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Castaway-type pilot due
ABC joins the growing list of pilot episodes to be filmed on Oahu within the next two months when it shoots the hourlong drama "LOST," scheduled in March.
The story follows a group of people stuck on a Pacific island who are forced to build a new society after surviving a plane crash. The script is from J.J. Abrams ("Alias") and Damon Lindelof ("Crossing Jordan"). The project is a revamped version of "Nowhere," a drama from executive producer Aaron Spelling and writer Jeff Lieber.
ABC Entertainment TV chairman Lloyd Braun is reportedly enthusiastic about the concept.
The primary casting is being done in Los Angeles and ABC reportedly has ordered a pilot and six additional scripts for the new project from Disney's Touchstone Television, with Abrams and Lindelof executive producing.
"Portions, if not all, have to be shot in an exotic locale," Touchstone TV president Steve McPherson told Variety. "This is not something that can be shot in the Santa Monica Canyon."
Location scouting was done for three days last week with emphasis on jungle and beach settings at Kualoa Ranch and windward beach sites. The show's unit production manager arrived yesterday.
Hawaii has had a long relationship with Disney film and television, and cooperated on last year's production here of the series "My Wife and Kids."
Other pilots to film here include NBC's "Pearl City," Fox Television's "Oahu" and WB's "Rocky Point." NBC has set up shop at the Hawaii Film Studio and Fox is at Turtle Bay Resort.
NBC also will film the castaway-type pilot "Eden," from "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett, about young people on a summer study cruise who end up shipwrecked on a remote tropical island.
THE ONSLAUGHT of productions won't strain local film crew because there are more than 400 members and some of the pilots' filming schedules are being staggered, said Carolyn Bowden, IATSE's international representative and co-trustee of Local 665.
"Both the NBC and Fox shows are pretty much staffed with our members and the other pilots will be filmed after these are finished so there won't be a shortage," she said.
"Certainly my crew has so much experience shooting in a remote location, it doesn't faze me at all," McPherson said. "I'm used to taking a 400-person crew for up to 90 days and still coming in (at a smaller budget) than a show shot in Burbank."
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