On Writing YA, with Julie Plec

This week on On Story, a conversation with Julie Plec on her love of YA storytelling, and her experience co-creating and co-showrunning The Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries is a supernatural, romantic teen-drama which ran for 8 seasons from 2009 to 2017. The show follows the life of a mortal teen girl, Elena Gilbert, as she navigates grief, love triangles, small town politics, and supernatural threats from ghosts, to werewolves, to evil doppelgängers. The success of The Vampire Diaries allowed Plec to expand this magical world into two spinoff shows, The Originals, and Legacies. 

Plec began her career as a co-producer and personal assistant to Wes Craven while he directed the first three installments of the Scream franchise. She did rewrites for Scream and Scream 2, and in that process she befriended legendary horror screenwriter Kevin Williamson, who would later become her co-creator and co-showrunner on The Vampire Diaries. Plec has gone on to serve as co-creator and co-showrunner of Peacock’s Vampire Academy, and direct episodes of Roswell, New Mexico, and Riverdale. In 2020, her production company, My So-Called Company, signed an overall deal with Universal Television, which included the production of her new show for Amazon Prime, We Were Liars.

AFF moderator Fabienne Harford spoke with Plec about how she responds to pressure from fans while writing, and her insistence on writing YA content that respects its audience. 

Clips of Vampire Diaries courtesy of CBS Studios and Warner Brothers

Clips of the Originals courtesy of CBS Studios and Warner Brothers

Clips of Riverdale courtesy of CBS Studios and Warner Brothers