Sam: I've read a lot of DK books, and I can't help but notice that they're very image heavy. They have a lot of pictures and diagrams. Will the encyclopedia have that sort of theme to it?
Paul: There will be some really fantastic shots and stuff you've never seen before of props, locations, characters, that kind of stuff, but where it's appropriate. We won't be just splashing a massive shot across a double-page spread and having like, three lines of text. There's a lot of text that's been written, so it's all about context, and where it needs to be.
Tara: Yeah, that's why it's a little bit difficult to say what the actual number of entries there are in there, because sometimes we represent things in a visual sense, so we may have a master heading for one thing and then do a lot of subheadings with individual characters that apply to it, or important moments that apply to it, so it's still an individual entry, but it belongs under a larger heading, so you can say that we did an individual piece for that, but it belongs under a larger blanket for visual context, so that's why we won't be able to know a definite number of entries until the end, since some of it is taking shape in a visual form right now. I'm making an edit on an entry now that has a lot of text in it, but we all feel that visually, if we trim some of the text and use more images to illustrate it, the fans would like it more. It'd also look great, because it wouldn't feel like you were reading a dry encyclopedia. It's a visual and textual experience, and we're really kind of shaping that right now, so some of the things that we intended when we started are really evolving and just looking more beautiful as we move along.
Paul: And of course, with the work I've done with the magazine-- and Tara's been the main writer of the magazine for all this time-- we're very much conscious of picking and suggesting images that will really support the encyclopedia properly, and that the fans will get a real kick out of.
Sam: How and when were you two chosen to work on the encyclopedia?
Paul: It was a very lovely moment. Since I worked with the magazine, I was suggested for the publishers to contact, and we had some discussions and chats, and then I said that there was only one person in the world who can write this encyclopedia with me, and that was Tara, because as I'm sure you know, Tara has such a legacy of amazing books and sci-fi things, and before LOST magazine, she worked with me on the Alias magazine, so we've had like nine years of working together on shows and doing official material on these Bad Robot shows. So there were a few more chats and discussions that happened last year, and then that was it! It was greenlit and the planning stages and the Excel documents and the planning, and the more Excel documents, and the more planning, went on for a crazy amount of time. There were lots of late-night Skypes, and then we were just in the thick of it. We hit the ground running, and were writing these entries like mad things for seven days a week for months, for the longest time, including the end of last year.
Sam: So now that the show has ended and the encyclopedia has a release date in August, how much longer will you be working on it before it goes off as a final draft to print?
Tara: We have about three weeks left.
Paul: Yeah, publishing schedules are funny things, but a few weeks, I would say. There'll be a few nudges here and there, and slight adjustments here and there, but we will be making it on sale date, do not worry! [laughs]
(At this point in the interview, Paul, in London at the time, needed to leave, though Tara agreed to stick around and answer a few more questions.)
Sam: LOST really has a fandom like no other. Do you think that down the road, there would be any other shows, or shows that you've seen so far, that would be game for another such encyclopedia that you would want to work on?
Tara: Well, there are different shows. I've done all the companion guides for the show 24, which is ending tonight, which started about the same time as LOST and had a huge impact on the television landscape as well, in its own very different way. But as for LOST, it's really its own animal. I cover television as a reporter, and that's a conversation I've had with lots of other people: there isn't another LOST out there right now, and there may never be. It started at a time where the industry was still accepting of serialized television. So much has changed with how people watch television, you know, we watch it on our iPods now, we watch it on the internet, and there are so many more ways to fracture the audience that would have been geared toward television. Because of that, this kind of serialized storytelling isn't embraced anymore, so LOST snuck in under the gun and may be the last of its kind. So while there may be other shows that have a really passionate fandom, LOST is of its own time, its own place. It engendered and really kickstarted internet fandom and a whole other sub-community that met each other, obsessed over it, dissected it with passion. And there may be shows that have maybe the flush of LOST, but I don't anticipate something being just like LOST. I think it will always be a very special piece of television history, and those of us who were around to see it when it was happening will always embrace and cherish that we were there and got to watch it as it happened.
Sam: Definitely. Because there have been other shows-- ABC had FlashForward and V this year, and FlashForward is ending after its first year and V almost didn't get a pickup. And J.J. Abrams' other show, Fringe, is an amazing show, in my opinion, but it just hasn't managed to pick up the same fandom that LOST has.
Tara: Right, it's a reflection of that model that's changed in broadcast television. Studios are far less brave with being intensely serialized. They really imposed upon Fringe that standalone feel with a mythology that goes in and out, while LOST was extremely serialized. If you didn't catch up, you weren't going to make it to season three and still know what was going on. It was never structured that way. They want people to be just jump in at any moment with any of their serialized sci-fi nowadays, and that loses some of the heart and some of the ability of a fan to get completely immersed in something And that's what made LOST so special. It's going to be very rare, unless it's on cable with shortened seasons of thirteen episodes or so, because the standard, twenty-two episode season format, especially for a serial, has become an almost extinct animal.
Sam: Thanks for doing this interview with me, and I can't wait to read my copy of the encyclopedia as soon as I get it.
Tara: Yeah, we're really excited! I mean, first and foremost, Paul and I have always been fans of this show. I saw the pilot right after it got picked up in May of 2004, and was completely blown away by it, and started doing my first interviews the month after. I've been on this journey as a fan from the very, very beginning. Paul and I have always approached what we're doing with this book as, if it doesn't meet our criteria as fans-- if we wouldn't want to spend our money on it and read it-- then it's not passing in terms of an entry or in terms of our content, so we've always thought that the fans have to love this and be happy with this, otherwise we're not doing our job. So, we respect and love the fandom, and to disappoint it would break our hearts. Hopefully, that lets the fandom know that we're in it seriously, and the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into this book for the last six months have been making sure it's worthy of what the fans expect. It's such an honor that we were chosen to do this. We won't put our name on anything that isn't done right, especially with the LOST name on it. We love it too much and we respect it too much, so it has to be right. There's also the fact that everything we're writing is going to Gregg Nations, who sends it to Damon and Carlton if there's any question. How embarrassing would it be if we wrote something horrible, and they sent it back going, "What in the world was that?" [laughs] So it has to be awesome, because it's not, we're going to completely embarrass the heck out of ourselves.
The Lost Encyclopedia will be released on August 16. If you'd like to pre-order a copy of the book, you can do so here
Awesome! I'm so going to get a hold of this encyclopedia. Lost encyclopedia, how great is that! Amazing stuff. Man I love this show!