Evanston native Jeffrey Lieber, the creator of the extraordinary TV hit “Lost,” was fired by ABC after he wrote the pilot for “Lost’s” original series.
He’s never been to Hawaii where many of the episodes are shot. Doesn’t know cast or crew. Still, he receives a royalty check and credit?but only after fighting ABC for recognition.
The undisputed creator and writer of “Family Practice,” Lieber is here during the casting and filming of the one-hour pilot for Lifetime.
The storyline: A South Chicago gets involved with a family member of one of the city’s most prestigious law firms.
The director is Bart Freundlich (“Myth of Fingerprints,” “Trust the Man”), AKA the husband of Julianna Moore.
On Oct. 2, Lieber will speak to the Chicago Screenwriters Network as a result of board member Colin Costello’s quick follow-through after talking to an L.A. freelance writer he met.
“I told her how I’m a screenwriter and on the Screenwriters Network board,” Costello relates. “She asked me, ?Did you know the creator of ?Lost’ lives in Deerfield?’ I was like, JJ Abrams?”
No, said the writer, it wasn’t Abrams, but someone she read about in Chicago Magazine, whose name she couldn’t remember.
Costello checked out the Jeffrey Lieber story in Chicago’s August issue, looked him up on IMDB and contacted his management company, which turn gave him Lieber’s direct contact information.
“I finally spoke to him,” Costello says. “Turns out he doesn’t live in Deerfield, but in L.A, and was shooting here.”
After trading phone calls and emails, Lieber agreed to speak. He couldn’t make the Network’s regular Sunday night but agreed to share his trials and triumphs, or “Chutes & Ladders,” as the Chicago magazine story characterized the Hollywood game, on Tuesday, Oct. 2.
The place is the Lincoln Restaurant, which hopefully will be big enough for the expected crowd, at 4008 N. Lincoln Ave., 6 p.m. Cost is $3, plus $6.50 restaurant minimum.
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