Friday, July 01, 2005

Q. So basically...can a LOST spec involve an "Artz" as the A story?

Bumping up a secondary character to the A story is one way to pitch a LOST spec, I guess. You'd have to make what's happening with that character not only urgent to himself but also urgent to the main players. Because what you're showing in a spec is not how original you are, but how original you can be within the template of the show. You're showing that you can write the Skipper and Mary Anne and-- oh, sorry, wrong show. The most important thing is that it feel like a bonafide episode of the show.

If you look at the show, some apparently minor characters have got their own episodes, on their way to being more important. Hurley didn't seem like he was crucial to the plot until "his" episode. Then he became more central. So the template does allow you to promote minor characters.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this? LOST seems like a particularly awkward show to spec, yet it's a popular spec, I'm told. Has anyone written a LOST spec?

10:03 AM

4 Comments:

It seems to me that if drama writers stay away from writing specs for shows like LOST, then all the specs out there will be some retread of CSI or L&O. It might not be easy, but there's got to be a way to approach these other shows.

By  Unknown, at 11:44 AM  

"Anyone else want to weigh in on this? LOST seems like a particularly awkward show to spec, yet it's a popular spec, I'm told. Has anyone written a LOST spec?"

I have not written a LOST spec, but it seems to me to be an easy show to write for just the reason you cite: you can take a minor character and show how he/she relates to the others. Since flashbacks are part of the structure of any episode at any time you could work anyone into it. That allows you to shake things up quite a bit.

Certainly there has to be an episode where one or more of the background characters comment on the actions of the leads, providing a different perspective to actions, arguements, etc...there has to be one of the survivors thinking, "why are they always going off into the jungle and leaving the rest of us behind?"

By  Cunningham, at 10:51 PM  

isn't writing a TV spec the same as a movie in the essence that you are just showing off your writing style? that you can do it? Abrams probably has 3-4 irons in the fire warming up so maybe he reads your Lost spec and recognizes your talent may be put to better use on one of his other shows? so it is better to go ahead and do the Lost spec as a business card submission

By  Anonymous, at 10:55 PM  

I got a job in part because of a Lost spec and I am skeptical about centering a Lost spec on a character like Arzt, who showed up for only a couple episodes before dying. In an average episode of Lost, I'd estimate that 20% is flashback, 40% focuses on the A story on the island involving the character featured in the flashback, and 40% is on anything else going on the island. If you were to choose a character like Arzt, 60% of the show would be centered on an irrelevant character. If you want to prove you can write Lost, that includes writing for the regulars. There are over a dozen characters, and you can pick and choose which ones to emphasize in the spec.

And I wouldn't classify Hurley as a minor character in the same way that Arzt was a minor character. One's a regular who's played supporting roles in many stories throughout the series, and the other was a guest star for a couple of episodes. Hurley's not a lead like Jack and Kate, but he's no Arzt, whose greatest impact on the story was his death.

By  Peter, at 1:03 AM  

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