It's HERE.

Vacation has officially begun!

Jan 09, 2026

Hello, dear readers,

I can’t believe I’m actually writing you this letter. The film adaptation of People We Meet on Vacation is finally out, worldwide, on Netflix.

The joke among writers is, you never tell anyone that your book is being made into a movie until you’re sitting down with popcorn to watch it. That’s how hard it is for things to really get made. In the nearly five years since this book came out, and the development process for this film began, I’ve spent far more time expecting this to fall through than I have daydreaming about this day.

Which leaves me ill-prepared to know just what to say to you today. The big thing, possibly the only thing, I know want to communicate to you is this: This movie exists because of you. In every conceivable way.

I wrote this book, more than any other, for my readers, which is why it’s dedicated to you. And when you embraced it so wholeheartedly, bought it, checked it out, reviewed it, leant or borrowed it from friends, read it, reread it, and read it again, all of that made this possible. It signaled to a very fickle, complex, and risk averse business that this could work. That there is a hungry and passionate audience for this kind of story.

And when our director, Brett Haley, signed on (forgive me; I’ve told this story fourteen thousand times in the last two years), the first thing he did was call me to ask about you. What you would be hoping for, dreaming of, terrified about. The moments and lines you’d be waiting for. He very intentionally kept you at the forefront of his mind throughout the whole process, with every new draft, every added writer, every big change. He came back to me again and again to check how you might feel about each little detail. This is exceptionally uncommon in this business. I need you to understand that. Even when an author is listed as an “executive producer” on an adaptation, we mostly have no say, over anything. We’re usually not even in the room where the decisions get made, and if we are, we’re the least important voice among many others.

Brett didn’t have to include me, whatsoever. But he wanted to do right by you. He, like, understood that none of this exists without you, and so he embarked on this journey with the goal of making a movie that honors the spirit of the book and captures what people connect with most about it. As

There are some changes—even some big ones—mostly for the purposes of truncating things that happen over much longer spans of time (and even multiple trips in some cases) in the book. But I want you to know that every single decision was made with you in mind, and I feel so, so, so endlessly lucky to now invite you into this little PWMOV alternate universe that Brett, along with our writers, Yulin, Amos, and Nunzio, have created just for you.

I’m thrilled, ecstatic, relieved to tell you how much I love this movie, and more importantly, how much I think you’re going to love it. I hope you do. It’s for you.

With so much love and gratitude,

Em

P.S. Now, before you go any further, I’m FINALLY going to share some of the behind the scenes pics I took during my set visits below. So if you don’t want to be spoiled at all (just as far as sets, costumes, etc), I’d advise bookmarking this for later and circling back once you’ve had a chance to watch. If you don’t care about that, or have already seen, then go right ahead!!!

Keep scrolling!

[The most important thing to note here are the bracelets in the last two photos. I brought every bracelet a reader has given me to set and we took pics with Brett, Tom, Emily, and Yulin all wearing one of your PWMOV-specific bracelets. I forgot to take more pics on other days of filming but I had these at LEAST in my bag at all times as just one more way to make sure you guys were there for it all.]