Last Wednesday marked the 123rd and final day of the We Were the Lucky Ones series shoot. I can’t believe it. I remember meeting the cast and walking the hallways of the Kurc apartment in Bucharest for the first time as if it were yesterday.
I made four trips across the pond to be a part of the production—three to Romania, and most recently, with the family in tow, to southern Spain. It’s all still so very fresh in my mind, but it’ll be months, I think, before I fully absorb just what the experience has meant to me. For now, I’m going to sit with it, and with the 4,000 photos I took along the way, and try to process the enormity of it.
To Tommy and Erica and to my friends Old 320, thank you for believing in me, in my story, and in the notion that with enough creative effort, we could turn this dream to a reality.
To the teams at 20th and to Hulu—when we pitched you this series, you told us the story, while daunting in scope, felt ‘undeniable.’ Thanks for taking the leap of faith. Your support throughout has been unwavering.
To our remarkable group of screen writers, you are the beating heart of our show. I’ll never forget our time in the room together, and the beauty that came of it. Your scripts are perfection.
To our phenomenal cast (to name just a few, in order of the family tree): Lior, Robin, Henry, Moran, Hadas, Michael, Logan, Lihi, Nicole, Amit, Eva, Joey, Alex, Belle, Henry and Artemisia—watching you bring my relatives to life with such precision and love has made me feel closer to them than ever. Thank you for that. And for being some of the most thoughtful, funny, wise, humble and insanely talented humans I know. I adore you all.
To our brilliant directors and assistant directors and our amazing producers, to our dialect coaches, researchers, script coordinators and assistants, and to the teams across departments: art, costume, hair and makeup, lighting, sound, props, set decoration, camera, casting, IT, grip, health and safety, locations, picture vehicles, rigging, special effects, stunts, sustainability, transportation, VFX, marketing, media and post production…thank you. It’s been a joy and an honor to get to know each of you and I’ll forever be bowled over by your craft, your dedication, your passion for this project.
To Anna, Shelley, Beatrice and Dan—three generations of Kurc descendants who traveled from Paris and Tel Aviv to watch the finale unfold—thank you for coming. Having you there behind the scenes meant so much to me and to everyone on set. Truly.
To Robert, to my mom, to Margie and Larissa and to the countless friends in Rowayton who have cheered for me and for this project since its inception and who kept the house standing, the dog fed, the family afloat while I was away for weeks on end—forever grateful for your support. You are all superheroes.
And to Wyatt and Ransom, I’m so glad you made the trek to Spain. Being there with you on set, knowing that someday you’d be able to tell your own kids, and their kids, about what it was like to watch your family history come to life, to get to know the actors playing your ancestors—people you now call friends—was mind-bending. I’ll never forget it.
Lots of work still to come in the months ahead (I may personally be most excited about the musical score, being composed as we speak). For now, though, I’m taking a moment to feel proud of all that we’ve accomplished, and raising a glass to the hundreds of people around the world who’ve put their fingerprint on this project. Here’s to each and every one of you, and to making something beautiful together.
