Conception In November 2005, while the early
second season of
Lost was airing,
The Hollywood Reporter reported that twenty-two mobisodes—each spanning several minutes—were expected to be produced in December for a January 2006 release. Zap2it reported that they would later be present on the second season's DVD set and that six would be exclusive to the DVD. Unlike the television series, it would not be produced by
ABC Studios (then named Touchstone Television) and would star non-Screen Actors Guild members; however it would be produced under the oversight of
Damon Lindelof and
Carlton Cuse, like the television series. In response to fan inquiries about
Losts approximately thirty background characters, the
Lost Video Diaries would focus on a self-contained story about two survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 who had not previously been introduced. The
Los Angeles Times confirmed in January 2006–the month scheduled to launch the series–that the mobisodes would be broadcast on V CAST from Verizon Wireless and that each mobisode would span only two minutes. Verizon would ultimately pay ABC $400,000 for the mobisodes.
Postponement Production was delayed when the actors,
directors and
writers guilds refused to support the
spin-off. A deal previously unheard of was negotiated in April, which allowed guild members involved to collect
residuals. This agreement prompted Lindelof and Cuse to develop a storyline for the
Video Diaries that would include
Losts regular characters, although not all of
Losts regular cast signed contracts. According to Touchstone's executive vice president for production Barry Jossen, who would eventually serve as an executive producer on the mobisodes, "They seem to be under the impression that we'll make millions of dollars and they won't". At
San Diego Comic-Con in July, Lindelof and Cuse announced that only thirteen mobisodes would be produced. They would run during the third season's winter hiatus, with none saved exclusively for the third season's DVD set. A sneak peek of the
Video Diaries was also shown at Comic-Con. The new premise featured
Hurley Reyes (played by
Jorge Garcia) finding a functional
Dharma Initiative video camcorder that had Dharma orientation films on it. In the clip, he films
Kate Austen (
Evangeline Lilly) and
James "Sawyer" Ford (
Josh Holloway). During the hiatus, no mobisodes were to be found and clips from upcoming episodes called
Lost Moments aired instead, on television and then ABC.com. In January 2007,
Wizard discovered that ABC was still negotiating the actors' contracts; thus, no mobisodes had been produced, aside from the Comic-Con teaser. In February,
Losts
script coordinator, responding to a fan question, suspected the mobisodes had seemingly been put on hold indefinitely due to an inability to reach a contract agreement.
Revamp s Lindelof and Cuse unveiled the first footage shot for the mobisodes at San Diego Comic-Con in 2006; this footage (along with its storyline) was eventually scrapped and never made viewable to the general public. In June, Lindelof and Cuse were interviewed by
The Hollywood Reporter and they revealed the ultimate plan for the mobisodes. The mobisodes would air during the hiatus between the third and fourth seasons and would give viewers interesting information that would probably not be found in the show; the average mobisode would only be one and a half minutes long. In the third season, the writers tried to integrate two previously unseen crash survivors named
Nikki Fernandez (
Kiele Sanchez) and
Paulo (
Rodrigo Santoro) into the story, but the pair was negatively received for their abrupt appearance and the writers killed them off after seven appearances. Lindelof and Cuse learned from their mistake and decided that the mobisodes would focus on the regular
Lost cast. The writers were paid $800 per mobisode, whereas the actors received $425 per mobisode. Actors were contracted to receive more money if the mobisode were reused in another medium. "Buried Secrets" revisits the
first season storylines of sexual tension between
Sun-Hwa Kwon (
Yunjin Kim) and
Michael Dawson (
Harold Perrineau) and the mutual detestation between Sun's husband
Jin (
Daniel Dae Kim) and Michael. These conflicts were going to be further explored in the first season; however, positive fan reaction to Sun and Jin as a couple and good chemistry between the actors playing Michael and Jin led to the abandonment of the love triangle.
Reuters announced in November that the mobisodes would premiere that month. This proved to be true, with "The Watch" appearing suddenly to Verizon customers as the first of the
Lost: Missing Pieces. A new mobisode would generally become available each Monday and would be released a week later as a free webisode on ABC's website. The
Writers Guild of America strike occurred as the mobisodes were released, due to television writers wanting a deal similar to that achieved for
Missing Pieces. Filming was completed in late November. The mobisodes were later released as special features on the DVD and
Blu-ray sets of
Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – The Expanded Experience in the second half of 2008.
Crew Although it had not always been the plan, the
Missing Pieces were produced by ABC Studios. Executive producer
Jack Bender directed each mobisode, with writing duties divided between
executive producers Lindelof and Cuse, supervising producer
Elizabeth Sarnoff, co-producer
Brian K. Vaughan, executive story editor
Christina M. Kim, and co-executive producers
Drew Goddard,
Edward Kitsis, and
Adam Horowitz. Other crew members included executive producer
Bryan Burk of post-production and co-executive producer Jean Higgins of physical production. "The Envelope"—a deleted scene from the third-season premiere; the only mobisode not to be originally filmed and written for
Lost: Missing Pieces—contained additional credits:
Jeff Pinkner is an executive producer and executive producer
J. J. Abrams is a co-writer. == Plot ==