So, Rob, what's up with Flash Forward?

I'm getting asked a lot of questions about the ABC TV pilot based on my novel Flashforward that's about to be filmed in Los Angeles. Here's the response I made today in my Yahoo! Groups newsgroup:

I'm not at liberty to discuss things much.

In fact, it's funny reading the online coverage seeing that no one involved really knows what they're allowed to say. On Wednesday of last week, Fearnet interviewed Jessika Borsiczky Goyer (executive producer of Flash Forward):

Q: Is it a two-hour pilot?
A: I can't comment on that.

The very next day, SciFi.com had an interview with David S. Goyer (director), and it's just tossed off that it is a one-hour pilot.

But, let me say this: David and Brannon have mapped out five seasons of Flash Forward: that's 110 episodes -- and I'm story consultant on every single one.

When David, Brannon, Jessika, and I met in Los Angeles to go over how they intended to adapt my book, I was thrilled and excited about the approach they wanted to take -- and I still am. When I went back to L.A., and read the pilot script (and provided my notes on it), I was even more thrilled; the pilot script is magnificent.

There is a lot of epic sweep to this thing. The people dissecting the pilot (and the many rumors about what it contains) are talking about less than 1% of the story arc for the series. (Not that Lost really is the model, but look at episode one of that in isolation and ask yourself if you really could have told where it was going, or that, say, John Locke would emerge as a major character.)

I'm writing one of the first-season episodes myself and am very comfortable with where all this is heading -- and I believe that most fans of my work are going to be very, very pleased with the series.

The Robert J. Sawyer Web Site