Adaptations From ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ to ‘Shrill’ Allow Authors More Agency
Danielle Turchiano Senior Features Editor, TVHaving her nonfiction book of essays, “Shrill: Notes From a Loud Woman,” turned into a streaming scripted comedy in 2019 checked many boxes for Lindy West. It directly responded to the book’s critique of the lack of visual representation of fat women in the media by making “a piece of representation that’s exactly the thing I’d been missing,” she says, while also fulfilling her dream of writing for television.West didn’t just hand over her book to television producers for them to adapt; she stepped onto the show as a writer and executive producer, helping to shape the screen version.