how long?

pkumohideeile

how long will lost run for? i heard they decided this about a month or more ago and i haven't been able to find anything on it. just rumours.

upmeath

ABC and the producers/writers met about a month ago alright, they discussed how much longer they could afford to keep the show going for, because each episode costs an average of $2.5m to make and viewer numbers are sliding worldwide. I think 4 seasons was the agreed limit I heard from conversation with other Losties but I haven't seen it in trustworthy print in papers or online!

Sad Professor

Back in January Lindelof said ideally he would like to finish the show around 100 episodes. At the end of season 4 they will have completed 93 episodes. And then a shorter 5th season would wrap everything up..

upmeath

Yeah bare in mind there's also been talk of a Lost movie as a way of both finishing the series AND cashing in on the bigtime (the highest paid members of cast earned a measly $40,000 from the second season, imagine what a feature-length film would earn them at the box office! $$$$$$$)
A lot of the actors and actresses are pretty much guaranteed lead roles in Hollywood after this, working in a serial for 3 or 4 seasons establishes your suitability to certain roles and casting directors always pick up on that sort of thing.

Watch out for Kate to play anything remotely Lara Croft-esque, Eko to be a bad ass west-African drugdealer, Charlie to feature in a graphical biography of the Gallagher brothers lives, etc... in Hollywood in years to come.

ZiabR

Sad Professor wrote:

Back in January Lindelof said ideally he would like to finish the show around 100 episodes. At the end of season 4 they will have completed 93 episodes. And then a shorter 5th season would wrap everything up..

I think they are just going to go 4 seasons. There is no point in making a really short season. They may just make season 4 longer to fill in the ep's.

Star Lord

Am I the only one that would like 5 seasons rather than only one more season?

ZiabR

DamoElDiablo wrote:

Am I the only one that would like 5 seasons rather than only one more season?

That would mean a further 59 ep's from here to the end. That seems alot to me and i am just unsure if they could drag the show out for another 59 ep's. I don't want to see LOST damaged because the writers are money hungry. It would be better with 4 seasons, as thats plenty of time to reveal all .

Zombrex

Sad Professor wrote:

Back in January Lindelof said ideally he would like to finish the show around 100 episodes. At the end of season 4 they will have completed 93 episodes. And then a shorter 5th season would wrap everything up..

4 sessions and a movie?

I would imagine that if people knew that the next series was the last they would come back to the series in droves. The biggest problem for the audience is the idea that all the secrets are just dragging on and on, and any time you think you are going to get a resolution to something you just get more nonsense. If people knew that they actually were going to get resolution they might put up with it more.

kinda lost

I love lost and this season is rocking but i think 4 seasons and a movie sounds great.I just Cant wait anymore for everything to be explained.

man1

upmeath wrote:

the highest paid members of cast earned a measly $40,000 from the second season, imagine what a feature-length film would earn them at the box office! $$$$$$$

Is that per episode or season? Cant imagine they would only get that for the whole season?

upmeath wrote:

Watch out for Kate to play anything remotely Lara Croft-esque, Eko to be a bad ass west-African drugdealer, Charlie to feature in a graphical biography of the Gallagher brothers lives, etc... in Hollywood in years to come.

Locke to star in Macgyver the movie.

upmeath

man1 wrote:

Is that per episode or season? Cant imagine they would only get that for the whole season?

For the entire second season ie. $1500-2000 per episode depending on the character in question and how many episodes the actor/actress is needed for. I read that (on what was possibly the LA Times website, but I'm unable to find the figures again now after having a quick google) around 6-8 months ago and I couldn't believe it myself, but then again, it is the Los Angeles Times and that's a fairly trustworthy source! It's no wonder then that there's talk of a blockbuster Hollywood-esque movie to finish it off...

Expect it to be called:
LOST: THE SHOWDOWN/FINALE/THE BITTER END/RESOLUTION/WRESTLEMANIA

Locke to star in Macgyver the movie.

LOL

qwertplaywert

i hear the actors, in return for basically signing contracts gauranteeing them to stay if required for years, are to be paid 100's of thousands each for the movie.....with the likes of mathew fox on 1 million plus
only a rumor though

AdMMM

I can't imagine that they'd only get $40,000 a season! The Friends cast were on $50,000 per episode when the show was in it's prime!

upmeath

qwertplaywert wrote:

i hear the actors, in return for basically signing contracts gauranteeing them to stay if required for years, are to be paid 100's of thousands each for the movie...

That's the thing, there's millions to be made for each of them if this thing goes to the box office for a finale.

Sad Professor

A movie as a finale would be a really really bad idea imo. They'd just end up trying to resolve all the mysteries/questions in 2 hours, with much of the running time taken up with explosions and other formulaic bs to try and draw in the crowds. Remember the X-files movie? It would be just like that. The ensemble and flashback nature of the show would never translate to a movie so most of the characters and mythology would get shafted.

No, it's a tv show, keep it a tv show. A shorter 5th season or mini-series would a perfect way of tying everything up.

man1

|.Murderer.| wrote:

I can't imagine that they'd only get $40,000 a season! The Friends cast were on $50,000 per episode when the show was in it's prime!

Correction, the friends cast were on a cool million ($) each per EPISODE (not series) for the last season and it was about 500,000 to 750,000 each per episode from about season 6 onwards. Lucky BAST***S.

ixoy

upmeath wrote:

For the entire second season ie. $1500-2000 per episode depending on the character in question and how many episodes the actor/actress is needed for

Sorry but that's just completely wrong! It's way too low!

Here's some other articles on their actual wages!

Firstly from NBC:

The studio’s pre-emptive offer would see the actors earn almost $80,000 each an episode next season, the show’s third, up from a range of about $20,000-$40,000 for most cast members this season.

From Zap2it:

Most of the "Lost" cast makes between $20,000 and $40,000 per episode, the HR says -- hardly peanuts but not exactly at the top of the pay scale for TV hits either. The raises, which would kick in next season, would bring the actors' pay to the $80,000-per-episode range. That's in line with what the stars of ABC's "Desperate Housewives," which along with "Lost" helped ABC turn its fortunes around last season.

From People (quoting the Hollywood Reporter):

For signing on to an extra year on the ABC ratings hit, Touchstone Television has offered all original members of the ensemble – including Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Naveen Andrews, Dominic Monaghan, Terry O'Quinn, Jorge Garcia, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim and Harold Perrineau – nearly $80,000 each per episode next season, says the Hollywood Reporter.

... And so on. Nice work if you can get it.

Cina

Doesn't exactly work it too badly for them though does it? 50k an episode isn't a lot for a massive show but ... they get to live on Hawaii for 9 months and year and bear in mind that most of the cast only appear in 15/16 episodes out of the 24 (bar the main 4 - Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Locke)
Still though, apparently what the actors have a problem with is that unlike many other shows, Lost involves running around a jungle in sweaty clothes etc and doing hard things .. or whatever.

ZiabR

I hope we don't get a movie tbh. It will be fine with 4 full seasons. Leaves them tonnes of time to explain all to us .

PCros

Their wages are small considering its one of the biggest shows in the world. Scrubs is another huge show and its been confirmed that Zach Braff will be getting $350,000 for every episode on upcoming last series of the show. Niice:D

http://www.tv.com/scrubs/show/3613/story/8980.html?tag=story_list;title;0

ZiabR

PCros wrote:

Their wages are small considering its one of the biggest shows in the world. Scrubs is another huge show and its been confirmed that Zach Braff will be getting $350,000 for every episode on upcoming last series of the show. Niice:D

http://www.tv.com/scrubs/show/3613/story/8980.html?tag=story_list;title;0

The cast in LOST is alot bigger than Scrubs though.

Mellor

upmeath wrote:

A lot of the actors and actresses are pretty much guaranteed lead roles in Hollywood after this, working in a serial for 3 or 4 seasons establishes your suitability to certain roles and casting directors always pick up on that sort of thing.

Charlie to feature in a graphical biography of the Gallagher brothers lives, etc... in Hollywood in years to come.

I imagine that the Lord of the Rings trilogy aleay had him up there on the lists.