What is love? How do the narratives we internalize shape our understanding of relationships, intimacy, and family?
Laura Eason is an Emmy-nominated producer, screenwriter, and playwright. Currently, she is the executive producer and showrunner of the Starz drama series Three Women. Based on a book by Lisa Taddeo, the series stars Shailene Woodley, DeWanda Wise, Betty Gilpin and Gabrielle Creevy. Laura’s writing and producing credits for television include The Loudest Voice and four seasons of House of Cards. Laura's many plays include the critically acclaimed Sex with Strangers. She has also adapted many classic novels for the stage, including a highly successful version of Around the World in 80 Days. She has served as Artistic Director of Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago, where she also acted, directed, and produced in upwards of 20 shows.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
You acted before you were a writer and director. You came up through Chicago's wonderful theater scene instead of jumping into television right out of college. Tell us about your creative journey.
LAURA EASON
I grew up in Chicago and spent most of my childhood there. I did move in high school and lived in Colorado for a couple of years, but I was born and raised in Chicago and was really focused on life there. I didn't think about having a big career on the national stage. I really went and saw theater as a kid in Chicago, and that was my dream: to be a theater artist in Chicago. So that was the path I was on.
Though I had friends who went to LA right out of school, it wasn't for me; film and television had a big veil of mystery around it. I didn't know people in the industry. I didn't see a pathway. For me, I could go to Steppenwolf or the Goodman and see these plays, envisioning a potential future there. But with film and television, it felt like, how does anyone do that? How does anyone get into that industry?
That’s one of the reasons why it’s very important for me to mentor through the Writers Guild East and other development programs. I think there continues to be less mystery now because you can Google everything, but it feels important to me to dispel some of the uncertainty about how one gets into film and television.
I talk about how the work I did in the theater prepared me to write for television in ways I didn’t anticipate. Particularly, the work I’ve done as a playwright was very split between original work and adaptation. Being in a writer's room for the first time, I understood that the job was to try and match the voice of the show or the voice of the showrunner. I had the revelation of, oh, this is adaptation. I'm trying to match the voice, and I have to bring my full self and all my ideas, but it felt very analogous to what I had done in adaptation, which I didn't expect. It was helpful to have that experience going into television writing.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
You wrote for House of Cards and The Loudest Voice. Although those shows feature strong female characters, I feel the stories still center on the male gaze. The power dynamics described in those shows is very different from the vibe that we have in Three Women which explores female desire and intimacy and questions around what is love? All these women are finding their way towards it. They have these secrets that they think make them stronger, but it’s only when they find the courage to tell their story and find their voice, through the mediator of the character Gia, played by Shailene Woodley, do they find their true strength. And I love the way their stories unfold. You give viewers the time to know each woman.
EASON
Three Women is based on Lisa Taddeo's New York Times bestselling nonfiction book, and I was brought on to supervise the pilot before it was written. It was always the plan that Lisa would be very involved in the adaptation. She was going to write the pilot and be an executive producer. Not all novelists, obviously, are that involved, but this was really foundational to how the project was developed.
When I came on to work with Lisa, we started before the pilot was written and talked about how she wrote the book and her process. It became clear to me very early on, which was something Lisa also recognized, that the telling—the how of writing the book—was as compelling to me. It had its own very strong narrative that was on par with the other stories in the book in that it was woven into how she got these women to be open with her and share their inner lives.
Very early on, we made the choice to create a character based on Lisa—not Lisa specifically, but we named her Gia. There’s a lot of her story informed by Lisa’s real story and her real love story with her husband. We gave her a pseudonym so we could also open it up because Lisa was very open, and we were interested in allowing the themes of the show and the needs of the show to guide what we did with the Gia character over the course of the season.
One of the challenges is when you have characters that aren't related; you tend to gather them in episodes under a theme or an event they’re all sharing like they’re all at a wedding or focused on a particular theme. We thought that would flatten out the narrative.
Having Gia connect them helped, but we also made the choice to create standalone episodes. We wanted to preserve their specificity as characters and not force them into the theme of the episode. That was really important; we needed to keep the specificity while allowing Gia to have her own story.
So she’s not just the glue; she has her own love story and her own arc of coming into her own desire, which becomes the emotional backbone of the show. It has its own integrity as a story because we didn’t want to focus solely on the journalist with a pencil hovering over the notepad saying, “Tell me more.”
It needed to be a story that had its own beginning, middle, and end—something with real importance that could stand on its own. That was one of our big hopes with the adaptation: we want people to take away from the experience that they don’t feel quite so alone.
I think that was one of the things that was so powerful about the book; women were able to step into the inner lives of the characters. It also shows that a housewife in Indiana who isn't being kissed or a young woman who is taken advantage of and abused by her teacher, who now speaks up for herself while working as a waitress in North Dakota, deserves to be heard. Their stories count and matter as much as anyone else's.
I think the show conveys to the women watching that their lives matter. They don't have to be some gorgeous aspirational person, although Sloane absolutely fits that mold. But for others living in the Midwest, struggling and feeling unseen, hopefully, the mirrors of Lina and Maggie will help them not feel so alone and remind them that their stories are important and matter.
We’re in an age of self-reflection where people are defining their strong opinions and identities in a loud way. Yet, I'm equally interested in other people and the ability to live many lives through the arts—both in watching stories and stepping into others' shoes and in writing.
As an actor for a long time, I eventually knew I wanted to write, but I didn’t want to be alone in my room. I wanted to be at the party with everyone. It took time for me to finally sit down and start writing, spending time alone. I write alone for a while, but I eventually get to be with people in a collaborative environment to bring the work to fruition.
It’s hard to be alone with your art at times, but the greatest pleasure is being in the television writers' room. What I love is when we, as a collective, build something unique that no one of us could have done alone. We're building on each other’s ideas and sensibilities to create something truly special. I love when someone says, “Oh, I have this idea,” and then we build on it together. Those are just my favorite days in the writer's room.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Things are changing in television with the advent of AI. It's astonishing the things that can come out of large language models. There are certain protections in place for writers and artists, at the same time, it's very alluring and a lot of people are being tempted. How do you feel it’s changing human creativity?
EASON
I think, ultimately, what excites me most is the uniqueness of people—people's idiosyncrasies. Large language models feed off existing material but don’t create new ideas. It’s like mashing up things that have already existed, but it’s not a living, breathing human soul with its unexpected complications and complexities.
I don’t think that thing will ever replace the spirit of humanity. I don’t want to get too existential, but when someone dies, the body is there, but the spirit is gone. To me, AI feels like the body; it lacks the life spirit that humanity brings to art. It might serve as a good carbon copy for some, but it will never be the hot burning flame that a human soul contributes to art.
I envision a future where I might have a book to adapt and could ask AI to generate chapter summaries to help me remember details. But I don’t believe it will ever create something truly great or inspired. There’s potential for AI in visuals, where we might not need to shoot in an actual location if we can tell the computer what we want. However, I worry it may create a carbon copy that lacks authenticity. Of course, I also worry about AI reflecting the same biases and prejudices present in humanity and merely perpetuating entrenched ideas. Like all technology, it has huge pros and cons.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Going back to Three Women, it's interesting because they are so different, but their ideas of love are shaped by cultural narratives—The Twilight Saga or The Princess Bride. It’s almost as if these influences embed themselves in our minds or deep in our DNA, creating a romantic ideal and influencing the partners we choose and the relationships we develop.
EASON
We talked about this a lot and were excited to explore how narratives in pop culture can influence the way we think our lives should look. We don't take a firm stance but aim to show both sides—how it can sometimes lead you astray.
With the Maggie story, there’s a forbidden love aspect reminiscent of the Twilight narrative that justifies the teacher’s actions to take advantage of her. In that case, that narrative was destructive. Conversely, the Princess Bride allows Lina to fantasize and yearn for something better than what she has, reigniting hope for her future. It’s true that we all have narratives and stories we’ve internalized. We dramatized both the dark and light aspects of that relationship to stories in the show, which we were very eager to do.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
I believe very strongly that we have this one life that we're given, and we should try to do as much as we can with it, but the arts provide ways of having many lives. What are your reflections on the importance of the arts and why you decided to make a life there?
EASON
For exactly this reason, I think we’re in an age of profound self-reflection about who we are and our strong opinions. But I’m equally interested in others and the ability to live many lives through the arts—both in watching stories and stepping into others' shoes, and in writing.
It feels like the greatest gift to inhabit the heart and headspace of someone very different from me. I feel like I’m getting to live more than my singular life, which is an incredible opportunity for expansive human experience. The arts have always been foundational to every day of my life. I grew up in a household where they were fundamental.
My parents were not artists; my dad was a businessman, and my mom did hospital administration. However, they loved the arts. We went to the theater and the symphony every weekend, often sitting in the cheap seats. My parents had favorite artists, and while we didn’t own original works, we appreciated prints and posters of the artists they loved.
Curiosity was instilled in me, emphasizing the importance of listening as much as—if not more than—talking. I believe that’s what the arts allow us: to listen to others' inner lives. That is truly a gift.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Thinking of your adaptations, can you tell if a novel will function well in a play format? Do you prefer to adapt novels that you consider nearly perfect or novels with interesting structural flaws?
EASON
I think it's very hard to adapt works that are considered perfect or considered to be masterpieces because I think there's less, less flexibility. I’ve also adapted two short story collections—one by Stuart Dybek and one by Elizabeth Crane. It was a great joy to work with living writers who weren’t involved directly in the adaptation but were supportive and open to my interpretations of their work.
Picking something considered a masterwork has its advantages, as you're building on exceptional material, but also bears the burden of expectation. Often, in adaptation, you're trying to match the original voice, and you always have to create something new. There’s always a moment when you’ll need to write a new scene or new lines, which requires some level of invention.
At times, you feel the pressure to produce writing that seamlessly matches the brilliance of authors like Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, or Mark Twain—all of whom I've adapted. That challenge can be humbling, but I’ve also learned so much about character construction from Charles Dickens. By being deeply immersed in his work, I’ve seen how he constructs characters and uses language. I’ve also gained insight into comedy through adapting Twain and understanding how to weave social commentary into my work.
Adaptation has been an incredible education for me, allowing me to not just read the works of great writers but to truly inhabit their texts. It’s important in the adaptation process to break things down—analyzing sentence structure and word choice, like taking apart a clock to see how it all works. I've benefited immensely from that experience.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Three Women is a story of journeys. There are scenes with wonderful vast landscapes. For Gia, it’s as though she needs to escape the city and connect with nature to go on her inward journey. you know, just stunning landscapes. I wonder how being connected to the beauty and wonder of the natural world connects you with your imagination?
EASON
Our episode five is back, It's basically a little road movie where our character of Gia, the journalist, goes on the road across America to try and find subjects for her book. And we took the whole crew to Moab in Utah and to Whitefish near Glacier National Park in Montana. So I was able to go to those two places where I'd never been before.
And it's one thing to see pictures of Arches National Park in Moab, and it's another thing to be able to be there. I don't mean to get too woo-woo about it all, but I like to feel the energy of that place and how humbling it is to see such stunning vistas and those colors. And those colors change as the sun sets.
It was very moving for all of us to be there. And I think it was where we ended a very long eight-month shoot. Those two weeks on the road were where we ended our time together as a cast and crew, and I'll never forget them. I think it was both the end of the journey and a beautiful story and a project we all really deeply cared about, but it was also something about being in that very beautiful, kind of magical gorgeously actually exists on earth place.
I also believe it allows us to understand that we are passing through time. When you stand next to a redwood and think of how long that tree has been growing, it’s humbling. Living near Prospect Park here in Brooklyn, I can appreciate beautiful old-growth trees still existing in the park. These trees will endure long after I’m gone, provided that Brooklyn takes care of them. During my time at Arches, I thought about how we are passing through and must take as much care as we can while we’re here. Being in nature reminds us of our mortality and encourages us to move through the world more kindly and humbly.
