THE ongoing Hollywood writers’ strike is now threatening to halt “Lost.”
The popular ABC drama, which is slated to return for its latest season in February, will run out of scripts and end filming on Nov. 30, the Honolulu Advertiser reports.
The show is the only network drama filmed in Hawaii.
Since the writers’ strike began almost three weeks ago, filming on “Lost” has continued on O’ahu, which doubles as the mysterious jungle island where the show takes place.
ABC officials still hope to start the new season on time, but if filming is stopped for an extended period, the serial drama may be facing the same fate as “24.”
That show has been postponed indefinitely because, like for “Lost,” network executives do not plan to air the edge-of-your-seat serial with repeats.
Meanwhile, “Lost” co-creator Carlton Cuse has said that “Lost” mini Webisodes are unfurling on ABC.com. A series of 13 two-to-three-minute shorts feature previously-undisclosed information about the characters on the show and could be used as a model to end the strike.
The cast, crew and writers of the Web shorts are being paid through separate deals from the show for their work on the Internet-only shorts.
He says it took five months to hammer out a deal with the various Hollywood unions over the shorts, but in the end, the project delivered the same kind of results – residuals for Web and other digital-based work – that the writers union is currently fighting for, according to The New York Times.