Interview: Paul Sciarrotta on Adapting V.C. Andrews

For four weeks, V.C. Andrews fans have been captivated by the twisted and gothic Flowers in the Attic: The Origin. Based on V.C. Andrews' novels, this limited series tells the origin story of Olivia and Malcolm Foxworth and how dark family secrets shaped the Foxworth family from the very beginning.

With the final episode set to air this weekend, I had the opportunity to interview Executive Producer and Co-Screenwriter Paul Sciarrotta and discuss the inspiration behind this series and bringing the V.C. Andrews Universe to life during a global pandemic.

How did Flowers in the Attic: The Origin come to be?

PS: Four years ago one of my producers, Jennie Urman, came to me with the property and asked if I was interested. I jumped at the idea. It was a great opportunity to explore this classic world in a new and twisted way. Also, in the world of television writing, we’re often trapped in time when we tell stories – each episode picking up exactly where the last left off. We don’t often get the chance to tell family stories that span decades. So I was intrigued by the idea of exploring one family – however dysfunctional it may be – over the course of thirty-five years.

How familiar were you with the V.C. Andrews franchise and universe?

PS: I’d read Flowers in the Attic in middle school, but that was my only taste of the VC world until developing this project.

What was the writing process like between yourself and the other screenwriters for these feature-length episodes?

PS: We treated it very much like a traditional writers' room. We started in March of 2020, so zoom rooms weren’t really a thing yet. Instead, we gathered on conference calls every day and broke the stories together. We had only three weeks to break 8 hours of television, and I’m proud to say that the structural story work we did during those three weeks remains in the final product you see on television.

What attracted you to exploring Olivia’s origin story?

PS: In Flowers in the Attic, the children call her “The Grandmother” as if she’s a monster, not a person. I wanted to explore what makes a person take monstrous actions. If after the eight hours of our limited series the audience feels some amount of understanding for Olivia, then I’ll consider our character exploration a success.

As Garden of Shadows is restricted to Olivia’s perspective, what were some aspects you found the most challenging or rewarding in bringing this adaptation to the screen?

PS: I found expanding the world of Foxworth Hall the most rewarding. I created a group of new characters that allowed us to explore issues that were relevant in the time period during which our show takes place, including sexuality, race, and reproductive health.

And there’s one other thing that I found particularly rewarding – Foxworth Hall! The house is such a huge part of the story, and in other films it never quite looked like I imagined it. I wanted to create a gothic house of horrors that was also achingly beautiful. And so I was very specific about how I wanted Foxworth Hall to look and feel and sound – from big things like the exterior façade to smaller details like the carved feathers on the swan bed.

What was the casting process like for this series?

PS: The casting process was done during the peak of the pandemic. All auditions were done on zoom from my house in Los Angeles, which meant we couldn’t have chemistry reads for our main character pairings. When I went to Bucharest for production, I was worried about how the cast would look and feel together as a family. I need not have worried. They were absolutely perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a more talented and dedicated group of actors to work with.

As this was filmed during the pandemic, what was that experience like for the cast and crew?

PS: I’m happy to say that over five months of production we only shut down for one half of one day – and it was for a false-positive. So most importantly, the cast and crew stayed healthy. The pandemic created other issues, such as quarantine requirements upon arrival in Romania, but on the whole it felt like any other production – just with masks.

What do you hope fans of the Flowers in the Attic books and films take from this adaptation?

PS: I hope they see a world of Foxworth Hall that fully inhabits the haunting, gothic tone of VC Andrews. And I hope they leave understanding that Olivia Winfield-Foxworth is far more than just “The Grandmother” they thought they knew.

Do you have any plans to return to the V.C. Andrews universe? If so, is there a particular title or series you have your eye on?

PS: I would love to return to the VC universe! There’s so much more to explore with our characters from this miniseries. Flowers in the Attic is seen only through the eyes of the children in the attic. There’s a whole world that’s happening downstairs that’s ripe for story and that picks up as soon as our series ends. How did Malcolm really die? Who poisoned the doughnuts – Corinne or Olivia? What happened to Joel and Harry? What became of Nella and her family? They’re all questions I’ve been thinking about and would love to explore in the future.

Thank you to Paul for a wonderful interview - Flowers in the Attic: The Origin “Part 4: The Martyr” will premiere Saturday, July 30 at 8 p.m. ET on Lifetime.