The guide was the means of selling the show, its elements and concepts to the network in order to get a green light to produce the series. It was critical that what was said in the guide was truthful and useful to the network in its decision making process.
The guide concluded:
LOST is a unique animal in the television landscape. When we first considered bringing this idea
to life just three -months ago, our knee-jerk reaction to what is - at its purest level, a castaway
show- well, quite frankly, we didn't think it could be done.
We've changed our mind.
There is a show here. Not just a few episodes, but a real series.
Hopefully, we've answered some concerns. The story ideas really are limitless- in fact, we've had several conversations about what a second and third season might look like. We've discussed ways to have characters recur and how to figure out limited arcs that don't infringe on our "self-contained" episodic mandate. Please remember, this format is just a SUMMARY of all the work we have done in the past nine weeks.
We really believe that LOST is unlike anything we've seen before on television. From the unbelievable setting to the unique cast made up of mostly new and exciting faces (not to mention the largest ensemble of any show on the air), LOST offers something for everyone - a show tailor-made to appeal to the broadest audience possible.
Hip. Frightening. Funny. Mysterious. Romantic. Cinematic.
But more than anything, unexpected.
We thank you for your time. Your consideration.
And again, the opportunity. Hopefully, we can all get LOST together.
There are a few key statements to pull from this conclusion:
1. The writer's guide took 9 weeks to prepare.
2. TPTB admit that they had a network "mandate" to have "self-contained" episodes.
3. The story ideas, while limitless, were not fully fleshed out in the guide summaries.
4. TPTB admit they had their own doubts about showrunning a purely castaway show.
5. TPTB state that they have only had "conversations" about what the second and third season might look like.
6. Everyone wants to appeal to the "broadest audience possible."
The credo for the show was stated as being hip, frightening, funny, mysterious, romantic, cinematic and unexpected (which must mean out-of-the-blue plot twists). Those are lofty goals, but used to help sell ABC on buying the LOST franchise.
There really is nothing contained in the guide that shows that the producers could actually pull off three seasons of LOST. To the contrary, it seems that the sales pitch was more on general expectation of greatness than a solid foundational mythology and direction for the show. The producers made their hard sell and won. But did the hard sell actually meet fan or network expectations in its story execution?
After 9 weeks of guide preparation, the producers found only 30 story ideas in which to cull a first season. For some reason, that seems kind of sparse. One would have thought it would raise a red flag that the producers had "doubts" about their ability to carry a survivor in lost paradise story for more than a season. But they only had ideas to bolster their own view that they could pull off something unique to television (what that unique aspect of the show was never addressed in the guide itself). The guide could have sprouted brain storm ideas with the network or other writers which would shape the first season, but that would seem to defeat the point of creating the plots in the guide. The network wanted to see a truly full formed series before green lighting the project. There were several good story ideas and character traits listed in the guide, which would be the foundational starting point to create a deep and layered continuity book, but for no apparent reason many of those elements were quickly abandoned or changed by TPTB.
From a historical perspective, some of the ABC executives who were initially in on the LOST presentations left the network. There were new people who inherited the project, and may have either dismissed the prior briefings or decided it was best to give Abrams carte blanche to create the series he wanted to make (since he was the hottest talent in Hollywood at the time). But Abrams would soon not be a hands on producer for the show - - - he had bigger fish to fry in the movie world. So it could have been the timing of network approval, and schedule shifts and new production staff which caused LOST to lose its original guide outline focus to spin into supernatural tangents and character changes as the seasons progressed during the show.
We've changed our mind.
There is a show here. Not just a few episodes, but a real series.
Hopefully, we've answered some concerns. The story ideas really are limitless- in fact, we've had several conversations about what a second and third season might look like. We've discussed ways to have characters recur and how to figure out limited arcs that don't infringe on our "self-contained" episodic mandate. Please remember, this format is just a SUMMARY of all the work we have done in the past nine weeks.
We really believe that LOST is unlike anything we've seen before on television. From the unbelievable setting to the unique cast made up of mostly new and exciting faces (not to mention the largest ensemble of any show on the air), LOST offers something for everyone - a show tailor-made to appeal to the broadest audience possible.
Hip. Frightening. Funny. Mysterious. Romantic. Cinematic.
But more than anything, unexpected.
We thank you for your time. Your consideration.
And again, the opportunity. Hopefully, we can all get LOST together.
There are a few key statements to pull from this conclusion:
1. The writer's guide took 9 weeks to prepare.
2. TPTB admit that they had a network "mandate" to have "self-contained" episodes.
3. The story ideas, while limitless, were not fully fleshed out in the guide summaries.
4. TPTB admit they had their own doubts about showrunning a purely castaway show.
5. TPTB state that they have only had "conversations" about what the second and third season might look like.
6. Everyone wants to appeal to the "broadest audience possible."
The credo for the show was stated as being hip, frightening, funny, mysterious, romantic, cinematic and unexpected (which must mean out-of-the-blue plot twists). Those are lofty goals, but used to help sell ABC on buying the LOST franchise.
There really is nothing contained in the guide that shows that the producers could actually pull off three seasons of LOST. To the contrary, it seems that the sales pitch was more on general expectation of greatness than a solid foundational mythology and direction for the show. The producers made their hard sell and won. But did the hard sell actually meet fan or network expectations in its story execution?
After 9 weeks of guide preparation, the producers found only 30 story ideas in which to cull a first season. For some reason, that seems kind of sparse. One would have thought it would raise a red flag that the producers had "doubts" about their ability to carry a survivor in lost paradise story for more than a season. But they only had ideas to bolster their own view that they could pull off something unique to television (what that unique aspect of the show was never addressed in the guide itself). The guide could have sprouted brain storm ideas with the network or other writers which would shape the first season, but that would seem to defeat the point of creating the plots in the guide. The network wanted to see a truly full formed series before green lighting the project. There were several good story ideas and character traits listed in the guide, which would be the foundational starting point to create a deep and layered continuity book, but for no apparent reason many of those elements were quickly abandoned or changed by TPTB.
From a historical perspective, some of the ABC executives who were initially in on the LOST presentations left the network. There were new people who inherited the project, and may have either dismissed the prior briefings or decided it was best to give Abrams carte blanche to create the series he wanted to make (since he was the hottest talent in Hollywood at the time). But Abrams would soon not be a hands on producer for the show - - - he had bigger fish to fry in the movie world. So it could have been the timing of network approval, and schedule shifts and new production staff which caused LOST to lose its original guide outline focus to spin into supernatural tangents and character changes as the seasons progressed during the show.
