LOST Missing Pieces: Modeal Deal for Writers?

Webisodes of ‘Lost’: Model Deal for Writers? - New York Times

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 19 — On the picket lines, striking television and film writers adamantly claim that studios are refusing to pay for the use of writers’ scripts on the Internet.

But ABC Studios is doing just that. Over the next three months fans of the hit show “Lost” can go to ABC.com to view weekly episodes of “Lost: Missing Pieces,” a series of new two- to three-minute shorts that reveal background information and previously undisclosed details about the stranded inhabitants of the show’s mysterious island.

The “Missing Pieces” episodes were produced under an agreement with the writers’ union that provides for much of what the writers say the studios have been refusing to offer.

Payment for the use of material on the Internet will be a central issue keeping the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers apart when they head back to the bargaining table on Monday.

But as the “Lost” example shows, the two sides have found common ground before, and both have shown interest in giving some ground on the issue.

The “Missing Pieces” episodes were written by the regular writers of the television series, a group that includes Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, executive producers of the series, who also oversaw production of the webisodes. They also feature the show’s regular actors and characters, including Matthew Fox, who plays Dr. Jack Shephard. Mr. Fox appears in the first installment, released last week. The writers, actors and others involved in the production were paid specifically for their work on the Web episodes and will earn residual income, just as they do for the broadcast show.

In an interview Mr. Cuse said that while it took five months to reach an agreement, he believes the “Missing Pieces” deal could serve as a template for resolving at least some of the dispute over payment for online use of material.

“I think it is a pretty good model,” he said last week. “What it shows is that there is

basically room for a partnership between writers and the studios in a new medium. It’s where I wish we were headed instead of being stuck in this standoff.”

Damon Explains the Strike

Damon Lindelof is explaining why he is on the picket line in front of the ABC/Disney lot.

"Lost" writers: "Like putting down a Harry Potter book in the middle"

"Lost" writers: "Like putting down a Harry Potter book in the middle":

"“Lost” exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse joined other writers picketing in front of the Walt Disney studio’s front gate, holding up “WGA on Strike” signs and joining a few pro-union chants. “Everybody’s a little saddened and surprised and shocked to be out here,” Lindelof said. “A lot of these people weren’t here in 1988 and don’t know what the word ‘strike’ feels like.” Lindelof and Cuse hit the picket line at 8:30 a.m. with plans to spend several hours. The scribes said the spent much of the weekend putting the finishing touches on episode eight of “Lost,” submitting the script to the network on Friday and tweaking it over the weekend. “We finished writing by mid-afternoon yesterday,” said Cuse, who noted the script was ready to be shot. Disney_strike Lindelof and Cuse said the episode happens to include a small cliffhanger – although not enough to end a season on, should the strike progress and the show not resume production this year. “It will feel like an incomplete season,” Lindelof said. “It will be like putting down a ‘Harry Potter’ book in the middle, at the end of a chapter.”"

How will the strike affect Lost?

How will the strike affect Lost? | Strike, TV Biz | Hollywood Insider | EW.com:

"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.