Three-time-Emmy nominee, and former editor-in-chief of “Seventeen Magazine” and “Soap Opera Digest” Meredith Berlin has released her debut novel, Friends With Issues. The characters – three glamorous, self-made women in their 40s, entangled with one charismatic man – seems made for a TV series (calling David E. Kelley). Not surprisingly Berlin, whose career has been steeped in plot twists and celebrities, agrees.What qualities do you think make a novel turn into a successful series?
The viewer has to be hooked, can’t wait to see the next episode.They have to be invested in the characters and root for at least one of them. Location matters too, especially in an ensemble production. (Friends with Issues is set in Greenwich and Westport, CT, Westchester County, NYC and LA.) Giving the audience a private look inside those ritzy communities and their homes is another way of ripping off the curtain of privilege and letting them go behind the scenes.
How did your experience in the TV world influence your storyline/characters?
Working as an entertainment journalist, and EIC at Soap Opera Digest and Seventeen taught me how important
story arc is—I think that comes across in my novel. Also dialogue. It should be snappy, fun but also thoughtful. I also learned that that to tell a good story, it’s fun for the reader (and writer) to add a lot of glamour. Think “Sex and the City” or “White Lotus.” Friends with Issues deals with sex, careers, body image and disease but my characters are self made, elegant and privileged.
story arc is—I think that comes across in my novel. Also dialogue. It should be snappy, fun but also thoughtful. I also learned that that to tell a good story, it’s fun for the reader (and writer) to add a lot of glamour. Think “Sex and the City” or “White Lotus.” Friends with Issues deals with sex, careers, body image and disease but my characters are self made, elegant and privileged. I believe a showrunner and network needs to understand that the story (think “Big Little Lies”) is not only about a big “whodunnit it or who was it” but about the complex characters and relationships as they grow. A savvy executive is going to see a story’s potential, respect the viewer and market it in a sophisticated way to its audience.
Who do you envision playing the characters in Friends with Issues?
When I was working on the book I kept a whiteboard with pictures of actors I thought could play the roles. I saw Robin Wright as Brooke. I imagined Marissa Tomei as Susan, and Anne Hathaway as Elizabeth. Other actors included Ben Mendelssohn and Kyle Chandler. Nick—a main character—was a blank piece of paper. I kept imagining different actors for him, but maybe he’s an unknown.
Meredith Berlin has been married for over thirty years and has three children and one granddaughter. She is a graduate of Emerson College, and former colleague of Cynopsis’ Robbie Caploe and Lynn Leahey, who expect to be thanked in her Emmy speech.
