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Sweetbitterstelevision adaptationgave thebooks authorStephanie Danlera chance for some do-overs.
But the shows six-episode first season only pulls from about a fourth of the books material.
Ella, Danler says, referring to starElla Purnell.
But there were some very kooky, for lack of a better word, readings of Tess.
I pride myself on being a quick learner.
I keep my head down.
I dont ask a lot of questions and I listen.
Writing for TV is different from writing a novel.
How did you make the transition?As a novelist, Im obsessed with sentences.
Its not a finished piece of work.
Its not the final say.
Was it hard to give up that control?
I think thats one benefit of having the author involved: We couldnt stray too far from the mission.
Maybe readers will take issue.
Ive always sought them out.
Theres something maternal about it: Tess is longing for a maternal figure and Simones longing to nurture.
It just wouldnt play.
Their relationship calls to mindAll About Eve,Damages,The Devil Wears Prada.
Female friendships assume that you have each others best interests at heart and here, its not about equality.
One is clearly the teacher, one is clearly the student, and that power dynamic cant be disrupted.
InAll About Eve,they can never meet as equals.
Youve calledSweetbitters first season a three-hour prologue.
Im so happy that thats what you took away.
I really skipped over it in the book, you know?
You dont just magically wake up and have a group of friends.
You take missteps and its slow and its hard to place people and know who they are.
The character Heather, a black woman server, is an addition to the show.
I was writing about a period of time in which restaurants were cast much the way shows were cast.
You have immigrants that just arrived here yesterday and make minimum wage or arent here legally.
You have every single color, diversity, ethnicity in the back of house.
And yet, when you cross into the dining room, it becomes a different sort of theater.
What gives us permission in this world to move?
All of thats in a restaurant.
Was there a role that was hardest to cast?Theyre all hard.
I was so convinced about Caitlin [FitzGerald] from the very beginning.
We saw so many women.
There could have been so many versions of Simone.
Thats a very talented actress that can be cold without pushing the audience away.
What did you see in Ella?During her audition, she was doing an American accent.
I was like,What is this little gypsy girl?
The restaurant industry, especially in New York, is going through its own#MeToo movement.
Yeah, its overdue.
Whats your relationship to New York City and especially Williamsburg now that you live in Los Angeles?
Do the years you spent here feel very distant?I dont think its for me anymore.
I feel like the sharpest, smartest, most ambitious, most energized version.
The problem is now I can only keep that up for four days versus 12 years.
I always worked multiple jobs.
I wanted to get out of here before the book came out.
I think its nice to work outside the center of your industry.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
