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How will the strike affect 'LOST'?
Nov 5, 2007, 03:50 PM
by Lynette Rice
Entertainment Weekly
Nov 5, 2007, 03:50 PM
by Lynette Rice
Entertainment Weekly
So far, the news about what the strike will mean for Lost's return to ABC this winter isn't all that bad, but it could get worse if the picketing persists. According to Lost executive producer Carlton Cuse who was walking the picket line Monday in front of Burbank's Disney lot with fellow EP Damon Lindelof ABC will soon have eight episodes in the can that it can begin airing after the first of the year (ABC has yet to announce a start date, though it seems likely the show will return in February). If the strike is prolonged and the scribes can't get back to work writing the rest of the episodes, fans are going to be stuck with the kind of stunted season they were forced to endure last year. "It will feel like buying a Harry Potter book, reading half of it, and then having to put it down for many months," explains Cuse. "There is a cliffhanger at the end of the eighth episode. It will only be frustrating [for viewers] to have to step away from the show and not see the second half of the season.
"The first half of the season, like a good novel, sets all the events of the show in motion and the second half deals with the consequences," Cuse continued. "We're very proud of the first eight but it feels weird to have to stop literally mid-stream."
"The first half of the season, like a good novel, sets all the events of the show in motion and the second half deals with the consequences," Cuse continued. "We're very proud of the first eight but it feels weird to have to stop literally mid-stream."
Less than two miles away at the ABC/Disney lot, more than 100 scribes were picketing the various gates on the lot where shows like Brothers and Sisters are taped. Adding gravitas to the picket line were showrunners from B&S, Lost, October Road, Reaper, and Kyle XY. "This is extremely important for showrunners," says B&S creator Greg Berlanti. "Writers are going to watch them to see how they behave in this process, and I think its important to remind the studios and fellow writers about what's important and why we are here." Added Carlton Cuse, the Lost exec producer who was walking the picket line with his fellow EP Damon Lindelof: "This is a legacy strike. Its more about the future of the Guild for future writers. Any kind of prolonged strike now will cost writers more now than they will gain in the specific contract. It just feels like one of those seminal turning points where the issue at stake is the future of the residual system."
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