Lost: Paul Terry's LA Report - Part 2

Inside the Lost Writers’ Building… partying with Young Ben, Pierre Chang & Nadia… and to round things off, battling a smoke monster at 30,000 feet. Nope, this wasn’t some twisted new episode of The Twilight Zone, this was PT’s last three days in LA for Lost…

So, just to bring you all up to speed, Tuesday May 11 to Thursday May 13 were a giddy mix of hanging out with AOL TV’s Instant Dharma crew, kicking it on the airwaves with the one, the only, the awesome Sohaib and his Fictional Frontiers show, and having the absolute pleasure of the cast and crew company at the Lost Live event at UCLA. So how could the rest of the week follow all of THAT? Well, it was tricky, but the island wasn’t finished with me or my stellar Lost Encyclopedia writer Tara Bennett just yet…

Friday morning. A little sleepy from the very late night enjoying the delightful company of Team Lost – including Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Michael Emerson, Henry Ian Cusick, Rebecca Mader, and a whole host of other Lost legends from the cast and crew. But we were still extremely bright eyed and bushy tailed: because… we were inside Room 23, where all the Lost writing magic happened. A surreal experience on many levels: I’d been here during the Alias Magazine days when it was the HQ for that awesome Jennifer Garner show, plus, the walls were now adorned with huge pictures of some classic Lost Magazine covers from over the years. It was especially ace to see issue #1 – including the uber-rare Jack cover – on display. (Sighs) Great days – the most exciting magazine launch I’ve been involved with by far.

But enough nostalgia – me and Tara were here to work! Yeah! Well, kind of… if you call this work: hanging out with the incredible Lost duo of writer/co-producer and all round walking Lost bible Gregg Nations, and associate producer and my main dudette for the magazine, Noreen O’Toole. But we were working, honest: we had a fantastically detailed meeting going over several aspects of the Lost Encyclopedia (they’re both working directly with us on it, and there’s no way we could do this justice without them, the Lost creative team and the network), including lots of very cool details like… ah, that would be telling…

After some yummy Mexican lunch, and a swing by Warner Bros. Studio to see Tara’s most excellent mate who’s working on the new Yogi Bear movie (sadly not a dark, gritty re-imagining of his roots, in a Yogi Bear Begins sort of way), but fun CGI all the same, we rounded off our amazing day with Team Lost with a brilliant dinner out with more of Tara’s chums in Pasadena. Which rules.

So, what does one do, Lost style, when one finds oneself in Los Angeles on a Saturday night? You go to the last ever Lost Weekend Fan Event in Hollywood! And what a star-studded night it was.  The huge talents behind Radzinsky, Bernard, Young Ben, Pierre Chang, Nadia, Dr. Arzt, Liam Pace, and even Frogurt were there. Plus, Sterling Beaumon (Young Ben) was selling his new album – who knew! Talented guy indeed.

Our good friend Lost DVD senior producer Jon Bernstein rocked up for the party too, as did the Gregg Nations, and it was a spectacular send-off for the show by arguably some of the most dedicated fans Lost has ever had. The fans and organizers of the event were the real stars of tonight – just check the photos for the detail they put into it, like recreating the Lighthouse wheel of names. Insanely cool. A special shout out to Lost fan Peter ‘Partyman’ Scales, who not only sang and rapped Lost songs for our entertainment, he gave me a hilarious “Steve Holt” moment (not an Arrested Development fan? Sort that out today, please)… On the Thursday night at UCLA, he bellowed from the upper circle with fists pumping the air (Steve Holt style) “Paul-Terry-Lost-The-Official-Magazine!” Very surreal to have that shouted at you in the States, but very lovely all the same. A huge thanks to the entire Lost Weekend crew, the fans, and of course, the wonderful cast and crew and came along to be a part of it – and we even raised a ton of cash for the charity Children’s Defense Fund during the Lost auctions that went on throughout the evening. Perfect.

Sunday was a sad day. Time to go home. Tara headed back to the East Coast, and after hanging with my former Alias Magazine approvals lass and all-round awesome lass Sparky (best name ever, surely?), I ascended into the skies on Sunday evening wondering what Icelandic fate awaited me… would the volcanic smoke monster grant me safe passage back to London soil? Course it would. After the past week of tireless dedication to the island’s cause, it turned tail and curled up back inside the mountain. Good boy, nice Smokey.

Follow more of PT and Tara’s Lost adventures as they count down to the launch of the Lost Encyclopedia here: http://www.facebook.com/TaraBennettPaulTerryProjects