How Lost Happens

Ever wonder how the best show in the history of television gets made? It's a slow news week, and I'm stoked for this week's Michael-centric episode, so here's a peek at how an episode of Lost comes to life in three general phases:

1. Pre-Production
There are 8 writers currently working for Lost out of Los Angeles. First, they all get together in a big room and "break" an episode as a group (the main plot is outlined). Then just two writers are chosen to take this outline and write a first draft together. Another group meeting takes place, where all the writers chime in on what works and what doesn't in the first draft. The two writers responsible for that episode then do a rewrite, and then finally the show-runner takes the script and does a final polish on the episode. Here are the 8 writers on Lost:

Carlton Cuse - Showrunner, Executive Producer, and Writer
Carlton is the top of the food chain. As the showrunner, he's responsible for preproduction tasks like script assignments and character arcs, as well as production concerns like budgets. Carlton got famous as a creator/producer of Nash Bridges. On Lost, he's also the voice you hear at the beginning of each episode ("Previously, on Lost..."), as well as the voice of Jacob ("Help...me...").

Damon Lindelof - Co-Creator, Executive Producer, and Head WriterDamon was one of the original minds behind the show, along with J. J. Abrams. When J. J. left to make movies, he put the creative reigns in Damon's hands. Most of the series' key episodes were written by him and Carlton Cuse (including all of the season premieres and finales). Damon graduated from NYU, is an avid Star Wars fan, and used to work on Crossing Jordan. In the Season Three finale, he was the voice of the captain on Jack's flight.

Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis - Supervising Producers and Writers
This dynamic duo has been writing together for over 12 years, and have been writing for Lost since Season 1. This season, they collaborated on The Economist.

Brian K. Vaughan - Executive Story Editor and WriterVaughan's role as Story Editor is to help out the two writers assigned to each episode, giving them feedback and advice while they work on their first and final drafts. He comes to Lost from the world of comics, having written for both DC and Marvel, most notably creating and writing the Y: The Last Man series, soon to be a feature film.

Drew Goddard - Staff Writer
Drew used to write for Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Alias. More recently, he wrote the screenplay for Cloverfield. On Lost, he's responsible for some of the very best episodes, like Desmond's Flashes Before Your Eyes and Ben's The Man Behind the Curtain.

Christina M. Kim - Staff Writer and Story EditorLost is Christina's first job as a writer for television. Can you believe that?! I'd like a position, please, if you're just giving them away to newbs!

Elizabeth Sarnoff - Staff Writer and Supervising Producer
Sarnoff usually writes in tandem with Christina M. Kim. How sexually segregated!

2. Production
Once an episode's script is finalized, it goes to the desk of Script Coordinator Gregg Nations, who checks it for copyright violations and continuity errors, marks it up for the production team, and sends it across the Pacific to Hawaii.

Once the script gets to Hawaii, it's up to on-site Production Manager Pat Churchill and Producer Jean Higgins to get the production crews rolling. Pre-scouted locations and sets are prepped and dressed. Grips rig up the lights, gaffers run the wires, and Propmaster Rob Kyker creates anything the actors need to use.

And while over a dozen individual directors have helmed episodes of Lost, an overwhelming majority of them have been filmed by one of two men:

Jack Bender - In-House Director and Executive Producer
Walkabout; Exodus Part 1; Exodus Part 2; Orientation; Live Together, Die Alone; A Tale of Two Cities; Through the Looking Glass; The Constant, to name a few.

Stephen Williams - In-House Director and Co-Executive ProducerAdrift; Lockdown; Not In Portland; Enter 77; Confirmed Dead, to name a few.

And to help these directors, be they "in-house" like Bender and Williams, or guest directors like Eric Laneuville, is First Assistant Director Richard "Schro" Schroer, otherwise known as the skinny guy in the loud shirt:3. Post-Production
Once an episode is filmed in Hawaii (even flashbacks set in places like Iraq, Africa, or London), the film reels are shipped back over the Pacific to Los Angeles, where the "dailies" (raw footage) are delivered to 1)The Executive Producers to review, and 2)the editor assigned to the episode. The majority of Lost episodes are edited by Stephen Semel, who also appeared in a cameo in Juliet's book club as "Adam".

Once the raw footage is cut, it goes to composer Michael Giacchino for scoring, Foley Artists for sound effects, and a sound studio for ADR.

That's a Wrap!
After seeing all of the steps each episode goes through, you can see why Lost has to take a month-long break after this week. The writers and the production team completely stopped working for three months due to the strike, so now they're way behind. At least we get 5 brand-new hours of Lost come April 24th. Lindelof and Cuse just revealed that they've finished the script for episode 9, but are still working on episodes 10 and 11. Talk about cutting it close!

This week's episode, Meet Kevin Johnson, was directed by Stephen Williams and co-written by Brian K. Vaughan and Elizabeth Sarnoff. Isn't it nice to be able to put faces with those names now?

Finally, in retroactive celebration of St. Patrick's Day, I give you the best rendition of "Danny Boy" I've ever heard: