CREATORS Firebirds vs. Atlanta Empire 2021
ONE to WATCH Jonas Pate and his runaway hit Outer Banks by WILEY CASH photography by MALLORY CASH
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here is plenty of mystery in the breakout Netflix smash hit Outer Banks — everything from a father lost at sea to a legendary treasure. But behind it all is the enigma that director and co-creator Jonas Pate seems most intent on exploring: what truly divides people along class lines. It’s a theme that has consistently intrigued us, from the Montagues and Capulets to the Jets and Sharks. Pate’s rival groups are similarly aged, sun-kissed teenagers living and partying along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, where a group of working class kids known as the “Pogues” continually find themselves 40 | WALTER
marginalized and dismissed by the “Kooks,” the children of wealthy residents and seasonal tourists. Fists and hearts certainly fly, but despite the show’s use of cliffhangers and actionpacked sequences, at its core Outer Banks investigates the emotional and experiential threads that pull some of us together across class lines while invisible barriers push others of us apart. According to Pate, the divide between the haves and the have nots is “the oldest story in the world. It cuts across everything,” which he believes explains the show’s broad appeal. Broad indeed. In the late spring of 2020, just as the people of the world
were settling into the pandemic and the realization that they did not want to see or hear another word about Tiger King and Joe Exotic, Outer Banks debuted in mid-April and quickly became one of Netflix’s most watched shows of the year. The following summer, the show’s second season hit No. 1 on the Nielsen report. The success seemed immediate, and the show’s slick production quality made it all appear as easy and relaxed as a day on the water, but Jonas Pate and his twin brother, Josh, with whom he created Outer Banks along with Shannon Burke, had spent their whole lives preparing for this moment. The Pate brothers grew up in Raeford,
