
EXCLUSIVE: JJ Abrams and Lost executive producer Elizabeth Sarnoff are heading to another island. I hear Abrams and his Warner Bros. TV-based Bad Robot are about to take out to the networks Alcatraz, a drama spec script written by Sarnoff. Like all things Bad Robot, the project is shrouded in secrecy but it is about the San Francisco Bay island that once housed some of the country’s most notorious criminals, including Al Capone. (UPDATE: The script which will be shopped was written by Sarnoff. Steven Lilien and Bryan Wynbrandt had sold an early version of the project to Bad Robot.) WBTV, which co-produces with Bad Robot, declined comment.
Sarnoff joined ABC’s Lost, co-created and executive produced by Abrams, in the second season as a writer-producer and rose through the ranks to executive producer in the sixth and final season of the sci-fi/adventure series. She wrote or co-wrote 19 episodes, including the series penultimate episode. Abrams tends to develop with writers he has worked with before and seems to prefer spec scripts over pitches. Bad Robot’s two series on the air, Fox’s Fringe and the upcoming NBC spy drama Undercovers, originated as spec scripts Abrams co-penned with Alias alums Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and former Felicity and What About Brian writer-producer Josh Reims, respectively. Speaking of Fringe, a trivia tidbit: a minor character on the show’s first season was named Elizabeth Sarnoff. Before Lost, Sarnoff worked on Deadwood and Crossing Jordan.





I’m already interested…JJ can develop the dictionary and I would watch.
Anyone know when this story is set…like, old Alcatraz? Or new age J.J.-esque re-imagining of Alcatraz?
I like that Abrams takes risks (Fringe aside) and that’s a good thing in an otherwise gutless town.
Keep your eyes on Lilien and Wynbrandt. Those guys are the real deal.
Sounds like “OZ” all over again. How many times are we going to cover Al Capone?!! Come on people there are so many stories to tell, why recycle the same stale nostalgia over and over again? What’s the demographic for this? +50 yrs old? It might just work in that case but no one under 40 will be tuning in. The story and era is better suited for the geriatric crowd. This should be very popular in the nursing homes.
Where did they talk about it actually having anything to do with Al Capone? Go grab some tissues.
I get the feeling Bad Robot keeps everything in a shroud of secrecy as a PR strategy. The material itself doesn’t warrant the hush-hush approach.
It would be Un-American, Un-Californian and Un-BayArean for JJ Abram’s ‘Alcatraz’ project to shoot in Vancouver or, indeed, anywhere other than in the San Francisco Bay Area…We would
Welcome Him and the Project with Open Arms
Please tell me the approximate projected time that Alcatraz will start it’s series on TV. I don’t want to miss any of it. I don’t see it in the fall line up, so I’m guessing maybe in January? I will watch anything that has the “Lost” characters in it! I loved that show!!!!
jan 16th the show will be back on