Damon Lindelof

Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof in 2009
Born	April 24, 1973 (1973-04-24) (age 38) Teaneck, New Jersey
Nationality	American
Occupation	Executive producer screenwriter
Religion	Jewish

Damon Laurence Lindelof (born April 24, 1973) is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed. Before these, he worked on reviewing scripts at Paramount, Fox, and Alan Ladd studios.

Early life

Lindelof is a native of Teaneck, New Jersey, where he attended Teaneck High School, a school whose diverse student body he credits with expanding his horizons as a writer.^[1] He celebrated his bar mitzvah in Teaneck, where he would join his family at synagogue on the Sabbath, and recounted how the fact that "I was a Jewish white kid growing up in Teaneck, but at the same time, I had black and Filipino and Asian friends and to have that experience all through high school while getting an awesome education was wonderful."^[2] Lindelof attended film school at New York University, performing briefly in the band Petting Zoo, and moved to Los Angeles after graduating.

An early boost to his writing career came in 1999, when he was selected as a semifinalist for a Nicholl Fellowship for his screenplay Perfectionists.^[3]

Lindelof is a self-professed Stephen King fan and has placed many references to King's work into Lost, as well as mentioning within the Official Lost Podcast that The Stand serves as a huge influence. Lindelof has been quoted as saying that the graphic novel Watchmen, written by Alan Moore, is the greatest piece of popular fiction ever produced, and its effect on Lost is evident many times in the show.^[4] He has also mentioned Twin Peaks as a big influence for Lost.^[5] J.J. Abrams has often cited Patrick McGoohan's similarly allegorical sci-fi/spy series The Prisoner as another major influence on Lost. Lindelof lists his favorite six films, in no particular order, as Touch of Evil, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Pulp Fiction, The Shining, Bambi, and The Godfather Part II.^[6]

Career

Lindelof is the writer of the comic book miniseries Ultimate Wolverine vs. Hulk for Marvel Comics, which takes place in the Ultimate Marvel universe and began publication in January 2006. Despite being a six-issue miniseries, production was suspended after the second issue in February 2006 due to Lindelof's heavy workload elsewhere; however, the last of the scripts were submitted to Marvel in 2008 and the series resumed publication in March 2009.

Lost

Main article: Lost (TV series)

He was an executive producer and joint showrunner (alongside Carlton Cuse) on Lost. Lindelof and the Lost writing staff won the Writers Guild of America (WGA) Award for Best Dramatic Series at the February 2006 ceremony for their work on the first and second seasons.^[7] He was nominated for the WGA Award for Best Dramatic Series a further three times; at the February 2007 ceremony for his work on the second and third seasons,^[8] at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the fourth season^[9] and at the February 2010 ceremony for his work on the fifth season.^[10] Lindelof and his co-writer Drew Goddard were also nominated for the WGA Award for Best Episodic Drama at the February 2008 ceremony for writing the episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes".^[11]

Other projects

He is also a producer in the show Once Upon A Time.He served as co-producer on the 2009 film, Star Trek. Along with producing the sequel, he also co-wrote the screenplay with Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation of the comic series Cowboys & Aliens with the duo, to be directed by Jon Favreau.

It was believed that after the conclusion of Lost, Lindelof and J. J. Abrams would write and produce a film adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, but Lindelof squelched this notion in a late 2000s USA Today, commenting, "After working six years on 'Lost,' the last thing I want to do is spend the next seven years adapting one of my favorite books of all time. I'm such a massive Stephen King fan that I'm terrified of screwing it up. I'd do anything to see those movies written by someone else. My guess is they will get made because they're so incredible. But not by me."^[12]

In December 2008, Lindelof guest starred in an episode of The Write Environment, a direct-to-DVD series featuring in-depth, candid one-on-one interviews with some of TV's most prolific and well-known series creator/writers.

Personal life

Lindelof has stated that he is a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party.^[13]

Lost episodes (as writer)

• "Pilot: Parts 1 and 2" (1x01 & 1x02, with J.J. Abrams and Jeffrey Lieber)
• "Tabula Rasa" (1x03)
• "Confidence Man" (1x08)
• "Whatever the Case May Be" (1x12 with Jennifer M. Johnson)
• "Homecoming" (1x15)
• "Deus Ex Machina" (1x19 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Exodus" (1x23, 1x24, & 1x25 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Man of Science, Man of Faith" (2x01)
• "...And Found" (2x05 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The Other 48 Days" (2x07 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The 23rd Psalm" (2x10 with Carlton Cuse)
• "One of Them" (2x14 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Lockdown" (2x17 with Carlton Cuse)
• "?" (2x21 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Live Together, Die Alone" (2x23 & 2x24 with Carlton Cuse)
• "A Tale of Two Cities" (3x01 with J.J. Abrams)
• "I Do" (3x06 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Flashes Before Your Eyes" (3x08 with Drew Goddard)
• "Enter 77" (3x11 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Left Behind" (3x15 with Elizabeth Sarnoff)
• "The Brig" (3x19 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Through the Looking Glass" (3x22 & 3x23 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The Beginning of the End" (4x01 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The Constant" (4x05 with Carlton Cuse)
• "There's No Place Like Home" (4x12, 4x13, & 4x14 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Because You Left" (5x01 with Carlton Cuse)
• "316" (5x06 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" (5x07 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Whatever Happened, Happened" (5x11 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The Incident" (5x16 & 5x17 with Carlton Cuse)
• "LA X" (6x01 & 6x02 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Lighthouse" (6x05 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Happily Ever After" (6x11 with Carlton Cuse)
• "Across the Sea" (6x15 with Carlton Cuse)
• "The End" (6x17 & 6x18 with Carlton Cuse)

References

1. ^ Rohan, Virginia. "North Jersey simply not 'Lost'". The Record, February 5, 2007. "Lindelof got into the production end of television while at Teaneck High School, where he worked on a start-up TV news program...." Quote: "What was cool about growing up in New Jersey, especially Bergen County, is it was very diverse. ... I literally went to high school with people of all different races and ethnicities and backgrounds. That broadened my horizons as a writer. It made me interested in other people's stories."
2. ^ Siegler, Bonnie. "'Lost' and found", American Jewish Life magazine, February / March 2008. Accessed August 31, 2011. "He and his family attended the local synagogue on weekends and a 13 year-old Damon had his bar mitzvah in Teaneck.... But he does say his childhood and Jewish background have added to who he is today. "The area was culturally diverse and that is one of the reasons I loved it. I didn't have the experience of some other people I've met who say they were 15 before they saw someone who wasn't white or that they hadn't met a Jewish person yet. The idea was that I was a Jewish white kid growing up in Teaneck, but at the same time, I had black and Filipino and Asian friends and to have that experience all through high school while getting an awesome education was wonderful....'"
3. ^ "1999 Nicholl Semifinalists" Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (dead link as of at least April 5, 2010)
4. ^ Lostpedia: Shared Themes
5. ^ Faraci, Devin (2008-12-2). THUD: Live blog of the Lost cyber roundtable. Chud.com.
6. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awg_mrtubNA&feature=player_embedded#!
7. ^ "Awards Winners". Writers Guild of America. http://www.wga.org/awards/awardssub.aspx?id=1517. Retrieved 2007-10-17. 
8. ^ "2007 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced". Writers Guild of America. http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2267. Retrieved 2007-12-06. 
9. ^ "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". WGA. 2008. http://wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=3410. Retrieved 2008-12-12. 
10. ^ "2010 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced". WGA. 2009. http://wga.org/content/default.aspx?id=3888. Retrieved 2010-04-15. 
11. ^ "2008 Writers Guild Awards Television & Radio Nominees Announced". Writers Guild of America. http://www.wga.org/subpage_newsevents.aspx?id=2653. Retrieved 2007-12-13. 
12. ^ Davis, Erik. J.J. Abrams Not Adapting King's Dark Tower series. Cinematical.com, 2009-11-10
13. ^ Strachan, Alex (2010-01-14). Back to the Island for a Final Season. GlobalTV.com

External links

• Damon Lindelof at the Internet Movie Database
• Damon Lindelof interviews, March 28, July 17, and August 21, 2005, LostTV-Forum.com
• Damon Lindelof podcast, Marvel.com

Persondata
Name	Lindelof, Damon
Alternative names
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Date of birth	April 24, 1973
Place of birth	Teaneck, New Jersey
Date of death
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