'Lost' Producer Inks $60M Movie, TV Deal

"Mission: Impossible 3" director J.J. Abrams has signed lucrative film and TV production pacts with Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Television, respectively, valued at upwards of $60 million.


The busy producer, whose TV credits include "Felicity," "Alias" and "Lost," had been based at Disney for television. The Paramount pact marks his first feature deal.


While Abrams had long been courted by Paramount, which released the latest "Mission" movie, the television pact with Warner Bros. surprised the industry when word spread Friday.


In a plot twist worthy of an Abrams script, Warner Bros. TV swooped in at the eleventh hour, as Abrams' representatives were far along in renewal negotiations with Disney's Touchstone TV banner.


The five-year feature deal, which begins Aug. 1, is valued at $22.5 million. Abrams already is attached to direct and produce a revival of the "Star Trek" film franchise for Paramount, which is his first project under the deal.


Abrams also said he intends for his Bad Robot banner to oversee a slate of features budgeted under $25 million. His directing services are not exclusive to Paramount, and he gets final cut on the pictures he does make for the studio.


The six-year TV pact, also taking effect Aug. 1, is worth $36 million. His share of "backend" profits on his shows could go as high as 35%.


There was some uncertainty about whether Abrams would begin developing new projects for Warner Bros. TV immediately. Sources close to the situation said Abrams intends to devote his energies in television to nurturing his three existing shows at Disney's ABC: the Emmy-winning "Lost" and the fledgling "What About Brian" and "Six Degrees."