Watching The Summer I Turned Pretty is about the closest one can get to a real vacation without leaving the couch. Based on the Jenny Han novel of the same name, the coming-of-age Amazon Prime series follows Belly (Lola Tung) as she embarks on her annual visit to her family friends’ beach house. But this year feels different—more special. Mostly because of a brewing love triangle with brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno).
“I’m hoping that the viewers who are adults can watch the show and really miss and remember a time when they were also young, in love, messy, and experiencing things for the first time,” Han tells Glamour. “And I hope that the younger audience will watch it and feel seen, or hope for moments like that for themselves in the future.”
With its gorgeous setting, Taylor Swift–led soundtrack, and the kind of carefree power that comes from knowing you have three months ahead without any responsibilities, The Summer I Turned Pretty offers a true escape for viewers of all ages. For Han, maybe not so much.
Though To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and its sequels have been made into a series of Netflix films, this was the New York Times best-selling author’s first foray into adapting her own work for the screen. And she leaned into the experience, serving as cocreator, executive producer, co-showrunner, and writer of the series. As if that weren’t enough of a challenge, she was simultaneously working on developing XO, Kitty, a To All the Boys spin-off series that began production in Seoul. Han has been working across three time zones to make it all happen. As for free time? Han doesn’t know her.
But as taxing as it all is, Han is clearly energized and excited by the work. So we checked in about her morning routine, her writing process, and so much more for Glamour‘s latest installment of Doing the Work.
Glamour: This is your first foray into television. What did you learn from the experience?
Jenny Han: As a showrunner, all day long it’s putting out fires, solving problems, and being that nexus for people to come to with questions. I think you have to have a hold on the whole season—the story in the palm of your hand, in a way—to have that view over the whole thing. I had a moment of realizing that I only want to do the things that only I can do and then delegate stuff that I can’t do to other people on the team. If you try to do everything yourself, then at some point you overload and it’s just too much.
What’s your morning routine like?
I don’t have a morning routine because my schedule is so varied. It depends if I’m on set, in a writers room, or writing a book. It’s always different. For now my routine is that I usually get up around nine and unfortunately I look straight at emails because XO, Kitty is on Korean time. I know when I wake up that there’s a bunch of emails that came in overnight. I get caught up before I go into The Summer I Turned Pretty writers room, which starts at noon because most of the people live in Los Angeles, so it’s 9:00 a.m. there. I actually get a good amount of catchup time in the mornings to do emails and interviews and look at the day. But the day ends late as well because of Korean time. I’m in New York, so it’s three different time zones. Sometimes my day doesn’t end until 10:30 p.m.
How do you find the time for breaks for yourself?
Oh, for the past couple years I haven’t really been able to make that time. I’m hoping to. I’ve been in total work mode. One of the very few positives of COVID has been that it’s allowed me to easily work 24/7 and be grinding all the time [because I can work from home], but I am looking forward to a break.
If you’re working until 10:30 p.m., this might not exist, but…what is your nighttime routine like? How do you unwind?
If I have enough energy left, I like to cook my dinner. If I don’t, then I’ll order takeout. And then I watch a little bit of Stranger Things or Love Is Blind or Summer House, something like that. Something that’s not going to be too emotionally taxing for my brain after a long day. I shouldn’t do this, but then I often look at my phone for two hours. They say it’s not good for you because you’re supposed to turn off all devices and not be looking at screens before bed, but I tend to go to sleep late as well.
Can you tell me about your writing process? How is it different for a book versus writing a show?
When I’m writing a book, I like to go somewhere beautiful with a nice view and a hot tub—like go to Santa Barbara or Palm Springs or someplace like that, where you rent a house and can have a lovely day writing by the pool. Then you have a 5:00 p.m. cocktail hour and get in the hot tub. Then you go to dinner, and then you work again. That’s a very nice author-ly life. And that’s completely different than my life in screenwriting, which is much more fast-paced. That’s the biggest difference. It’s also a lot more collaborative. You’re getting notes from other producers. You’re getting notes from the studio, from the network. And there’s a clock on it.
You made the author life sound so appealing, but do you have a preference?
I think the collaborative part of TV is one of the big bonuses. You get to work with people who are really talented and bringing their different gifts to your project, which is such a privilege. It’s also fun to see a scene you wrote come to life and the way the actors might bring something special to it, something that you weren’t expecting. That to me is the most fun part: things you could never imagine come to life because of other people contributing to it.
There is something really fun about set life; it’s like being a part of a theater troupe in that everyone’s all pushing toward the same thing. For those few months, the most important thing in the world is the thing you’re making and you’re very bonded together. It’s like living in this kind of bubble as you tell the story, and then you get to see what you made. There’s something very satisfying about that.
For you, what makes a good story?
To me what makes a good story is: Do I lean in and say, “And then what happened?” If someone’s pitching something and you don’t ask, “And then what happened?” then something needs to be reworked. You’ve got to draw people in and make them want more.
When you’re writing, is there music that you like to listen to? Or do you prefer silence?
I don’t listen to music when I’m writing, unless I need to tap into some emotions. For that, Taylor Swift has always been the musician that can help me tap into that emotional being very quickly. I was definitely listening to a lot of her music when I was writing The Summer I Turned Pretty books.
“This Love (Taylor’s Version)” was included in the Summer I Turned Pretty trailer. That must have been exciting.
As a longtime fan, that was definitely a big moment for me—and, I think, for the book fans who have always wanted a Taylor song for any adaptation of the book.
Do you have a favorite Taylor Swift song, or one that you turn to a lot when you need to tap that emotional well?
Oh, man. Well, it’s different for different books. That’s really hard. I’ll probably say “Delicate” might be my favorite. If I was going to do a top three, it would be “Delicate,” “Tim McGraw,” and “False God.”
Could you tell me a more about how “This Love” came to be in the trailer?
Only Taylor can speak for Taylor, but I’ll just say that for me as a fan, I was so excited when they got the song. What she’s doing with the Taylor’s versions is, in some ways, like an adaptation. It’s taking something you created years ago and reimagining it, which is not dissimilar to me adapting The Summer I Turned Pretty, which I wrote in 2013 and am now writing for a series in 2022. How do you approach it? What do you keep? And what do you change?
Was there anything in particular that felt like it needed to change when you looking through a 2022 lens?
I looked at everything. I looked at how we could make this a more inclusive look at adulthood and coming-of-age, be it with character sexuality or in casting the parts diversely. And even just looking at the story and saying, “Okay, how do I keep what people really love about it and then also look to see where can I freshen it or where can I make it feel more reflective of this moment?”
What’s something you hope to get better at?
I’m learning something new every day. I had never written for TV until I started doing the pilot for The Summer I Turned Pretty. And then I was really in the deep end. The first time in a writers room, I was also coleading the writers room. It was my first time doing a lot of things. I’ve mainly learned just by doing and watching. So I’d like to get better at being a good support system to a director and a crew and keeping things moving forward with energy and purpose.
What’s the most misunderstood part of your job?
I think what’s often misunderstood is how many things are at play and how decisions get made. People are often like, “Why didn’t you cast this person or that person?” There’s a lot of factors that go into acting—one of them is that if a person is famous enough that you know them, they’re probably really busy! [Laughs.] Or perhaps we tried and they said no. You just never know—there’s a million reasons why.
People get really excited about not just imagining who the cast could be, but also who they imagine in their heads. To me, the way the actor physically looks in comparison to the character is the least important. If they can embody that character and make me believe they’re them, that’s what I care about.
Do you have a signature thank-you gift?
I haven’t traveled in the past three years, but I used to do it a lot. And when I’m traveling, I love to discover things local to wherever I am and send that as a gift. Nowadays with the internet you can buy anything from anywhere. So I think it feels really special when you can only buy something in one place. For example, there are these really great room diffusers in Florence that you used to not be able to buy in the United States. So I would buy a bunch of them and bring them back to give as my signature scent.
What was your childhood dream job, or was writing always it for you?
As a kid, I didn’t really have any dream jobs. My parents were immigrants and worked blue-collar jobs, so I didn’t feel like I could sit there and just dream about all the things I could be. I was going to be something more practical. So even though I was always a writer and always telling stories in my notebooks, I didn’t ever see that as a career option.
As an adult, dream jobs to me are people who go stay in hotels and then give feedback. I don’t know how it could be better. That always seem like a good job to me. I think casting directors have a really great job doing interesting work. But I always thought…Oh, one funny thing I always thought seemed like a great job was the person who names nail polish colors.
What was your first actual job?
My first actual job was at Olive Garden.
Did you get sick of the breadsticks?
I don’t think I ever got sick of the breadsticks. I was just working there one summer. I would get the chicken Alfredo and add spinach and do a lunch-size portion, which is half the price. And I would do a raspberry lemonade.
Okay, last question: With Summer being the first pilot you wrote, did you seek out advice before you started? Or did you throw yourself into the process?
No, I just threw myself in. The thing I’ve learned is to follow your gut. Often I’ll have an instinctive feeling about something and very rarely have I found that I regretted following that instinct. I’ve only really regretted it when I didn’t. At least if it’s a mistake, you own your own mistake. It’s not like listening to somebody else. It’s important to own your own mistakes and learn from them. There’s no one else to blame, you know?
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
