The success of We Were Liars (first as a bestselling YA novel, and now as a trending Prime Video series) offers more than a coming-of-age drama with a devastating twist. It opens up essential questions about how creative work travels across formats, and what happens to ownership, credit, and payment when it does.
YA book adaptations are no longer niche productions. Streaming platforms are betting on them as emotional IP with commercial power. But as these stories cross media, the real tension is often found behind the scenes, between what’s created, who controls it, and how its value is shared.
Inside the We Were Liars Storyworld
Set on a private island off the coast of Massachusetts, E. Lockhart’s novel follows Cadence Sinclair as she unravels the mystery of a forgotten summer. The Sinclair family appears flawless (wealthy, elegant, self-contained), but beneath the surface lies grief, trauma, and a past buried under silence.The book’s appeal lies in its emotional restraint and haunting narrative structure. Memory loss acts as a plot device and a character trait, and the eventual reveal reshapes every prior scene.
Amazon’s screen adaptation keeps the core of the novel intact, while expanding the role of side characters and reordering certain events for television pacing. The shift from interior monologue to visual storytelling relies heavily on production design, mood-setting, and performance. Emily Alyn Lind as Cadence delivers the stillness and tension required to carry the character’s internal weight, while Esther McGregor and the supporting cast add new texture to the Sinclair legacy.
The Rise of YA Adaptations and Their Untold Agreements
YA novels are trending across platforms. From The Summer I Turned Pretty to Heartstopper, studios are capitalising on the emotional currency of teen narratives. We Were Liars sits comfortably in this category, with a built-in readership and viral booktok following that helped push the Amazon series into Prime Video’s Top 10 trending charts.But the growing appetite for these stories also brings renewed scrutiny to how they’re acquired and adapted. Authors often enter option agreements that trade a lump sum for screen rights, with the possibility of further compensation if development moves forward. These contracts vary significantly; some include backend participation or consultation credits, while others leave the original creator out of the adaptation process altogether.
E. Lockhart, in interviews, has expressed enthusiasm for the adaptation and maintains credit for the show. But even in high-profile cases, public details around profit sharing remain scarce. Writers, composers, costume designers, and other creatives brought into the project may receive flat-fee contracts with no future royalties, regardless of the series’ global success.
This fragmented system limits visibility into where value flows and who benefits long-term.
From Page to Screen: Creative Contribution Without Residual Reward
Adapting We Were Liars demanded more than a simple plot transfer; it necessitated crafting an emotional landscape. The production team meticulously built a world of visual symbolism, employing isolated New England coastlines, starkly opulent rooms, and a score that evokes both memory and dread.These nuanced details are the work of production professionals, many of whom receive little to no credit beyond their specific roles. The visual tone of a narrative, however, can significantly impact merchandise, marketing, and even the longevity of a series. Yet, the current compensation model rarely accounts for this widespread influence.
This disparity reveals a fundamental issue in the management of cross-media projects. While intellectual property is diligently tracked, quantifying creative contributions proves more challenging, often resulting in uncompensated work.
What Happens in Season 2 and What It Signals for Rights Holders
Season 2 of We Were Liars will likely explore the Sinclair family’s wider history, including the backstory of Rosemary Sinclair, a character whose unresolved trauma ties closely to Cadence’s. Flashbacks and deeper context are expected, which means new characters, a broader timeline, and a bigger production footprint.This shift in narrative, while not directly from the book, expands on its established world. For creatives from Season 1, this brings up new questions about compensation: Who gets continuation bonuses? Who is eligible for royalties? Are contributions from the first season considered foundational for future content, or are they excluded from the new budget?
These are crucial questions that creators, agents, and legal teams should address early on. New seasons bring new contracts and potentially new exclusions.
How Creative Splits Can Support Transparent Tracking
At Creative Splits, we advocate for financial transparency concerning emotional intellectual property. We recognise that when a story is adapted across different media, every contributor, be it through narrative, tone, design, or performance, adds significant and lasting value.Our platform supports production houses, authors, publishers, and independent creatives who want to track payments more transparently, manage splits fairly, and build trust between teams. From pilot episodes to final cuts, every hand that shapes a creative work should be acknowledged, and if the project thrives, they should benefit from that success.
Whether you’re optioning a novel, developing a series, or contributing to a visual universe built from books, the goal should remain clear: trace where value begins, measure how it evolves, and ensure the right people are paid accordingly.
Final Thought
We Were Liars delves into themes of silence, truth, and inheritance. Its journey to adaptation, however, highlights a different kind of legacy: how creative work is valued and managed after its initial release.As young adult (YA) adaptations become increasingly popular, the underlying systems must evolve. Transparent agreements, equitable revenue sharing, and collaborative creative recognition are not merely beneficial; they form the essential foundation for compelling narratives to flourish.
Want to track your next adaptation project with transparency?
Creative Splits provides the framework for transparent credit and payment in multi-contributor projects, including writers, designers, performers, publishers, and producers. We help you define, track, and safeguard your creative value from initial drafts to major streaming deals.Book a free call today to discover how to establish clear splits and ensure every contributor receives recognition as your story gains wider reach.
