Long before she became a New York Times bestselling author – this was 32 novels and more than 20 million copies ago – Elin Hilderbrand took a cautionary tale to heart. 

One of her mentors had written a wondrous book, only for it to become what Hilderbrand called “one of the worst movies of all time.” 

The lesson stuck.

“I thought to myself, ‘OK, that is never going to be me,’ ’’ Hilderbrand said.

Instead, the author hit the adaptation jackpot with “The Five-Star Weekend,’’ the Peacock limited series featuring a female-centric cast led by Jennifer Garner. 

The magic began when Hilderbrand sought out just the right person to develop her source material, which focused on the complex friendships of women. Hilderbrand found her storytelling soulmate in Bekah Brunstetter (“This Is Us”), and their ensuing mind-meld paved the way for a screenplay that maximized the emotional punch of the acclaimed 2023 book. 

One New York Times reviewer said Peacock’s “The Five-Star Weekend” was “a relief to be pulled into this beautiful world, where middle age is treated as a positive development — even a potential turning point toward something more authentic.”

Fan reaction was along the same lines.

“The response on social media from my readers has been, ‘It feels like we’re in an Elin Hilderbrand novel,’’’  Hilderbrand said, “and that’s all I care about.”

Best of all? By early August, “The Five-Star Weekend” was renewed for Season 2 after becoming Peacock’s most-watched scripted series ever.

Madeline Di Nonno, the president and CEO of the Geena Davis Institute, recently sat down with the two brilliant, award-winning creators for a YouTube conversation entitled “From Page to Screen: Bringing ‘The Five-Star Weekend’ to Life.”

Together, Hilderbrand and Brunstetter explained how the cast, made up mostly of women 40 and older, developed real bonds that infused the on-screen chemistry. 

“The Five-Star Weekend” details the complex grief of Hollis Shaw (Garner), a food influencer whose husband Matthew (Josh Hamilton, shown in flashbacks) died in a car accident. Hidden truths emerge. 

Hollis’ coping mechanism is a girls’ weekend with a friend from each phase of her life: Tatum (Chloë Sevigny), Dru-Ann (Regina Hall), Gigi (Gemma Chan) and Brooke (D’Arcy Carden). 

If they looked like friends on screen, it’s largely because of the camaraderie the actors built during production. They belted out “Dancing Queen” at karaoke; howled with laughter while playing Pictionary at executive producer Minkie Spiros’s place and devoured mountains of blueberry coffee cake Garner baked for the entire cast and crew. 

How “The Five-Star Weekend” went from page to screen

Hilderbrand certainly set the tone for collaboration. She did so in her first meeting with Brunstetter, when she recognized instantly that the esteemed playwright and TV writer had a vision for what “The Five-Star Weekend” should look like on television. 

As Hilderbrand and Brunstetter discussed their connection with Di Nonno, they sounded excited all over again.

“How many times did I text you worrying, Bekah?” Hilderbrand asked rhetorically. “Zero-point-zero-zero times, right? Because I trusted her explicitly. I knew that from the first meeting that her team wanted to make a beautiful show, a smart show, a female-centric show.”

Hilderbrand laughed about that one area she had to get tough on: acing the Nantucket-specific details. The author known as the “Queen of the Beach Read” wouldn’t dare step into Bartlett’s Market ever again if she messed up the portrayal of her hometown.

“I’ve lived here for 33 years, and I have to live here hopefully 33 more,’’ she said. “And I would never want to put anything on screen that was not authentic at its heart and soul.”

Of course, Brunstetter nailed Nantucket – and just about everything else. In Hilderbrand’s view, Brunstetter landed the screenwriter equivalent of a triple axel by making the story viewer-friendly while retaining the essence of the book. One big change was having Gigi know early in her relationship with Matthew that he was already married. 

“When I start an adaptation process, the book is my bible, and I have it dog-eared in notes, and I’m going back to it constantly,’’ Brunstetter said. “But at some point you have to put the book aside. You want to make good episodes of television that people want to watch. And you’re constantly saying to yourself, ‘Well, I can’t do that because that wasn’t in the book,’ you’re gonna kind of hamstring yourself into a certain kind of story. 

“We’re always searching for the humanity. The complications were interesting to us.” 

How The Five-Star Weekend cast became real friends

Intentionally, the goal of the casting process was to ensure that none of the actors had worked much together. The theory was that having their connections grow organically would bring an extra jolt of authenticity to the story arc.

“That’s actually what we wanted for the actors portraying these characters,’’ Brunstetter said. “Like if (Jennifer Garner) knew one of them really well, it could become cliquey in a way without even meaning to. 

“Even though Jen is such a generous, non-cliquey person, we wanted there to be this spirit of them getting to know each other and then becoming really close, which is literally what happens in the show. We wanted to capture some of that real magic.”

Did it work? Consider this line from a Time Magazine review: Casting choices are crucial for a show like this, whose emotional beats have to ring true even as its surface gleams with fantastical luxury, and all of Weekend’s stars are as suited to their characters as Garner. 

It helped that cast and crew threw their egos aside, Hilderbrand and Brunstetter said. Brunstetter created that vibe by establishing open lines of communication from the start. She wanted actors to feel part of the creative process. 

“I tried to foster an energy on set of openness and trying things and it being OK to fail,” Brunstetter said. “And I’m coming into this as a playwright. I love working with actors and tweaking lines with them and for them. Like, I want to hear what you think. I want your ideas. So I was there with just this spirit of, like, we’re all here, just like making something together.”

That dynamic worked in unexpected ways, as the actors remained receptive to the emotional shifts. Scenes written to be funny sometimes proved surprisingly profound. As Time said of the show, “It’s weirdly rare, these days, to see a drama aimed at women that isn’t predominantly about murder or romance.” In “Five-Star Weekend,” coping with life at a certain age feels adventurous enough.

“There was a feeling of, like, ‘Oh, the dramatic moments are even deeper than I thought,’’ the screenwriter said. “I think that was because all of the actors cared a lot about grounding the show, which I really appreciate. 

“In my tone, I sometimes veer a little too far into comedy, veer a little too far into earnestness. And I need actors and a director to guardrail me as I protect the story and the hearts of the characters.”

Hilderbrand thought they captured the perfect blend.

“Is it a drama? Is it a comedy?” she said. “It is real life. We do both in real life.”

Shaping the Story

The creative team behind “The Five Star Weekend” brought together a group of accomplished storytellers whose experience and perspective helped shape the series from page to screen.

Alongside creator and showrunner Brunstetter, directors Jennifer Morrison and Minkie Spiro directed four episodes apiece, Aja Gabel served as executive story editor, and Bixby Elliot, Vivian Barnes, Fernanda Coppel, Isabella Rodriguez, Beth Schacter and Mackenzie Yeager made significant writing contributions.

Brunstetter emerged in a leadership role for the first time in her career, and tapped into a different side of herself. 

“I’m not the kind of person who, by nature, feels like I need to be in charge, right?” she said during the discussion with Di Nonno. “But I have accessed parts of myself over these last couple of years that made me realize why I am a good leader and why the qualities that I like best about myself are the ones my parents instilled in me all those years ago and make me a good leader. 

“And most importantly, I think I’ve learned to say so when I don’t know what’s going on right, as opposed to pretending like I know what’s going on.”

Her biggest lessons feel universal. 

“Protect the story at all costs,’’ Brunsetter said. “And most importantly, create a work environment – be it in the writers’ room or when we’re on set or where we’re in post-production – where people feel like they want to come to work. Where they feel valued and respected. The thing I’m most proud of is that energy that we created.”

Watch the full conversation

Madeline Di Nonno sits down with Elin Hilderbrand and Bekah Brunstetter for “From Page to Screen: Bringing ‘The Five-Star Weekend’ to Life.” Forty minutes on casting, Nantucket, and why a show about women in their 40s and 50s got Peacock’s biggest audience.