{"id":3151,"date":"2026-06-08T22:53:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/2026\/06\/08\/how-off-campus-creator-louisa-levy-adapted-a-beloved-romance-novel-into-a-hit-series\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T22:53:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:53:00","slug":"how-off-campus-creator-louisa-levy-adapted-a-beloved-romance-novel-into-a-hit-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/2026\/06\/08\/how-off-campus-creator-louisa-levy-adapted-a-beloved-romance-novel-into-a-hit-series\/","title":{"rendered":"How \u2019Off Campus\u2019 Creator Louisa Levy Adapted a Beloved Romance Novel Into a Hit Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\t \t \t\t<\/svg>\t\tLogo text<\/span> \t<\/a> <\/p>\n

\tWriter Louisa Levy<\/a>\u2019s journey with Off Campus<\/em> has been long. <\/p>\n

\tThe showrunner was sent the open writing assignment and read Elle Kennedy\u2019s new adult romance novels that serves as the show\u2019s source material. She couldn\u2019t put them down. \u201cThey\u2019re so incredibly readable. There\u2019s so many books that I read and love, but I don\u2019t see a way into them for a TV show,\u201d Levy tells The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> on a Zoom from the Off Campus<\/em> production office in Vancouver. <\/p>\n

\tThe writer, along with the rest of the cast and crew, returned to Canada to begin shooting the show\u2019s second season, which was announced months before its premiere on Prime Video. \u201cFor these books, I could see what I would do with the TV show version of them,\u201d she continues. \t<\/p>\n

\tThe writer was drawn to the idea of telling a more mature romance \u2014 the books are technically \u201cnew adult,\u201d the literary genre centered around college students and those in their early 20s. \u201cI love YA, but I loved the prospect of being able to tell a romance that dives into deeper things,\u201d she says. \u201c[A story] that dives into Hannah\u2019s experience with sexual assault, that dives into Garrett\u2019s experience with domestic abuse, but also [does it] in a way that still at the end of the day feels light and fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tLevy, a first-time showrunner, pitched her take to the show\u2019s production company, Temple Hill, who loved and brought it to Amazon. It was a success. The studio loved it, and Levy closed her deal. Then, the writers strike happened and she wasn\u2019t able to do anything. \u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I was a little nervous about [whether or not] I\u2019d still be as excited about the project as I was at the beginning when the strike ended,\u201d she says. \t<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSometimes you just have to harness your enthusiasm and then it kind of dies, and that didn\u2019t happen with this project,\u201d Levy says. \u201cI was as excited, if not more so, when the strike ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBelow, Levy speaks with THR<\/em> about Off Campus<\/em>\u2019 journey from the page to the screen, when she knew which characters would lead which seasons and what to expect in season two. <\/p>\n

\tHow\u2019s season two prep going?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tWe\u2019re in Vancouver. We\u2019re getting ready. We\u2019re doing our best to stay focused on season two, even though it\u2019s obviously so exciting seeing all of the fan reactions to season one. Truly our fans are the best, and one of my favorite parts \u2014 I don\u2019t even want to say favorite because there\u2019s so many wonderful parts about the world experiencing this show \u2014 but one of my favorite parts is also the artist reactions. We\u2019ve got the big names, we\u2019ve got the JLo\u2019s, the Elton John\u2019s, but we\u2019ve also got the newer artists. I love that we get to give them a platform and introduce the world to artists like G-Flip and Chloe Qisha and Bea and her Business. There\u2019s so many incredible artists in our show.<\/p>\n

\tI\u2019m actually speaking with The Beaches this week.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI love them so much. They\u2019ve been so kind and wonderful in this whole process.<\/p>\n

\tWhat was the development process like after the strike?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI got to dive in with Temple Hill and Amazon to write that first pilot script. As with any development process, it took a few drafts to hone in on what it was and what the access point was. I do think it really always was the shape that we have in terms of ending on the deal. That\u2019s always been the crux of that first episode, but how far we get some of the other stories and characters and what we\u2019re launching, that stuff was [in the] development process. \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tLevy and the \u2018Off Campus\u2019 team at the show\u2019s L.A. premiere in April.<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVivien Killilea\/Getty Images for Prime Video<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tWhat was the partnership with the studio like? <\/strong><\/p>\n

\tIt was really fun to be able to find it with partners who wanted me to make the same show that they were looking for. I think that was so crucial with Amazon, to have partners who wanted a sexier show. They wanted to really tell emotional stories, but with an underpinning of joy and of positivity because no matter how emotional it can get, we always stay in that place of positivity and optimism at its heart. It\u2019s a hopeful show and I think that\u2019s what I wanted to watch. It\u2019s what I wanted to write. I loved that Amazon wanted that as well. I did the pilot and then they asked for a format. In that document I put together originally, I had a 10-episode shape. They asked for eight episodes, so I took the 10 episodes and put them down into eight. Off of that document, I got a green light for the show.<\/p>\n

\tThis show has such a rich ensemble. The casting process, however, is a bit different with most shows. You\u2019re casting the supporting roles with actors you know will have to lead future seasons. I\u2019ve spoken with most of them, and it seems like several of them auditioned for several roles. What was the process like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tWe were casting the essences of characters, so having the books as a blueprint were so helpful. Elle writes these characters so clearly [that] we know who Dean is, we know who Garrett is. We wrote the whole season for the most part before we cast anybody, so we knew what we were going to ask them to do in terms of skill level as an actor. We also know because we know what\u2019s happening in Tucker\u2019s book, we know what Tucker needs to be able to do, what Jalen needs to be able to do to grow into that. \t<\/p>\n

\tHow did you do that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tOne of the things we did for Tucker, for example, is one of the audition scenes was a future scene that may never get shot because we haven\u2019t written that season, but it was a future version of Tucker beacuse we wanted to see [how that would look] when we were auditioning people. I changed his age order. He\u2019s the youngest now, which is different, to be able to get to his season and have him still be in college. Some of the people we auditioned felt very young, which felt right for this season, but we wanted to make sure that there was range available.<\/p>\n

\tOne of the beautiful things about Jalen is that he has that range already in him. He\u2019s ready for that. We can see season one Tucker, and we can also see season four Tucker, so [we know] that we have room to grow with him.<\/p>\n

\tHow do you move forward with characters that were leads in one season and then move them into the supporting role for the next? What\u2019s that balance like?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tSeason two really becomes even more of an ensemble than season one was. Season one really had those ensemble moments \u2014 I think episode five is a good example of that. Tucker has his own storyline in episode five. Hannah and Garrett have their own storyline. Jules and Logan have their own storyline. It really\u2019s more of a classic television A-B-C story model. In season two, we\u2019re leaning even further into that so that we can still tell Hannah and Garrett\u2019s continuing story. <\/p>\n

\tWe\u2019re not just dropping them off and letting them ride off into the sunset, but it\u2019s not their romance that is the backbone of the season in the way it was for season one. We\u2019ll still have moments with them. We\u2019ll still get to exist in their coupledom. We\u2019ll still get to see the challenges that they\u2019re facing together, but it\u2019s not the thing spearheading the shape of the season in the same way. We\u2019re leaning a little bit more into that model. It doesn\u2019t mean that we\u2019re not going to have many romantic moments for Allie and Dean as they spearhead their season. We just have a little bit more of an ensemble model and that will allow us to exist in this community, in this space that we now know all of the characters coming out of season one. We don\u2019t have to introduce anybody, we just get to live in it. \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tGarrett (Belmont Cameli<\/a>) and Hannah (Ella Bright<\/a>) in \u2018Off Campus.\u2019
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\tMika told me that she knew from her first audition that Allie would lead season two. What was the decision-making process like in choosing which characters lead each season? At what point in the process did it become clear or had you always known?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tIt\u2019s kind of always been that because one of the things that, from my very first take when I was pitching to Temple Hill and Amazon, I needed to do as a TV writer adapting is figure out how to not only take this story that\u2019s in this book and put it on screen. But also because it\u2019s a TV show and not a film [is] where to get that forward-moving engine. One of the things that felt important to me is\u2026 Listen, I come from the network TV school. I was an assistant on Grey\u2019s Anatomy<\/em>. That\u2019s where I learned the foundation of my storytelling skills, and you always have a cliffhanger. Whether it\u2019s a season end or an episode end or even a commercial out, you have to fight for the attention of the audience.<\/p>\n

\tThe balance that I had to strike is book fans want a happy ever after. As they should. I\u2019m also a romance book girly. I want that happily ever after two. I certainly don\u2019t want to end the season on Hannah and Garrett broken up. I want to give them their happily ever after in the season. That meant we needed to break them up in the middle of season. That meant we needed to get them back together, give them the rom-com feeling of the happily ever after, but what are you tuning into for season two? How are we making people not just move onto to the next show. From the beginning, my solution to that problem was telling one and a half books in a season, roughly. Obviously, it\u2019s not exact calculus, but we\u2019re telling the beginning, middle, and end of Hannah and Garrett\u2019s story, and the beginning and middle of Allie and Dean\u2019s story and leaving it hanging. That was always the structure. \t<\/p>\n

\tAnd looking ahead?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tNow, we pick up Allie and Dean\u2019s story in season two, and we get to launch our next love story that gets left hanging. There\u2019s always going to be a happily ever after, and there\u2019s always going to be something left hanging, a question mark that tells the audience what they\u2019re tuning in for in the following season. That was always part of the shape of the show when I pitched it. We were very clear when we were casting what the plan was because we needed people to know that even if they didn\u2019t have too much to do season one, they would be expected to step into larger roles in future seasons, both because we wanted to get actors who were ready and capable of that challenge and also because it was important to Gina and myself to have a cast that acted like leaders on set.<\/p>\n

\tHow did you set that tone?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tWe sent an email out to them before we started filming season one and told them it was important to us that nobody thought of the call sheets as hierarchy because even though it\u2019s Hannah and Garrett\u2019s season, it\u2019s all of our show. We said, if any one of you steps on set, it\u2019s as if you\u2019re the number one on the call sheet, which means it comes with a responsibility to set a tone to be a leader. It also means that you can all share that responsibility, that you\u2019re all building this show together and you\u2019re not just letting Bel and Ella do that responsibility. That has been wonderful because it bonded them from a really early moment, but it also set the tone for whose show it was and where the responsibility fell across not just season one, but across the whole series. \t<\/p>\n

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\t \t\t\t\t\tLogan (Antonio Cipriano), Dean (Stephen Thomas Kalyn), Tucker (Jalen Thomas Brooks) and Garrett (Belmont Cameli) in \u2018Off Campus.\u2019<\/span> \t\t \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Prime<\/cite> \t\t\t\t\t \t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\tCan you tell me more about your work with the intimacy coordinator?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tI have worked with intimacy coordinators before, so it was very important to me to not just find one but find a very good one. We did and that was non-negotiable because even before we hired Ella, we knew that our cast would be young. We didn\u2019t know quite how young, but we knew that they would be young, and we wanted to make sure that every care and every responsibility was taken to create a safe space for our cast. Kathy Kadler, our intimacy coordinator who did season one with us and now is coming back for season two, is very, very thoughtful. She also has a background in mental health, which is helpful because we\u2019re exploring mental health things on the show. An awareness of that, especially because in this case, for Hannah, those two things intersect as far as her experience around her sexual assault. We were able to be very cognizant with that and how we staged those scenes in terms of having a responsibility to the character, and how we portray that character.<\/p>\n

\tI\u2019m curious about the conversations surrounding Ella, in particular, given how much younger she is than Bel and in general.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\tWhen we met Ella and fell in love with her, it was really important to me that before we closed any deal or any contract to have a very in-depth conversation with her. As much as I loved her and believed her to be a star, which she now is, I was not about to put her on set if I felt like she wasn\u2019t equipped for it. I talked to her on the phone and walked her through everything that was expected of Hannah this season because I didn\u2019t want there to be any surprises and walked her through what the process of working with an intimacy coordinator is or would be. I told her to reach out to people who she trusts and knows who have done intimacy work and ask them about that experience. I can tell her everything I\u2019ll do from my perspective as a showrunner and as a producer, but I\u2019ve never been in her shoes. I can only tell her that I\u2019ll do everything in my power to make her feel safe. I will never make her do something that she doesn\u2019t feel comfortable with, but I will never know what that\u2019s like. I encouraged her to speak to someone. I don\u2019t know if she did, but the fact that I told her not to close this deal if she felt even a little bit that this wasn\u2019t something she was ready for and excited to do \u2014 that was really important to me. Frankly, that was important to me with everyone. \t<\/p>\n

\tI still say it on a regular basis. We will not roll camera if you don\u2019t feel comfortable. You might think you\u2019re comfortable in one day. Then you show up, and we\u2019re ready to roll and you don\u2019t feel comfortable again. I will never make you do something you don\u2019t want to do. I tell the directors that and everyone that we\u2019ve hired has the same ethos. Nobody\u2019s going to force anyone to do something that they don\u2019t want to do. That creates safety, but it also creates a cast that feels good because when they\u2019re filming these scenes, they\u2019re excited to do it, and they\u2019re looking forward to embodying these scenes because they\u2019re collaborators. They\u2019re not just puppets.<\/p>\n

\t***<\/p>\n

\tOff Campus\u00a0is now streaming all of season one on Prime Video.<\/em>\u00a0Read\u00a0<\/em>THR\u2018s show coverage here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Logo text Writer Louisa Levy\u2019s journey with Off Campus has been long. The showrunner was sent the open writing assignment and read Elle Kennedy\u2019s new adult romance novels that serves as the show\u2019s source material. She couldn\u2019t put them down. \u201cThey\u2019re so incredibly readable. There\u2019s so many books that I read and love, but I don\u2019t see a way into them for a TV show,\u201d Levy tells The Hollywood Reporter on a Zoom from the Off Campus production office in Vancouver. The writer, along with the rest of the cast and crew, returned to Canada to begin shooting the show\u2019s second season, which was announced months before its premiere on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1298,1299,2,1850,1300,466,1301,85,335],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-belmont-cameli","category-ella-bright","category-hollywood","category-louisa-levy","category-mika-abdalla","category-off-campus","category-stephen-kalyn","category-tv","category-tv-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsmag.live\/ja\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}