The National Post take a look at how it’s all happening at “breakneck” pace for Flash Forward and author [of the novel the ABC's show is based on] Robert J. Sawyer:
When Robert J. Sawyer returned from the movies on Friday, he checked his e-mail and found a Google Alert notifying him his life was about to change: ABC had ordered 13 episodes of Flash Forward, based on his 1999 novel of the same name.
About an hour after receiving the news, Sawyer received an e-mail from David S. Goyer, who co-wrote and directed the pilot episode. The message ended with this warning: “This will change your life.”
Indeed, the network is already positioning the series as a successor to Lost. It even began promoting the show before a deal was in place; though it won’t debut until the fall, the show gained buzz after a series of mysterious promos aired during the 100th episode of Lost on April 29.
Flash Forward focuses on the aftermath of a bizarre event in which everyone on the planet blacks out for two minutes (two minutes and 17 seconds on the show) during which time many experience visions of the future. The book won an Aurora Award, Canada’s top prize for science-fiction, in 2000.
Soon after it was published, the book fell into the hands of Goyer’s wife, and in 2000 Goyer – a Hollywood heavyweight who wrote the script for Batman Begins and the story for The Dark Knight – expressed interest in spearheading an adaptation. HBO was keen at first, but passed after reading the pilot; ABC secured the series last October after a bidding war with Fox.
“There’s been a buzz about this [book] since it first came out,” Sawyer says, adding they turned down an offer from an American broadcaster a few years ago because his agent thought they could get a better deal. “It took forever and then suddenly boom! It’s all happening at a breakneck pace.”
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