THE BIG LIE

One of the reasons that LOST's show runners no longer wish to talk about their breakthrough series quietly came to light last year. The original pitch and writer's guide for the series leaked into cyberspace. It may be why the producers will no longer field questions about the series.

There is an old adage that medical doctors bury their mistakes. The same could be true for The Powers That Be behind LOST. By twisting the plot to create a situation where all the characters are DEAD in the End basically eliminates any possibility for a sequel. Any sequel would have to explain the original, but TPTB never wanted or never could explain the original.

The producers and writers suddenly found themselves with a hit series. The hook that drew viewers into the show was a diverse cast of plane crash survivors on a mysterious island. So TPTB continued to throw out more and more mysteries to keep the show on the air. In essence, the writers created their own pyramid scheme of unanswered questions that continued to pile up so viewers would begin to forget them. Just like all deceptive cons, the weight of The Big Lie will eventually collapse the foundation of credibility of the entire scheme.

ABC had concerns about the show and how it would unwind its mysteries. ABC wanted to make sure that the viewers were going to get what was promised to them: answers to the mysteries. The hippest show on television was going to be so creatively brilliant that the network would have no worries.

/Film interviewed Damon Lindelof who was not happy this document leaked online. This “series format” was never meant for public eyes as its sole purpose was to prove to ABC and its viewers that had to prove to its viewers: that this show was not just scripted Survivor but  a viable show with a long shelf life.

Lindelof explained to /Film that during production of the pilot, a team of writers was tasked with coming up with ideas for the long run of the show, proving it had longevity. After nine weeks of hard work, this document was the result. And it worked. ABC picked up the show, which never would have happened without this document. However, once those writers got to writing the actual series, many of these ideas got thrown away.

This working series format document is more than 20 pages. It made points that sold the series to ABC Network.

• The document claims the show will be self-contained and not have a serialized structure. “We promise.”
• It says the show won’t fit into one specific “franchise,” but instead can be many genres, such as a doctor show, lawyer show, cop show or character drama.
• Everything in Lost was supposed to have a scientific explanation.
• Claims the show will have no “ultimate mystery.”
• The mystery of “the monster” would be solved in “the first few episodes.”
• Most of the plane’s passengers were never supposed to show up again.
• The characters would live in a “primitive Melrose Place” that could be built on a sound stage.
• Guest stars would be a part of the show.

Once the show was picked up by ABC, the producers trashed the series format document. But many of the show's network promises turned up to be straight up lies.

What is unanswered is why, after the work put into the sales pitch document, did the producers abandon those main story points and promises?