The Safe House - Expositions

An article had appeared in the Los Angeles Times about a student film festival featuring some movies shot by Abrams and friend- future "Felicity" collaborator Matt Reeves. The office of a young director named Steven Spielberg saw the piece, and asked the teens if they'd be interested in resplicing some of the helmer's short films for a potential TV special.

Fast-forward about two decades to around 1991: Abrams is just starting out as a filmmaker, having already sold scripts for the features "Regarding Henry" and "Taking Care of Business." One day, he finds himself talking to Spielberg about a possible sequel to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" "It was bugging me and bugging me, and I knew I had to say something," Abrams recalls. "I told him, 'You know, I spliced some movies of yours when I was a teenager.' And he said, 'I know.'

"The fact that he remembered freaked the hell out of me," Abrams laughs.

Spielberg's early hunch about Abrams turned out to be a good one. Over the past 10 years or so, Abrams --- whose real first name is Jeffrey --- has established himself as one of Hollywood's most versatile hyphenates: He's a writer who's able to direct. A filmmaker who's two-for-two in creating successful TV shows. And, just for good measure, he also dabbles in composing music --- including the way- cool techno theme for "Alias."

"He's the whole package in every respect," says Lloyd Braun, chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group, an exec not prone to gushing. "He's obviously a brilliant writer who has creative, fleshed- out ideas. He's also a great producer, a great director and just great to deal with day in and day out.

"It's very rare to have someone who's good at virtually every element of the business, but that's what J.J. is."

Even before his teenage brush with Spielberg, Abrams seemed headed for Hollywood. He was making super-8 movies before he was 10. "And before I even knew how to write, I remember drawing pictures of a play I'd want to put on," Abrams says. "I always wanted to put on shows."

First with the coming-of-age drama "Felicity," and now with "Alias," Abrams gets to put on a new spectacular 22 weeks a year, with millions watching each 44-minute play.

It would seem Abrams is doing exactly what he dreamed of doing as a kid --- except he's not. "I always wanted to write and direct movies. My focus was always on film," Abrams says. "Doing what I do in television has been this incredible unexpected discovery."

Indeed, unlike most successful showrunners, Abrams made his mark in features well before scoring on the small screen.

Just a few years after graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, Abrams sold his first pic: the box office disappointment "Taking Care of Business." He followed quickly with several more successful features: "Regarding Henry," "Forever Young" and the sci-fi blockbuster "Armageddon."

It wasn't until 1998 that Abrams first dipped his toes in the TV waters, partnering with Reeves to create "Felicity." Critics immediately fell in love with the romantic drama about a college freshman (Keri Russell) trying to find her place in the world. The series, from Touchstone Television, helped put the then-fledgling WB Network on the map.

Braun, who at the time headed up Touchstone, wasted no time signing Abrams to a four-year overall deal. The pact, worth a whopping $ 16 million, would ultimately lead to the creation of "Alias" and position Abrams as part of a new breed of showrunner able to balance TV and features.

"I lucked into this incredible medium," Abrams says. "The hours are brutal, the pressure's tremendous and the need for material is insatiable. But it's so exciting to work with the same group of people on a long-term basis., and you're writing something you know is going to get shot. That just doesn't exist in features."

Television also allows Abrams the chance to explore multiple dimensions for a wide range of characters. That's important for a scribe equally at ease spinning stories overflowing with emotion ("Regarding Henry") as he is penning testosterone-pumped tales of courage and heroism ("Armageddon" or his upcoming retelling of "Superman").

"Having strong, balanced characters is important to me, whether they're men or women," Abrams says. "Identifying with a character and feeling there's a struggle worth telling is important. No matter what I'm working on, I have to feel some sense of passion about it."

Unlike many TV scribes before him, Abrams isn't driven by any overarching themes. He has inner demons but working them out isn't the main reason he writes; likewise, he's not trying to save, change or otherwise reshape the world.

"I tend to work from the inside out," he says. "I don't really get inspired by the big idea."

Ask Abrams what does drive his writing, however, and his answer sounds a bit like something you might hear from the mouth of a certain director who once asked Abrams to resplice some of his films.

"There's something romantic and good and just empathetic about the characters I like to write about," he says. "Even though they might be at odds with someone, or damaged in some way, or not understood, the characters I tend to embrace are, deep down, good people."

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