{"id":3397,"date":"2026-05-15T20:21:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T20:21:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/?p=3397"},"modified":"2026-05-15T20:21:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T20:21:07","slug":"limited-series-night-in-the-writers-room-1236750264","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/limited-series-night-in-the-writers-room-1236750264\/","title":{"rendered":"Limited Series Writers on Adapting from Novels and Real Life History"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\n\tThe writers and creators behind some of TV\u2019s biggest limited series took to the stage at Variety\u2019s <\/em>Night in the Writers Room on May 7 to give audiences a glimpse into their production processes and adapting material for television.<\/p>\n

Moderated by Variety\u2019s <\/em>Senior Artisans Editor Jazz Tangcay, this year\u2019s panel featured Annie Weisman of \u201cImperfect Women<\/a>,\u201d Connor Hines of \u201cLove Story<\/a>,\u201d Mike Makowsky of \u201cDeath by Lightning<\/a>\u201d and Ian Brennan of \u201cMonster: The Ed Gein Story<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The creatives spoke about developing their shows and adapting their respective source material, whether it\u2019s a true story or a novel.<\/p>\n

In the case of \u201cDeath by Lightning,\u201d which focuses on the assassination of President James Garfield, screenwriter and producer Makowsky said that he first encountered the original novel during a BOGO sale at a Barnes & Noble seven years ago. \u201cI tried to have fun when I was writing [the show], because I didn\u2019t want it to feel like a typical period piece,\u201d said Makowsky. \u201cI wanted it to feel like something that could have resonance in the 21st century, because I think the themes of the show are so relevant even today.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Weisman, \u201cImperfect Women\u201d was brought to her by Elisabeth Moss, who starred in and executive produced the Apple TV drama. While the novel is set in England, Weisman explained certain changes that had to be made to set the story in America, including creating an interracial friendship.<\/p>\n

Hines\u2019 \u201cLove Story\u201d and Brennan\u2019s \u201cMonster\u201d are both Ryan Murphy projects and draw from real-life history, albeit very different in nature. Hines mentioned that \u201cThe Crown,\u201d which follows the story of Britain\u2019s royal family, sent him \u201cdown a rabbit hole\u201d about the closest American counterpart: the Kennedys. Sensitive to the fact that John F. Kennedy Jr. and Carolyn Bessette were beloved public figures, Hines explained they were \u201cmeticulous\u201d in the research process. \u201cWhat drew me to this project was how much I loved their love story, and how much reverence I had for John and Carolyn and their family\u2026 compassion was our North Star in the creative process.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story behind \u201cMonster\u201d was \u201ctricky\u201d to land on, according to Brennan, who describes serial killer Ed Gein as having \u201cexisted in the background,\u201d making him harder to focus on as a subject. \u201cHe\u2019s sort of an enigma, which is an opportunity and an obstacle,\u201d said Brennan. \u201cYou\u2019re guessing, but you\u2019re actually trying to tell a fuller story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casting actors to resemble an actual person was a unique process shared by the participants of the panel.<\/p>\n

\n\tMoss reached out to co-stars Kerry Washington and Kate Mara for \u201cImperfect Women,\u201d a process Weisman describes as \u201cpleasantly smooth,\u201d which almost never happens. Makowsky gave his actors a challenge, saying, \u201cWe cast Michael Shannon as the president, who\u2019s this noble, lawful good, and Matthew Macfadyen as the madman who kills him. Most people would probably assume that you would have Matthew Macfadyen playing the white hat, and Michael Shannon playing the disturbed maniac, so it was really fun to see them both play against the type.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brennan referred to his cast of Charlie Hunnam, Laurie Metcalfe, Vicky Krieps and Tom Hollander in \u201cMonster\u201d as \u201can embarrassment of riches,\u201d sharing an anecdote of Hunnam listening to any audio tapes of Gein he could find to nail his Midwestern accent.<\/p>\n

Paul Kelly, who made his acting debut in \u201cLove Story,\u201d was the final piece in the casting puzzle. \u201cIt turns out it\u2019s quite tricky, casting one of the most glamorous, magnetic, beautiful, charismatic couples of the 20th century who also have had their images splashed around the world for many years,\u201d said Hines, who added they weren\u2019t just seeking actors but people with an \u201cX factor.\u201d Two weeks before filming began, they had Kelly come in and instantly knew they wanted him to play JFK Jr. \u201cMost importantly, Sarah Pidgeon [who plays Bessette] knew in that moment. She was like, \u2018That\u2019s the guy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The writers and creators behind some of TV\u2019s biggest limited series took to the stage at Variety\u2019s Night in the Writers Room on May 7 to give audiences a glimpse into their production processes and adapting material for television. Moderated by Variety\u2019s Senior Artisans Editor Jazz Tangcay, this year\u2019s panel featured Annie Weisman of \u201cImperfect<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2020,2021,405,2022,3,2023,2024,167,62],"tags":[2015,2016,2017,2018,2019],"class_list":["post-3397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-night-in-the-writers-room","category-death-by-lightning","category-entertainment","category-imperfect-women","category-lifestyle","category-love-story","category-monster-the-ed-gein-story","category-netflix","category-news","tag-a-night-in-the-writers-room","tag-death-by-lightning","tag-imperfect-women","tag-love-story","tag-monster-the-ed-gein-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/owspakistan.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}