A new 14-minute clip from the Showrunners documentary about big-time television producers has been released! This clip features Lost showrunner Carlton Cuse, and several of the writers and producers he worked with on the show, who talk about the process of developing a TV show, and working in the writers’ room!
In the first part of the clip, Carlton Cuse (executive producer of Lost) talks about how he came to work on the show, and his experiences as showrunner (“it’s kind of like being an army general”). Other writers and producers of the show talk about working with him, and Edward Kitsis, another writer, sums up what the work is like: “At the end of the day, it’s kind of cool to get to make a living sitting around a table saying, ‘What if?'”
Carlton Cuse talks about coming to the show, and makes an interesting comment about the beginning of Lost and the balance between having a plan and making it up as you go along:
You know, anyone who says right at the beginning, ‘I know exactly what my show’s gonna be, I know how it’s supposed to go,’ they’re either lying or they’re kidding themselves. There’s a process of discovery when you make a television show, you have certain ideas, but they you have to test those ideas and then see if they work. […] You can’t try to force your story down a particular road.
One of the main issues with Lost was always the balance between the characters and the mythology. Carlton Cuse addresses this, too:
Every question we were asked about the show was about the mythology. But for us, the mythology was always the icing on the cake. The cake itself were the stories about these characters, and that’s what we tried to focus on in the writers’ room.
There are so many great pieces of background information in this clip, and if this is anything to go by, this documentary will provide unprecedented insight into this coveted business. I for once can’t wait to watch it in full!