“I feel that the story that we told on the show feels complete to me, that it could be the end, but I think there’s still just a little bit more road to hoe,” she tells Gold Derby. “The film feels like it’s own new beginning, in a way.”
Here, she explains why she wanted to keep fanning the flames of Team Belly, why representation is so important to her, and what we can expect from her big-screen vision.
Gold Derby: How does it feel to have the show behind you?
Jenny Han: It doesn’t feel like it’s behind me, because I’m still living in the world. But it’s really quite lovely to be able to finish what we started, at least on the show side of things, and to still have something to look forward to. It was almost like when we were wrapping the actors and everyone was wrapping at different times, because some people didn’t go to Paris and people wrapped in Wilmington. It was nice to know that it wasn’t goodbye, that we would see each other again.
I know you’re not going to give away what’s going to happen in the film, but so much of the series was the love triangle, which was resolved. So what can we expect? What can you tell us about the film, what the world of the film is going to explore?
I can’t really say. My co-showrunner Sarah Kucserka and I have recently finished a draft, but it’s still too early, and I like to wait until things are really baked to discuss it, because I think it’s still a little bit malleable. I think sometimes you even as you’re filming it things can continue to evolve. I think that’s the beauty of film, that you get to tell the story so many times — you tell the story as you’re writing it. But then when you’re on set and you’re building something in some ways new with the actors, and then when you’re in post, you’re still continuing to shape the story. And so I like to kind of wait until it’s more fully formed.
How do you feel as a filmmaker and as a storyteller about this format, about telling a story over two hours?
Oh, I’m excited. In some ways, because I started in the world of books as a novelist, and I think TV really lends itself well to books in that you can really grow the characters out and spend a lot of time with the characters, just building their worlds. And a movie is so much shorter, but in this way, though, we already have these characters that we’ve been living with for the past few years and seeing this world. So it’s fun to get in and do something that’s more finite and has a period on the end of the sentence.
What was the cast’s reaction when they found out that this story was going to continue and they were going to get to live in this world for longer?
They were excited, but we’ve been in conversation about it for a bit. I think we’ve been talking about it for quite some time before it was a final thing.
And what does it mean for you?
For me, I’ve been living with them for so many years. Although I think the show versions of them are slightly different than the book versions, because they’ve been embodied by real actors, and so it’s really fun to be able to still play in the world and continue to write stories for them.
How have the actors’ performances changed how you thought of these characters?
They each bring their own selves to the work, and they bring it to life. I think getting to watch them in their process and see how they themselves build the character, it’s exciting. As a storyteller, it’s very creatively invigorating too, because then you get ideas, and are very excited to write dialogue for them, and lean into their gifts. Many of them were quite young when we started. Lola was just 18, and now she’s 23. That’s crazy to me. So I think people just naturally grow and come into their own and all of them are so gifted and came into it the show with so much natural life to them.
The series has been such a huge social media phenomenon. Do you just tune it out and just keep your head down and write the story that you want to tell?
My first book that was adapted for film was To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, and that was a really big hit on social media. So I’d been on social media for years and was in those spaces. So I thought there’s definitely a potential for it to find an audience via social media as well. I always say I try to write with the door closed and be led by my own inner compass creatively and write the story that I want to write, and try to always please myself first, because I’m the storyteller, but I’m also an audience member, in a way, too. So what story do I want to see? What am I excited to see play out on the screen?
Do you engage with people at all online? Do you comment?
It was funny because I started out my career as a novelist, and it’s a much smaller audience with books people don’t read as much as they as they watch film and TV, and so I was able to be more in touch with my audience in that way, and it’s always been important to me to have a good beat on how people are feeling and what sort of stories they were hoping to see from me. But I try to be on it less, not as much, because it can be very overwhelming to have that many opinions at once. Honestly, you just do the best you can, and then you hope people find it, and you hope that people like connect with it. And I think that that’s the most that you can do as a storyteller, right? You have to be true to yourself. You have to tell the story that you wanted to tell and you set out to tell.
The social media discourse online has reached epic levels. Whose response has surprised you the most?
I was surprised when I saw Howard Stern talking about the show that he’s a fan, and he was very sincere, and that was kind of surreal, but also it’s been really gratifying to see how diverse the fan base is, because all different kinds of people are watching the show. I’ll see anybody from a grandfather watching it with his granddaughter. I’ve seen sports players watching it, and all over the world, too.
What is it about the show you think that inspires that kind of passion?
I think it’s a way to revisit a moment in life. It’s a different time, where in some ways, it’s before life is getting really complicated. I think most people can relate to that moment of being young and in love for the first time. With the show, we see that evolution with all the characters, where things are more carefree that first season, and then real life is creeping in, and they have to grapple with the everyday tragedies of life, of losing somebody and figuring out how to live without them. It’s something that most people have experienced in some way.
You’ve said you’re Team Belly — versus choosing between either Jeremiah or Conrad. What do you say to those who’ve taken one side or the other?
It’s a part of the story, but I don’t think it’s the whole point of the story, because it really is about, I think, how people you love in your life can touch you in different ways and make an impact in different ways. I think that goes for all the characters, because really, the story revolves around Belly and growing up and coming into her own. I think all the characters in the show have contributed to that in some way. It is about first love and how special that is, and the different kinds of love, because it’s also a lot about her, her friendship with Taylor, and her mom’s friendship with Susannah, and her relationships with her family, and the way that they’re all kind of family as well, that the Conklins and the Fishers have been together every summer her whole life, and I think that’s just really kind of magical special relationships.
Is that something that happened for you personally, that you’re tapping into?
I definitely, growing up, had other family friends that we would go on vacations with, but I think it is very rare, being able to have a lifelong friendship that you invest in in that way, especially with Susannah, who’s pretty wealthy. They could be going other places, but this is where they choose to be, because that’s where they want to be with each other in this special place. And I think it’s hard, as you are a grownup to make time for those relationships and really honor them, but that’s probably one part of the wish fulfillment of the show, where people watch it and think, “Oh, I wish I could do that, to put pause on life for a few months and go and be with the people I love at the beach, in this beautiful house.”
Talk a bit about representation. Why is that so important to you?
With this story, and with To All the Boys I Loved Before, I think it’s important to see the many different ways there are to be a young woman in America. There isn’t just one type of girl next door, and it tends to be the kind of story I like to tell. With Summer I Turned Pretty, really focusing on this one girl’s story, and really looking at it with importance and weight is important to me, because I think these small stories, just about people living their lives are what people also connect to. I think it’s important to have all kinds of stories, and this one is small and it’s just about a young girl’s coming of age. But I think that’s what people can find maybe a glimpse of themselves in as well.
Music was such a key part of the series. Why did you want to integrate it so much into your work?
Especially for Summer I Turned Pretty I was really imagining music as a character on the show, because I think it’s a way to bring people together. It’s on for the characters, but also the audience in that I used music from many different genres and eras, and I think that’s how that house is too, because you’ve got the mothers who have their music that they listened to when they were young, and then you’ve got the kids wanting to play their music. And I think the show is like that, also that kind of spans across generations.
What defines a Jenny Han series? What does that mean to you?
I think it’s a hopeful story that is warm-hearted. There’s so many different kinds of stories I want to tell. Maybe some are scary or thrillers. But at the end of the day, I think I like to tell stories or enjoy stories that feel real, like real people, and that you feel some kind of human connection to them.
So when it comes to writing the film, who are your inspirations?
I love Nora Ephron. I think she’s probably one of my favorite writers. She’s so funny. I love Richard Curtis, who’s done some amazing romantic comedies. I love Greta Gerwig.
When do you expect to go into production?
That’s still to be determined.
And can you leave me with one or two words to describe the film?
No. You’ll have to wait and see.
