Jeffrey Lieber

After earning a degree in acting from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Theatre, Jeffrey Lieber's early credits include co-writing the fantasy-romance film "Tuck Everlasting." He eventually pitched a series called "Nowhere" to ABC, which was conceived as a realistic drama combining "Lord of the Flies" with "Cast Away." While ABC hired Lieber to write the pilot for the show, now titled "Lost," the studio eventually turned it over to the team of J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, who tweaked the series' tone to something more to its liking. Following an industry-wide arbitration, Lieber was recognized as co-creator of "Lost," and was among the winners of the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series in 2006; however, Lieber did not have further input into "Lost" beyond his initial pilot scripts. Post-"Lost," Lieber served as writer on the television movies "Hitched" and "Family Practice." He made his return to series television in 2010, writing and serving as executive producer of the CBS drama "Miami Medical" (which was co-executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer), although the show was cancelled after 13 episodes.