J.J. Fucking Abrams and the Lost script style

Or more to the point maybe: Damon Fucking Lindelof.

Friend and collaborator C.A. Childers sent us this post from the Defective Yeti weblog about how the writers for our beloved Lost television series write their famously awesome scripts.

J. J. Abrams (the series creator) established this style in the pilot with phrases like "HE SCREAMS BLOODYFUCKINGMURDER" and "this guy is a Class-A prickfuck" (wha-?!). Since then it appears to have become part of the show's template. Most LOST scripts read as if the writer has just hit his thumb with a hammer.

You see the writers of Lost like to pepper their scripts with a lot of "fucks." Because it's for television, they're not in the dialogue, the fucks are in the stage directions. The thing is, it seems to really work well for them. The Defective Yeti agrees, he posted this example from a set of stage directions featured in the script for Season One - Episode Nine:

And we're LOOKING UP at Ethan. SOAKING WET but seemingly oblivious to the rain. And his EYES. His FUCKING EYES.

The Defective Yeti spoke to the screenwriting weblogger Alex Epstien, who calls this style "Subtitles for the nuance-impaired." He finds this style annoying. Epstien says you should use your words like bullets, not like birdshot. That's worth repeating.

"Use words like bullets, not like a spray of birdshot."

We love Lost. We wish that me, and everyone we've ever met wrote and talked like an episode of Lost. But that would be a terrible place to live.

We write 11 minute comedy scripts. It's a terrible idea for us to adopt a technique like this. We imagine that when somebody gets a Lost script, they are wringing their hands like an old Disney villain. They can't wait to pour over every word, ready to decipher any clue or subtext. That's what great writing gets you we think, the luxury of people actually reading your words.

You'd be surprised how many times, even in an 11 minute script you'd encounter a situation like this:

Somebody'd be all:
"I don't understand where this character got that shovel from"

and I'd say:
"That's explained right here, in the stage directions, where it says: He grabs a shovel."

and then they're all like:
"oh, I didn't read that."

People gloss over stage directions. We don't have the luxury of assuming people will read our words. We need to keep things simple. Although, the idea of having stylized stage directions is an awesome one, and one we can exploit.