Michael Emerson and Jo Garfein

Jo Garfein says Lost ”spawned an amazing community.” She was one of the great voices on the web during and after the show. Her theories brought her notoriety, a drove of Twitter fans, and writing work for AOL TV and others. These days she’s freelancing and working on a new blog for Fox’s upcoming show Alcatraz. We wanted to talk with her ahead of Comic-Con. Read on to see what she has to say about The River, Alcatraz, Jorge Garcia, JJ Abrams, and more.

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Oren Peli is coming back with another iteration of Paranormal Activity. We know that it will be in theaters by October 21, 2011 and Peli says Paranormal Activity 3 will focus on Katie. Oren Peli is also the producer of ABC’s The River.

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The producer of The River is also busy a new movie. “Area 51 is like Paranormal Activity, is a “found footage” horror movie about three teenagers who head to the Area 51 section of Nellis Air Force Base in the Nevada. We’ll assume aliens might be involved and that scares will be had. That is, if the movie ever gets finished.

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Oren Peli produces and writes for The River

Paranormal Activity was a bona fide hit and it has made Oren Peli a very busy man.

FilmNation is to fully finance its first film, a prestige genre title from Paranormal Activity creator Oren Peli set to go this summer.

Basner and his team will commence international pre-sales here on the untitled story, which Peli, riding high after producing the North American hit Insidious, wrote and is producing with Brian Witten.

“We are extremely excited about our new horror project, and while we can’t disclose too many details about it, rest assured it will be scary as hell,” Peli said. “We are honoured to have FilmNation as our partners.”

“Oren is a master of the genre and the timing was ideal to expand FilmNation’s reach and finance the project,” Basner said.

Peli directed and produced Paranormal Activity and produced the sequel. He also directed and wrote the upcoming Paramount acquisition Area 51 and produced Barry Levinson’s eco-horror The Bay, which Lionsgate will release in the US.

See more at Screen Daily

Thomas Kretschmann and Joe Anderson in The River

From Deadline: Hollywood:

After a bidding war, The River, a horror drama in the mold of Paranormal Activity about a family who travels to the deep Amazon to locate and rescue their missing father, landed at ABC in September with a big put pilot commitment. Paranormal Activity writer-director Oren Peli co-wrote the first draft with Paranormal Activity 2 scribe Michael Perry. After ABC was not quite happy with the script, Heroes veteran and Kings creator Michael Green  did a p.1 rewrite, which the network now greenlighted. Peli is executive producing with his producing partner Jason Blum and DreamWorks TV’s Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey. This is the third pilot for DreamWorks TV this season, along with Smash at NBC and Locke & Key at Fox.

Paulina Gaitan stars as Jahel

We all hope that our time is not wasted. And so when we pour ourselves into a promising show, we hope that it’s not going to be cancelled due to the whims of the big networks.

I believe that The River is different. ABC has cancelled enough good shows like V, FlashForward, and Invasion and they are ready for something with a future. Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks are behind this show, along with some great writers from Paranormal Activity. Add in the acting props of Bruce Greenwood, Luisana Lopilato, and Leslie Cole, and you have something very special.

Still, networks have done stupider things (how could Fox cancel Arrested Development!?), and I don’t like that this is a midseason show. January / February is not traditionally the best time to launch a show.

I’m starting to see a large group of fans for The River even before the first promo has aired on television. This COULD be the next Lost. Let’s hope it has its own legs. Stay tuned!

Eloise Mumford and Joe Anderson

Awesome analysis by Kevin Melrose at Spinoff Online:

It looks like The River won’t just deliver drama or slightly offbeat adventure in its desperate search for a missing wildlife expert/television personality, but honest-to-goodness, edge-of-your-seat horror. That’s a rare thing on network television. Of course, that probably shouldn’t come as a surprise, given some of the names behind the series — in particular, Steven Spielberg and Oren Peli of Paranormal Activity fame.

If the two minute-plus trailer is a good indication, The River could be a gloriously twisted cross between The Crocodile Hunter, Stanley and Livingstone, Heart of Darkness and, I don’t know, Survivor. Oh, please let that turn out to be an accurate assessment …