Jennette McCurdy has admitted that the process of adapting her memoir into a TV series has been "complicated" because there "are a lot of politics involved".
It was announced in July last year that the former child star-turned-author will co-write, co-showrun and executive produce a TV series inspired by her 2022 best-selling autobiography I'm Glad My Mom Died.
Reflecting on the process during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the former iCarly star hinted that making the TV show has been harder than writing the book.
"It's been complicated. There are a lot of politics involved, which is not my forte," she said. "It's really interesting because for writing, you're really rewarded for being truthful. I'm showrunning, creating and executive producing this thing, and producing, you're kind of rewarded for not being truthful. So it's a lot of like, 'OK, how can we tell this person one thing but kind of do another?' I won't lie, it's been challenging navigating the politics of it."
The 33-year-old explained that she feels "more connected" to her books - including her upcoming debut novel Half His Age - because every decision is "100% what (she has) chosen".
"There's no games involved. There's no like chess match involved," she added.
I'm Glad My Mom Died depicts McCurdy's struggles as a teenage TV star and her unhealthy, codependent relationship with her controlling, abusive mother Debra, who died in 2013.
The former Sam & Cat actress also noted that it was "so crazy" that Friends star Jennifer Aniston will play Debra in the show.
"It's so wild," McCurdy shared. "She relates to the material a lot and so in that way, we've really, really connected. I think it's kind of the only way to do this project is to be doing it with people who relate deeply to the material.... For something that comes from this personal of a place, other people have to relate that deeply or it just gets watered down."
Aniston previously revealed on the Armchair Expert podcast in October that McCurdy's mum and her late mother Nancy Dow "had some odd parallels" and the two stars "just couldn't believe the amount of stories that we had in common".
McCurdy's first novel, Half His Age, will be released on 13 January.
