Drew Goddard (born February 26, 1975) is an American film and television screenwriter, director and producer best known for his collaborations with Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, The Cabin in the Woods) and J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Cloverfield).

Goddard joined the crew of Lost as a freelance writer for the first season in 2004. Goddard and the writing staff won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2006 ceremony for their work on the season. Goddard rejoined the crew as a supervising producer and writer for the third season in 2006. He was promoted to co-executive producer mid-season. The writing staff were nominated for the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series again at the February 2007 ceremony for their work on the second and third seasons. Goddard and his co-writer, show runner and executive producer Damon Lindelof, were also nominated for the WGA Award for Best Episodic Drama at the February 2008 ceremony for writing the third season episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes". He returned as a co-executive producer for the fourth season in 2007. He was nominated for the WGA award for Best Dramatic Series again at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the fourth season of Lost. Goddard left the crew at the end of the fourth season.

In the Woods is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve year old girl. The novel won several awards such as the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel By An American Author, the 2008 Barry Award for Best First Novel, the 2008 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel, and the 2008 Anthony Award for Best First Novel.

Twenty years prior to the novel's events, twelve year-old Adam and his two best friends failed to come home after playing in the familiar woods bordering their Irish housing estate. A search is called by the families, and the police find Adam shivering, clawing the bark of a nearby tree, blood on his shoes and slash marks on his back. He is unable to tell them what happened or where his friends are. His amnesia holds to the present day, where he goes by his middle name, Rob, to avoid the attention of the media to his famous case. His friends were never found.

The plot of the novel circles around the murder of a twelve year old girl, Katy Devlin, whose case Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox are given to investigate. The body is found in the same woods where Rob’s friends disappeared, at an archeological dig site, and the coincidence is enough to make Rob nervous, though he insists to his partner that he is fine.

James Donald "Jim" Root (born October 2, 1971), also known by his number #4, is an American musician known for being the guitarist for the metal band Slipknot, and for the rock band Stone Sour. He shares lead and rhythm guitar duties in both bands. He was the last member to join the current line-up of Slipknot, in January 1999.

James Root has performed in bands such as Atomic Opera, Deadfront and Stone Sour; the latter which he joined in 1995, and returned to along with vocalist Corey Taylor, during its revival in 2002. Prior to joining Slipknot, he worked as a screenprinter, waiter, and busboy. Root joined the band in January 1999, replacing their original guitarist, Josh Brainard, who left the band during the recording of their self-titled album, reportedly after having fulfilled his recording duties. In fact, the only two songs Root recorded during the album's sessions were "Purity" and "Me Inside", the former being featured on the short-lived first pressing of Slipknot as well as the 10th Anniversary Edition, and the latter being its replacement. Despite this, the song has become a staple for most of the band's live performances. Slipknot vocalist Corey Taylor invited Root to join the band based on Taylor's past experiences working with him in Stone Sour. Although filling in the spot of rhythm guitar in 1999, Root has written lead guitar parts for Slipknot's later albums particularly on All Hope is Gone. Root typically performs on lead guitar in Stone Sour, although he sometimes plays rhythm instead. He has spoken of both bands' guitar style as being twin guitar: "In both bands, I fulfill both roles. In Slipknot, Mick [Thomson] has some solos, and in Stone Sour, Josh [Rand] has some solos." During the recording of Stone Sour's Audio Secrecy, he and Rand recorded their parts simultaneously.

Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon ( /ˈwiːdən/; born June 23, 1964) is an American screenwriter, executive producer, director, comic book writer, occasional composer and actor, founder of Mutant Enemy Productions and co-creator of Bellwether Pictures. He is best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003), Angel (1999–2004), Firefly (2002) and Dollhouse (2009–2010), as well as the short film Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008). Whedon co-wrote and produced the horror film The Cabin in the Woods (2012), and wrote and directed the film adaptation of Marvel's The Avengers (2012).

He is also notable for his work in film, comic books, and online media. Many of Whedon's projects enjoy cult status.

Joss Whedon was born in New York City. He has been described as the world's first third-generation TV writer, as he is the son of Tom Whedon, a screenwriter for The Electric Company in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s. His mother, Lee Stearns, taught history at Riverdale Country School as Lee Whedon, and was an unpublished novelist. Joss Whedon is the younger brother of Samuel and Matthew Whedon and older brother of writers Jed Whedon and Zack Whedon.

Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed. Before these, he worked on reviewing scripts at Paramount, Fox, and Alan Ladd studios.

Lindelof is a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, where he attended Teaneck High School, a school whose diverse student body he credits with expanding his horizons as a writer. He celebrated his bar mitzvah in Teaneck, where he would join his family at synagogue on the Sabbath, and recounted how the fact that "I was a Jewish white kid growing up in Teaneck, but at the same time, I had African and Filipino and Asian friends and to have that experience all through high school while getting an awesome education was wonderful." Lindelof attended film school at New York University, performing briefly in the band Petting Zoo, and moved to Los Angeles after graduating.