Disney’s ABC and Touchstone Television today confirmed that they have partnered with Buena Vista Home Entertainment to create Lost Video Diaries, which will debut in January on the Verizon Wireless V Cast wireless broadband consumer multimedia service in January.
Six of the final 22 two-minute episodes, however, will appear exclusively on the second season DVD release of Lost.
ABC notes the episodes, featuring characters whose storylines have not been seen, will be based on events taking place on the broadcast series.
The network calls the Buena Vista Home Entertainment-produced project an “extension” of Lost. Diaries is based on an original concept by executive producer Damon Lindelof, who co-created Lost with J.J. Abrams, and Carlton Cuse, another of the show’s executive producers.
“It’s a great extension of one of television’s most respected brands,” says Bruce Gersh, senior vice president, business development, ABC Entertainment and Touchstone Television.
Adds Lindelof: “Viewers always ask us, ‘What’s going on with the people in the background? Don’t they have stories too?’ Well, the answer is yes and now we’ve got the perfect format in which to tell those stories.”
Dawn Kelly and Matt Ragghianti are writing the episodes, and Lost producer Javier Grillo Marxauch will serve as an executive consultant on the project. Casting is set to begin this month, with production beginning in December in Hawaii.
