted with Geiger about the coolness of the Stranger Things gig, how he went from Holy Ghost Prep student to monster manager and his ‘80s memories. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

I’m what you call a physical producer. I work with the filmmaker to hire the crews, run the schedule, and keep them on budget. I work with sound and music. I work with the special effects team and with marketing and publicity. I deal with everything that happens after the series is shot. As a physical producer, I bring the whole show together. And I handle any obstacles that pop up. I give the Duffer brothers the tools they need to help them realize their vision.

I knew after reading the script seven years ago that we would approach Stranger Things like a movie, and the only other place where that was happening on episodic TV back then was Game of Thrones. During the first season we decided to lean into special effects so the Demogorgon (the really ugly, scary monster in the first season) was a man in a suit. In seasons 2 and 3 we stepped up the digital effects as we started to show bodies dissolving into goo. This season the horror, it’s just fantastical.

Nora Felder [Stranger Things’ music supervisor] does a great job. It’s been really fun seeing these songs that I listened to growing up making their way back up the charts. We had a sense that “Master of Puppets” was going to be a cool moment especially when we were able to get Robert Trujillo, the bassist for Metallica, and his son, Tye Trujillo, to lay down some additional guitar tracks for that final scene in the season 4 finale.

For sure. I watched movies like The Goonies (The 1985 movie starring Sean Austin and Corey Feldman that inspired the show’s main characters.) I remember when our family got our first computer and printer in 1987, that was the same printer that Suzy (Gabriella Pizzolo) uses. My family room had a circular table where we all gathered for dinner like many of the kids do. My friends and I rode our bikes everywhere: around the development near Maple Point Middle School, down to Styer Orchard, and down to the video store.

No, but I was a TV geek. I was the guy who when I stayed home from school I could tell you what I would watch every moment of the day. I would watch USA Network and watch all the old shows like Ned & Stacey, Boston Common, The Naked Truth, Wings, and Murphy Brown. In the afternoon, I’d turn to VH1 and catch some Behind the Music, then I’d turn to Sports Center. Then I’d go back to USA and watch Boy Meets World, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Simpsons, Friends, Seinfeld, and Saved by the Bell.

I joined the debate team at Holy Ghost Prep and got interested in acting from there. I studied television and radio at Ithaca College, spent a semester in Los Angeles and spent a semester as an intern at 20th Century Fox. I came back to Los Angeles as a post-production assistant after graduation and worked on the first Night at the Museum. I made a lot of lasting contacts there including Shawn Levy, who is one of the executive producers of Stranger Things.

I’m working on the upcoming Netflix limited series All the Light We Cannot See, [starring Mark Ruffalo (The Avengers), Lois Hoffman, and Hugh Laurie (House)] We are also working on season 2 of the Netflix fantasy series Shadow and Bone.