How ‘We Were The Lucky Ones’ Showrunner Erica Lipez Masterfully Adapted the Complex Narrative for TV

Creating a show is no easy task. From finding the entry point for adapting a complex story to navigating the creative dynamics of a writers’ room, many elements go into creating a great scripted TV show. Erica Lipez, who developed and show-runs the Hulu series We Were The Lucky Ones, knew that adapting the historical drama into an eight-episode mini-series would be tough but extremely rewarding.

ScreenCraft sat down with Erica Lipez to talk about adapting the harrowing true story for the screen, taking care of her team while writing the series, and why every TV writer should write in multiple mediums.

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Finding the Entry Point for an Adaptation

After reading the book 24 hours back in 2018, Lipez instant knew she had to develop Georgia Hunter’s novel into a series. Lipez knew that adapting this true story for the screen would be a big undertaking. She and the other writers had to balance the sensitive subject matter while defying many conventions of what television is supposed to be.

Lipez approached this adaptation by first establishing the characters and their relationships before spreading them out across 9 years and 4 continents. “If we are going to invest in this family and their journey to find each other, we really need to see them together. In a book, you can get into their minds and see the memory and what they are reflecting on, but we have to see that on screen,” Lipez said.

Starting with the Passover dinner, Lipez invested 30 minutes into the family dynamics to help the audience understand what the characters will be fighting for and what they are fighting to reclaim throughout World War II.

‘We Were The Lucky Ones’

A Great Environment Creates Great Work

When dealing with challenging and harrowing stories, navigating emotions and everyone’s emotional well-being became one of the biggest challenges Lipez had to face as a showrunner. Checking in with the writers in the room became a big priority for Lipez.

“It was the kind of work where days you thought would be hard were fine, and then days you weren’t expecting the material to hit you in a very visceral way,” Lipez said. “We were just trying to take care of each other.”

Lipez was focused on creating a community of love and safety because she and We Were The Lucky Ones‘ director Thomas Kail believe that the best work comes from a great environment.

“I can tell you that if you create an environment where people feel safe and empowered, where their voices are heard, and you listen to them, you will get such incredible work from them,” Lipez said.

‘We Were The Lucky Ones’

Expanding Beyond One Medium

Like any other skill, you can improve your writing by learning, applying, and challenging yourself. While Lipez has mastered the medium of TV writing, she started her writing career in a different medium.

“What I did have access to in Maine was theater,” Lipez said. “I think every TV writer should write a play, every playwright should write for TV, and feature writers should write for TV. They are all in relationship with each other. I think it really strengthens your writing to write in different mediums.”

One way to flex your writing skills is by taking the time to study the scripts of your favorite TV shows, features, and plays. Once you understand the structure, try writing your own. This will help with your creativity and diversity in writing as you expand your skills and opportunities for growth.

Understanding different mediums and how to write in them will help you avoid pigeonholing yourself as a creative. As Lipez said to ScreenCraft, keep writing, and the opportunities will come as you develop a body of work that gives you the confidence to take on new projects.

A group of women looking over a young boy in 'We Were The Lucky Ones'

‘We Were The Lucky Ones’ (2024)

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We Were The Lucky Ones is a hard-hitting and important series that had a lot of love and hard work put into it to make an unconventional framework that Erica Lipez fell in love with working for the TV screen.

By finding the best way to connect the audience to the characters, building an emotionally resilient writers’ room, and expanding your writing skills by working in different mediums, you can create a well-written TV show that is a strong adaptation of an already fantastic piece of work, just like Lipez did.