This group!! It’s tough to put to words just how much the smiling faces in the photos below have come to mean to me over the course of our four months together.
Our Writers Room first gathered as a whole in May. We weighed in from both coasts and we met every day, often for a stretch of five-plus hours. We were eleven in all, including writers and support staff—our job: to transform 400 pages of the Kurc family story into eight hours of honest, propulsive, unforgettable television.
It wasn’t easy. We relived impossible-to-fathom events, peeling back layers upon layers of research as we challenged ourselves to think carefully about what to portray and how, and about the who, what, where and why behind every decision our characters were making. Why did Halina leave Radom for Lvov at the start of the war? Was it for love? For a job, to support her family? What did it take for Mila to bring her baby to work with her every day, illegally? To eventually leave Felicia in a stranger’s care? How did Addy feel, falling in love an ocean away from his family, with whom he’d lost complete contact?
On the printed page, I relied on internal dialogue and on historical context between chapters to convey feelings and to keep my readers grounded in time and place. On the screen, we don’t have that luxury. The pacing is faster, the real estate far smaller. The challenge of how best to convey the Kurcs’ physical, emotional and spiritual journeys—while also honoring the greater story of the Holocaust and shedding light on an ever-changing social, political and military climate—was constant.
But the team rose to the occasion. Each and every person in the room brought so much love, so much insight, so much care to this project. They embraced the Kurc story as if it were their own, then reached into their hearts and shared personal perspectives and anecdotes that deepened our characters and infused more color and truth to our story.
Over time (for me, at least, although I have a hunch others would agree) the Writers Room began to feel like therapy. It was safe place to talk about difficult things, but also a call to find the light amidst the dark. We cried at the hard scenes. But boy did we relish in the bright ones. The music, the love, the babies (the babies!).
Our last day in the room together was a true celebration. We dressed for the occasion and raised a glass to our time together, smiling till our cheeks hurt. I’ll never forget that last Zoom, or the many, many hours of collaboration that led up to it. I’ve felt a bit unmoored since, to be honest, especially when our usual start time rolls around and I skim my inbox for a Zoom link, ready to hit join.
And so, I want to say thank you. To Erica, our show-runner, for putting together this amazing group of beautiful souls and for being our North Star as we waded through eleven storylines, eight years and and five continents of material. I don’t know how you managed to wear 400 different hats while also leading us, day after day, with such grace and compassion.
To Adam, Eboni, Anya (forever my Shamanya), Jon and Tea—I’m in awe of your talent, your passion, your courage. I get teary when I think about the boundless energy and creative genius you’ve brought to this new life for We Were the Lucky Ones. I’ve learned so much from all of you.
To Daniel, our incredible researcher, thank you for the endless digging and sifting and digesting and fact-checking, and for presenting us with just the right historical context whenever we needed it. To Maydé, who kept copious, perfect notes day in and day out, despite the fact that our conversations were long and twisty and hard to digest, often, even to our own ears—thank you for your diligence and your warmth. Michelle, we’d be under water without you. Your organization and your smile brought so much light to the room every day. And to Emma, we all sleep easier, thanks to your superhuman organization and your keen eye for detail.
I’m so proud of this team and of all that we’ve accomplished. We’ve still got mountains to climb—outlines to finish, scripts to write, a show to produce(!)—but the roots of our series, like the roots of our friendships, have been firmly planted, the soil beneath us primed for growth. I can’t wait for the day when we can sit down together and watch the seeds of our work come to life on the screen!
