The story of Lost's inception is almost legendary. ABC President Lloyd Braun came up with the idea for a series based loosely on Castaway, and the story eventually wound up in the brilliant hands of J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof. The production came together at breakneck speed, and television history was made lickety-split. It's the stuff of Studio City legends, and, as it turns out, Studio City urban legends because it isn't true. In fact, Lost was anything but fast-tracked, and the man who was initially in charge of turning Braun's notion into a vision is finally speaking out.

As far as 'real story' behind the Hollywood boulevard reveals go, it's rather pedestrian – unless you are very good at empathizing with an artist's frustration. The tale of Jeff Lieber, and a series named Nowhere, that went nowhere and was eventually Lost, could be looked at two ways: it might be the story of how an interesting, often surreal, thriller nearly became a pedestrian survival story, or it might be the story of how a hard-working writer was given the green-light time after time only to find himself cut from the picture, his contribution becoming a vestigial inspiration for a mega hit.

Until Chicago Magazine decided to take up Lieber's story, he was thought of as one of the guys who, like Braun, was in it at the beginning and now, well, isn't. In fact, nothing could be farther from the truth.

Braun pitched the concept behind Lost in search of something that would come with the staying power of ER. A weekly drama set in an interesting environment with an ensemble cast of characters. The idea quickly made its way through the usual channels and a production company was selected to package it up. That company was not Bad Robot. Instead, the first choice was Spelling. Yes, as in Aaron Spelling.

As Chicago Magazine tells it, Spelling's Ted Gold selected Lieber, an up-and-coming screenwriter, to develop the original pitch. Lieber's idea from the beginning was to give the show a defined Lord of the Flies feel in addition to the level of realism that ABC was asking for. And so, he did. In addition, he did so with a cast of characters that should be familiar to everyone. A doctor, a conman, a pregnant girl, a drug addict, and do we need to continue?

The pitch was green-lit. Everyone was ecstatic, and Lieber went on to write the pilot. As he was nearing the end of his rewrite, implementing changes requested by the studio, all seemed well. Then he was let go from the project. Sure, some people use the word "fired," but regardless of how you look at it, Braun had gotten cold feet over Lieber's ultra-realistic island drama and was pulling the plug.

This is the point in the Lost story where most people begin reading. Braun took what was perceived as a slow-moving, too realistic for its own good pilot to wunderkind J.J. Abrams, who had scored the network a long-running cult hit in Alias, and with a few twists here and a few twists there, the strange, supernatural show we have come to know and love was now in existence.

While the similarity in the base of characters is the same, it also tightly resembles a group of characters from another epic piece of fiction: The Stand by Stephen King. Abrams and company have not been shy about their influences, so it was always assumed the characters were inspired by the ensemble of The Stand.

Whether it was the similarity of the characters, or the prevailing underlying themes of the show, Lieber felt that his dismissal was done without due credit and he took his grievances to the Writer's Guild for arbitration. While the article at Chicago Magazine does not specify, Lieber apparently composed a list of similarities, which resulted in the guild siding with Lieber. Result? Even though Lieber has never worked on Lost as we know it, he gets a creator credit, and a share of the profits from every episode aired.

A story based on realism, utilizing themes of Lord of the Flies, and featuring a cast of characters that seems drawn from the pages of The Stand cannot claim propriety. Worse yet, to craft a "stranded on an island" story without bumping up against the hundreds of forerunners in the genre would be nearly impossible.

Sure, if you stripped away the supernatural and surreal elements of Lost's Twilight Zone inspired subplots, you might have a story very much like Lieber's. Would that story be that much different from Robinson Crusoe, let alone Lord of the Flies, which Lieber openly admits to as an influence? Probably not. Should any writer be rewarded so heartily for polishing up the contrived aspects of a tale that under examination would look not that much different from the stories that inspired him. Absolutely. I'm sure Lieber was paid for what he contributed. I'm also positive that Llyod Braun made the right decision in not producing it.

On a side-note to Lieber, however, I hear Daniel Defoe's estate is worth a pretty penny, as is William Golding's. Perhaps you can find a judge as naïve as the Writer's Guild's arbitrators to grant you a piece of their earnings. You did, after-all, 'create' the mythology their books were based on, didn't you?

- Jon Lachonis, Buddy TV Senior Writer