Best-Selling Romance Sensation Emily Henry Is Coming for the Movies Next

It’s a very good time for people who love love — and want to see it on their screens. Hot off the massive success of the Rachel Reid adaptation “Heated Rivalry,” beloved romance author Emily Henry is gearing up for her very first film adaptation to arrive. And are people going to love it? Oh, we think so.

While Henry’s first five romance novels are all in various states of adaptation, it’s Brett Haley’s spin on her second romance novel, “People We Meet on Vacation,” that is first out of the gate. The film version arrives on Netflix this week, with “Lady Jane” breakout Emily Bader and “Plainclothes” star Tom Blyth starring as our star-crossed lovebirds, Poppy and Alex. The film was written by Yulin Kuang, Amos Vernon, and Nunzio Randazzo. (Kuang is also on board to write and direct an adaptation of Henry’s “Beach Read.”)

As fans of Henry’s work know, her blend of swoony love and spicy romance built around compelling characters has rocketed her to the top of the bestseller lists, and fans are eager to see how that might translate to film success. “People We Meet on Vacation” has sold more than 2 million copies and spent 69 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list, but it’s just one of Henry’s hits.

This one follows unlikely best friends Poppy and Alex, who first met-sorta-cute in college (shades of “When Harry Met Sally”) and bond intensely during their first road trip together. While the pair couldn’t be more mismatched (Poppy is a travel junkie who worries she’s a bit too much, Alex is a reserved dude who doesn’t want to stray too far from their own hometown), their annual summer vacations together provide both of them with something they can’t get elsewhere.

You might see where this is going, but Haley’s take on Henry’s story ably uses the novel’s nonlinear storyline to guide us through every step of Poppy and Alex’s ever-changing relationship, including the trip that went so off the rails that they didn’t speak for two years and the big! important! sexy! wedding trip that forces them to reunite (and confront some long-held feelings).

Ahead, executive producer Henry talks to IndieWire about the “Heated Rivalry” effect, why romance fans are so voracious (and so deserving of more stories and adaptations), what she personally had to have in Haley’s film, why Netflix was the best fit for this one, and what it’s like to get to work on adapting her own work with the upcoming “Funny Story” feature.

The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.

IndieWire: I want to start with asking you the question that I’ve been asking everyone in my life for the last month: Have you been watching “Heated Rivalry”?

Emily Henry: I haven’t yet. I haven’t yet. I’m seeing all the memes. I’m learning that I should. I’m looking forward to it. Is it all fully aired now?

Are you a binge-watcher by nature?

That’s my preference, definitely, because I just don’t have a good memory. I can do the weekly, but what I’m really struggling with is the two-part drops.

The two-part drops are really rough.

I haven’t watched the new “Stranger Things” yet because I know by the time the second half comes out, I will not [remember what happened], because it happened to me last time. And “Bridgerton” did it. I’m struggling with those. My memory is not good enough. It’s probably social media breaking my brain. But also, I hate being spoiled. I kind of hold out until I feel like I can’t ignore what’s happening around me anymore, and then I usually give in.

Oh, I love spoilers.

Do you really?

“Gravity” was spoiled for me two days before I was going to see it. Someone was like, “Man, can you believe it when she lands back on Earth?” And I was like, “What?”

Wow. My gosh. Let me tell you this: I have not seen “Gravity” because I did not assume that that happened, and now I feel like I can see “Gravity.” Maybe I like spoilers too! [Laughs] I have such a deep, deep, healthy, normal, natural fear of space.

‘People We Meet on Vacation’Netflix

I would not go.

This whole story sounds like a dream that I had, but I was at a dinner where they had an astronaut do a toast, and he gave this beautiful, poetic toast. I thought an astronaut was sort of a person who just didn’t feel connected. It really kind of rocked my world to realize this man with this poetic soul and this love for humankind was also an astronaut because I’ve always just felt like, who is going to space? And why?

Well, they often say when they get up there, they look back down—

—and it changes them. Maybe he wasn’t poetic and wonderful until he saw the Earth from a great distance. I don’t know.

Well, we’re happy for him, and we’re not going to go!

I’m very happy for him, and I’m not going. I’ll die on Earth. Thank you.

Even though you have not yet seen “Heated Rivalry,” you know that people are talking about it. As someone who is a creator and a consumer of romance, when you’re seeing things like this breaking through, what excites you about that?

It’s really exciting because it’s a queer love story. Even with a hetero love story like “People We Meet on Vacation,” there has still been this hesitancy to believe that this can work on a big level, and I don’t really know why. For something like “Heated Rivalry” to be something that is a cultural moment that everybody’s talking about, everybody is watching, [it] is so significant and is going to open so many doors for other stories that have not been allowed to get made and have not had the funding.

I really hope that “People We Meet on Vacation” will do that as well. I hope that people will see that this is a kind of story that people are hungry for. For a long time, not always, but for a long time, romance has not been viewed as meaningful, significant, valuable art unless it is tragic. I love a good tragic love story, to be clear.

I went to school for creative writing. I was obviously not reading romance in my classes, of course, which is fine. I wasn’t really reading about women at all, frankly. The story of art and its acceptance is just, here is what’s acceptable and interesting and valuable, and then it’s just pushing that wider and wider and wider and wider until everyone and all stories are included and valued.

You know better than anyone what a big, hungry, excited audience there is for these stories.

Voracious. We will read and watch all of it.

I hope that men will feel like they’re getting permission to like this kind of story, too. In my real life, I feel like almost everyone that I know really craves romantic love. Not everyone, but most people that I know really crave romantic love the same way that we really crave familial love, and we really crave platonic friend love. We really crave self-love. All of those things are very natural, human things.

It’s strange to me, because I think you can make a movie about friendship, and it’s not going to be put in the same little cordoned-off area as far as who thinks that that isn’t silly and embarrassing and escapist. Audiences take stories about male friendship, I would say, more seriously than they take almost any other relationship, which I think is really interesting.

But so many of us crave romantic love. It’s so human to long for that. And for a lot of us, it’s one of our highest priorities is to have that one person who is with you through everything who you, hopefully in the best-case scenario, get old with. It’s not a mystery that people would want this.

It’s not some weird, niche thing.

It makes complete sense. It’s not a shock.

Pretty much everything that you’ve written is in some state of being adapted for the screen, but this is the first adaptation that has arrived. What was that timeline?

“Beach Read” was optioned before its release for a deal that didn’t end up going through. They extended the option a couple times and tried to get it together, and they were looking at it as a series, and it didn’t end up coming to fruition. And then this one was optioned, and then that “Beach Read” option lapsed, and someone else got it. This was the first one with real movement on it.

Once Brett signed on, he really wanted this to be the first one. He was like, “I want to be the one to crack this and be the first Emily Henry movie.” For me, if any of them get made, that’s great, but I think his passion and determination is part of the reason why we are sitting here on this call right now. He really wanted to get it made, and he wanted to get it made efficiently, quickly, well.

‘People We Meet on Vacation’Michele K. Short/Netflix

When you get the call that the movie is happening, what was the first thing that you’re like, “They’ve got to do this. This part needs to be included. This specific thing, this scene, this moment”?

I definitely told him from the beginning the balcony scene was the most important moment. I really wanted him to find a way to get the condom scene with her mom in, and he did. It was not actually essential at all. I was like, “I understand that if we need to cut fat, this does not advance the story. However, I really want it in.” And luckily, that made the cut.

It gets in with Molly Shannon, who, of course, is naturally the funniest person on the planet.

If we didn’t have that scene, then I don’t think we would’ve even bothered sending [the script] to Molly Shannon. We had to have something good for her to do. And same with Alan Ruck. That scene that they conceived of, I love between him and Alex. I did really want the pregnancy scare in. I remember that. That felt important to me.

The big thing really was character. I never wanted it to be oversimplified to the point of she’s just “afraid of commitment.” That was kind of my big fear, which would’ve been fine, but for some reason, that just felt like such an oversimplification. What makes it interesting is why they’re afraid of commitment, and that’s what makes it feel real. That’s what readers connect with, too, is the thing that you’re actually afraid of. Because fear of commitment, you’re just like, what? Are you afraid you’re going to be bored?

I really wanted to get all of the stuff about Poppy being afraid of being too much, because I think the thing that really most of the readers who are diehard fans of each of my books are connecting with is the female lead. I usually go pretty deeply into their psyches. I felt like anyone who’s watching this who’s already a diehard fan of the book, it’s probably because they connect with Poppy, and that probably means that they feel like they’re too much or too loud, too weird, too annoying, all of those things. I think it’s really important to show someone on that journey, realizing that they’re discounting themselves in a way, and their fear is keeping them from deep, intimate love.

Do you picture people when you’re writing?

No, it would be really hard if I had just locked onto one actor and then had to adjust that in my mind and accept it. I really can barely picture any of them. I remember having a conversation with Jasmine Guillory, and I was saying, “I don’t really picture anybody, but I do know exactly what everybody’s kitchens look like.” And she was like, “Me, too.” I’ve talked to a lot of authors since then who have said, “I know the exact layout of my characters’ kitchens.” We know where the fridge is! But it doesn’t matter to me what they look like.

It’s something that I’m really fascinated by, when somebody can really pull off a love-at-first-sight premise in a book because, as an audience member, it’s so hard to glom onto that and experience it. I don’t imagine someone being described and it really working or doing anything to me. But the description of attraction, the description of touch, and the way that someone’s looking at you, all of those things are interesting and exciting to me and call to mind specific moments. You just want to believe that these two characters are crazy about each other. I don’t really need them to look like anything in particular.

What was the first time you actually saw Tom and Emily in character?

The first time I actually saw them was their chemistry read. Brett had met them both separately and loved them both separately. I thought it was promising because, once or twice a year, I usually go into a bookstore and sign stock all day, and I get to spend a lot of time with the booksellers, and they’re mostly women in their 20s, and they’re lovely and wonderful. And I knew that they all loved Tom Blyth, so when Brett mentioned Tom Blyth, I was like, “I actually am not super-familiar. However, I know that my readership loves him, so that’s good.”

With Emily, she had just been in another adaptation, “My Lady Jane,” and my editor had actually emailed me and said, “I know who should be Poppy. It should be Emily Bader.” I trust my editor more than most other people in the world.

Then, Brett did this chemistry read between the two of them over Zoom, and he knew instantly, this is who they should be, and this is who I want. He basically called me and was like, “We have our Alex and Poppy.” I was still scared, because ultimately, I don’t have any control. It’s not my movie. He was like, “I’m going to send you the chemistry read, and I hope you agree.”

I was so nervous to watch it. Of course, it’s not ideal circumstances, you’re seeing two people in horribly lit rooms on opposite sides of the world, Zooming. But they were so good. They were so good. So quickly, I was so ecstatic. And it was the day that they met, by the way. And then getting to see them act together on set. I did two different set visits, which was really fun. I got to see a little bit of everything. I just couldn’t be happier.

I saw you during the wedding scene. What other days were you on set?

I was there the day that they shot the opening and closing scenes. I was there for all the wedding. I was there for most of the wedding stuff. Then I came down to New Orleans for a couple weeks later, and I was there when they shot the dance scene.

Honestly, it’s such a blur. When I would go to these set visits, Brett would also just show me a bunch of the dailies from the stuff I had missed. I kind of feel like I got to watch the whole thing get made, even though I was only there a handful of days.

It was amazing. It’s a weird experience, because you both feel like you’re kind of a spare part. I didn’t need to be there. I was there for my own fun. And it was really humbling both in that it was, wow, I can’t believe this is happening, and this is looking so great, and everybody’s so talented.

It was a wild, wild experience. But I will say that none of it really sunk in until getting to sit down and watch with an audience. That was way more surreal. That was just one of the most magical moments of my life was just getting to watch with some of the readers. I feel like I’m going to be thinking about that on my deathbed. It was so special.

Emily Henry speaks onstage during ‘People We Meet on Vacation’ Fan Surprise at Prytania Theatre on December 03, 2025 in New Orleans, LouisianaGetty Images for Netflix

I assume that they all loved it.

They at least performed loving it very well. It was a warm room. They were pretty thrilled because Tom and Emily had also stopped by. Everybody was pretty excited.

But, the same way that I was like, “Nobody’s going to be a harsher critic than I am,” I feel like the readers are going to be a harder audience than people who are just seeing a movie that don’t have any preconceived notions. There was a lot of laughing. They cheered at multiple points in the movie. There were just gasps and shouting. And it was so fun.

Why do you think a streamer, Netflix in particular, was the right spot for this?

Well, honestly, Netflix was who wanted it. If somebody had wanted to make it theatrically, that would’ve been really exciting. But Netflix, they are champions of the romance genre, they have been early adopters of the romance genre, and they understand that that audience wants these stories.

When you have a movie you love on Netflix, you just watch it over and over and over again. And I thought about “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.” I have rewatched it so many times. If people want to restart it the second it’s over, they’ll be able to. If they want to have watch parties with their book club and their friends, they’ll be able to.

What made them the right partner is that they wanted to be partners. I think that readers have this idea that everybody just lines up, actors, studios, everything, and I just point. That would be nice if that’s how the world worked. It’s not. You have to find someone who’s genuinely excited about what you’re doing, and that’s who you’re going to partner with. You don’t want to make a movie with someone who does not want to be making the kind of movie that you want to make.

You are adapting “Funny Story” yourself. The way I wrote the question is, “You are adapting ‘Funny Story.’ How is that going?”

[Laughs] It’s going well. I have really liked adapting, because you’re taking so much that you can pull from, doing this little Jenga thing. Everything’s moving. I have notes on that script that I’m going to be diving back into. We’re very close on getting things coming together. I never know what I’m allowed to say, so that’s what I can say.

At least from the outside, you are prolific in a way that feels sustainable. You generally have one book a year, and that’s easy to rely on as a reader, but what is useful for you in terms of scheduling and creating things?

I think earlier in my career, it did feel extremely sustainable. I’m very happy to get to talk about this movie with you today, but having interviews, that takes time. Needing to travel to do press, that takes time. And it isn’t always as sustainable as it was back when nobody really cared what I was saying, and I could just write in my living room all day long.

I think that it has been kind of an adjustment and a growing pain of mine to figure out how to make all of these other pieces of the job all fit together. But ideally, it is I’m waking up, I’m having coffee, I’m playing my New York Times word games, and then I’m just sitting down to write, and I’m writing until either all day or until I have my first phone call of the day. And typically, I do have one or two phone calls a day now just for other various things.

In my perfect world, I am just writing all day every day, but that’s, luckily, I guess, not what my world is. But I’m very excited that when I finish [promotion of the movie], I can start on “Heated Rivalry.” I am really excited.

“People We Meet on Vacation” starts streaming on Netflix on Friday, January 9.