Two and a half years ago, when COVID tilted the world on its axis and swept us all into isolation, my family proposed a weekly Zoom—a means to check in on one another, to visit safely and to stay sane via some human, friendly interaction. While not everyone has been able to make every meeting, the weekend Zooms have stuck. Every Saturday, a group logs on, often from across half a dozen time zones. Recently, we had a special visitor.
When Erica took on the role of Show Runner for the television adaptation of We Were the Lucky Ones, one of her first questions was ‘when can I meet your family?’ I asked if she’d be interested in joining us one Saturday and she jumped at the invitation. We set a date and a few weeks later, four generations of Kurcs gathered from around the world—from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon, Paris, Geneva, Tel Aviv, Budapest and Barcelona to Palo Alto, Oakland, Burbank, Miami, Rowayton, Chicago and Martha’s Vineyard.
We all took turns introducing ourselves. We laughed, and we cried. We paid special tribute to Felicia (who was a year old at the start of the war) and to her husband Louis, who weren’t able to log on from Paris but who were very much with us in spirit. And we heard from Erica, who answered questions about Hollywood and about what creating and running a show like ours entails (the short answer: A LOT). ‘I feel like the Kurcs, in a way, have become my own extended family,’ she said. ‘I hold the them dearly in my heart. I’m going to do everything I can to honor them, along with the story of the Holocaust, in this series.’
I’ve spent the past 15 weeks in the Writers Room, brainstorming with Erica and our amazing team of writers and researchers how best to give We Were the Lucky Ones a new life on the screen. We talk extensively about relationships, decisions and turning points, digging far deeper at times into the ‘how and why’ than I ever did in researching and writing my book; our mission is to weave together a narrative that feels at once historically accurate and deeply human.
This week, we’re breaking Episode 7, which means we’re nearing the end of the war, and the end of the series. The process has been intense—most weeks the Room meets daily for five to six hours by Zoom—but I’m already grieving the day we wrap the finale, Episode 8. I’ll miss being a sounding board, and the person the room often turns to with questions. (I spend my off-time digging up answers from relatives, or from photos, videos and records collected in my research.) I’ll miss pitching ideas that feel right. I’ll miss the people I’ve come to know and admire, the collaboration.
Each of the five Kurc siblings—Genek, Mila, Addy, Jakob and Halina—was represented on the day Erica joined our Zoom. My colossal smile in the screen shot above sums up just how thrilled I am to be a part of this journey. Thank you, Erica, for spending you Saturday morning with us. And thank you as always to the family, without whom none of this would have ever come to be!
