AFF Damon Lindelof Panel recap

Thanks to Odul for the heads up.

“Lost” co-creator Damon Lindelof, “Freaks and Geeks” creator Paul Feig and late-night comedy writer Chuck Sklar met Saturday afternoon in the ballroom of the Driskill Hotel to discuss how pilot scripts written on speculation become successful prime-time television shows.

It turns out the panel’s premise was kind of faulty: While Sklar has sold three pilot scripts, none was ever produced; as Feig pointed out, “freaks and Geeks,” while a cult favorite, could hardly be classified as successful, having been cancelled after it’s freshman season; and “Lost?” Lindelof called it “an unmitigated disaster.”

Here are some highlights of the discussion:

On “Lost”: “Lost” was an unmitigated disaster. I am the worst person to be on this panel,” Lindelof said. Outgoing ABC Entertainment Group President Lloyd Braun decided to make the most expensive pilot ever as a (expletive) you.” The network had a pilot script called “Nowhere,” that was basically pretty, shirtless people romping around on a beach, Lindelof said. ABC liked the idea of a plane-crash, island show, but wanted it re-written. “Our idea was that it would be a mystery show. Heavy serialized and supernatural.” He says the show wasn’t his and co-creator Carlton Cuse’s idea, but they tried to make it their best. “They tested it and it tested well; they picked it up,” he said.

“As we were writing the pilot, the network wanted us to create the show’s ‘bible’, but until you’re actually doing it you don’t know what’s going to work and not work,” he added. “That’s like asking somebody on the morning of their wedding day, ‘How are you going to raise your kids?’ One of these days we’ll let the public see this ‘bible’ and they can see how quickly we deviated from it.”

Source: Full Article@Austin360