Elin Hilderbrand On Writing For TV: “I Have No Interest”; Author Also Reveals New Book
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- The Five-Star Weekend, based on Hilderbrand's 2023 novel, debuted on Peacock this week starring Jennifer Garner, with Bekah Brunstetter (Maid, This Is Us) serving as creator and writer.
- The Perfect Couple, Hilderbrand's first Netflix adaptation, was a hit and has already spawned Season 2, which will be based on her book Swan Song.
- Hilderbrand told the New York Times that seven or eight other books of hers are currently in TV development.
- Hilderbrand told the NYT she has "no interest" in writing television, saying it's the showrunner's job to turn her novels into "compelling television."
- Nantucket was Hilderbrand's only concern when she gave showrunner Bekah Brunstetter "carte blanche" on The Five-Star Weekend, telling USA Today the show "needed to move at its own pace."
- The Thoroughbreds, co-written with her daughter, releases in September, and Hilderbrand revealed she is already working on The Novelists, about four writers at the Iowa Writers' Workshop where she was a teaching and writing fellow.
Why it matters: Hilderbrand holds a rare position: seven or eight novels in the TV pipeline, yet she refuses to enter the writers' room, preferring to let showrunners like Brunstetter handle adaptations. With The Thoroughbreds arriving in September and The Novelists in progress, her novel output continues uninterrupted even as Peacock and Netflix mine her catalog.
