Charles Rogers (director)

Charles Rogers created the 2016 comedy/mystery TBS television series Search Party, along with Michael Showalter and Sarah-Violet Bliss, which stars Alia Shawkat as Dory, John Early as Elliott, John Reynolds as Drew, Meredith Hagner as Portia, and Brandon Micheal Hall as Julian.[1] The first season focuses on the disappearance of Dory's college acquaintance Chantal Witherbottom (Clare McNulty), whom she sets out to find, with Drew, Elliott, and Portia reluctantly joining her investigation. While her friends also deal with difficulties in their own lives, Dory focuses on her pursuit of Chantal, believing her to be in danger. The second season focuses on the death of Keith Powell (Ron Livingston), a private investigator who is killed as a result of Dory mistakenly believing him to be a threat to Chantal. As the group struggles to return to their normal lives, they also attempt to cover up Keith's death, which affects them in various ways.

Search Party received critical acclaim; the Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "tightly made and effective on multiple levels",[2] GQ wrote that it is "a flawless oddity, a once-in-a-lifetime piece of art. It's not the weekend's best show, it's the year's best."[3] and the series holds a 100% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 20 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10.[4] On Metacritic, the season holds a rating of 81 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[5] The second season of Search Party premiered on TBS on November 19, 2017 and received positive reviews from television critics. It holds a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes[6] and was called a "biting satire made for the Trump era" by Vanity Fair.[7]

His 2014 film Fort Tilden, written and directed in collaboration with Sarah-Violet Bliss, starring Bridey Elliott and Clare McNulty premiered at SXSW, where it won the Grand Jury Award and was subsequently acquired by revived Orion Pictures. The film, which centers on two inept best friends on a disastrous journey to the beach, was released on August 14, 2015 theatrically and through video on demand.[8][9][10][11] The film received generally positive reviews from major critics. Andy Webster of The New York Times said that "rarely has a movie so humorously illustrated the meaning of 'frenemy'", David Edelstein of New York Magazine called Fort Tilden "a brisk comedy packed with sharply drawn characters", and Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times said that the film "has an easy, funky groove and captures the sweaty perfection of a New York City summer, where things always look better on Instagram".[12][13][14]

Charles Rogers is a graduate of the New York University Tisch School of the Arts MFA film directing program.

He, along with Jordan Firstman, co-wrote and co-starred in the short film Men Don't Whisper, which was an official selection at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival[15] as well as the 2018 South by Southwest Film Festival.[16] The film follows a gay couple with masculinity issues who attempt to sleep with women. It is produced by JASH and also stars Fort Tilden and Search Party actors Bridey Elliott and Clare McNulty, as well as a guest appearance by SNL alum Cheri Oteri.[17]

Rogers is also one of the filmmakers behind the multi-director feature film Black Dog, Red Dog, produced by James Franco and Rabbit Bandini Productions, starring Logan Marshall-Green, Chloe Sevigny, and Whoopi Goldberg, which premiered at the 2015 International Film Festival of Guanajuato.[18][19][20] The film was a class project at the NYU Graduate Film program, taught by James Franco, wherein ten student filmmakers adapted the poetry of Stephen Dobyns.[21]

In addition to his work on Search Party, Rogers has worked as a writer on the first and second seasons of the Netflix series Wet Hot American Summer as well as for the second season of the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle which won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy.

Rogers, along with comedian and multi-media artist, Casey Jane Ellison, co-hosted the Earwolf produced limited series podcast, The Problem with Charles and Casey, which premiered on March 31, 2019. The podcast featured in-depth interviews with guests, Louie Anderson, Jessica Williams, Starlee Kine, Tierney Finster, Jordan Firstman, Michelle Badillo, and Chelsea Peretti, about a problem they are facing in their lives.[22]