Interview with ‘Supernatural’ and ‘Sacred Lies’ popular writer Jenny Klein

By Colleen Bement, Sept. 5th, 2018

What Jenny Klein loves about Supernatural is that “when you’re in it, you’re family for life”. The Skokie, IL born writer/producer is known and loved for her eight years with “Supernatural”, as well as “Jessica Jones”, Marvel’s “Cloak & Dagger”, and now “Sacred Lies”. Coming up she is a Co-Executive Producer for the exciting new show “The Witcher” starring Henry Cavill. Find out what Jenny’s production company with the coolest name Weird Egg Productions has in store, and why she loves being a part of Facebook Watch’s new series “Sacred Lies”.

Colleen Bement: “Sacred Lies” is fabulous. It’s fresh, dramatic, and touching. How did you get involved in the series?

Jenny Klein: I became involved in “Sacred Lies” through Raelle Tucker. We were first working on “Jessica Jones” for Marvel, and she told me about this that the book that she optioned and I was like what’s it about? It’s this girl who escapes this cult, and she doesn’t have hands, and it’s based on a Grimm fairy tale. I said OH–I am so in!

Fast forward over a year and Facebook bought it straight to series, and she contacted me about the one-hour pilot. She needed to turn it into a half hour format; which was really exciting to me because I had not really seen any half-hour dramas. I’d never had the opportunity to write for that structure, and that was very exciting. Raelle is such a visionary storyteller so when that was up and running, I came on as her number two.

It was just such a privilege to be a part of telling this story, and be a part of creating this show that is based on Stephanie Oakes incredible novel The Secret Lies of Minnow Bly. I read the book and there was so much to dig in. With the half-hour drama, you really have to pick your pearls. There’s no fat on those bones. I found it very liberating in a way because there are no extra scenes. This is exactly what we need to tell this story with each emotional capsule of each episode.

CB: I saw that Henry Cavill is going to play “The Witcher” and you’re Co-Executive Producer? That’s badass. What can you share about this cool new project?

JK: I am writing and co-executive producing “The Witcher” which is a new fantasy series for Netflix which is being show-run by Lauren Schmidt and yeah, the news just came out that we cast Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia. It’s a very cool complex exciting character, and the whole thing is based on an awesome Polish book series. I don’t really have any more news, but I really love being a part of it.

CB: Tell your fans about Weird Egg Productions. How did you come up with the name?

JK: I came up with the name Weird Egg Productions because I was thinking about how every idea is like a little weird egg. They become these interesting forms of entertainment. I was doing a couple short films and in my head, these were my little weird eggs, so that’s how I was thinking of each idea or project that I wanted to execute. So when it came time to form my production company, I was like, oh, it’s Weird Egg Productions because it’s producing weird eggs.

CB: Tell us about your super dark and hilarious short film “Last Meal.”

JK: The “Last Meal” is about a famous chef who becomes obsessed with preparing the last meal for a notorious serial killer. I wanted to explore how far unchecked toxic male egos can go, and so we see these two characters have this bizarre love affair over the mutual dark admirations of each other. It will ultimately be the case of each other’s undoing in 15 minutes.

I wanted to make a little film and I wanted to do a female-led team that would explore these male actions through a female lens, so I worked with a female director, and then another producer, and then I also produced another short film with a wonderful director, Nicole Baer who was an editor on a show called “Supernatural” on which I was a writer for many years. She wanted to direct so I said let’s do this. I just had these short film scripts that I wrote for fun and I learned a lot with the experience of hands-on producing when you’re crowdfunding and putting your money into something, it’s very personal. It was a really positive experience. It’s going to be in the Catalina Film Festival September 26th.

CB: Funny that you mention “Supernatural” because we just have to chat about that show. Is that where you got your Twitter handle—from that episode ‘Changing Channels”?

JK: No, I didn’t get it from a “Supernatural” episode (Changing Channels), I got it from a stupid joke. I think I was like 22 or something, and I wasn’t taking Twitter very seriously, and then I started to get followers and you can’t change your handle, so I went through a period of being embarrassed, but now I’ve come back to own it, and I’m like whatever.

CB: You were involved as a writer or editor for like 109 episodes, right?

JK: I worked on this (Supernatural) for eight years, and I wrote nine episodes. My last episode ‘Just My Imagination’ was nominated was nominated for a Hugo Award; which was really cool, as a nerd.

CB: It was such a touching episode and was very popular among fans.

JK: Awwee, thank you. I love seeing people dressed up as Sully. It really makes me smile.

CB: What do you miss the most about being involved with the show?

JK: What I love about “Supernatural” is when you’re in it, you’re family for life. I met my best friend, Nicole Snyder, was a writer on the show and I consider her my sister, and like Sebastian Roche was on “Supernatural” and that’s how I met him. He was kind enough and generous enough to star in my short film “Last Meal”. You just make these beautiful connections, and the fandom is so smart supportive and I have adored being part of that community; because it really is a community, the SPN Family. I can’t even say I miss that because I feel like I’m still part of it. I think it will continue on for decades.

I guess what I miss is I really liked coming up with weird stand-alone episodes that you can only do on “Supernatural” and that Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki would perform because they are hilarious and wacky and carry a magnificent depth as actors. I miss Sam and Dean.

CB: Can we expect you back one day to write another episode?

JK: No, I’ve moved on but I really enjoyed my time there and I feel so lucky and grateful to have been a part of the shows that I have been on since then, I love them all.

Especially “Sacred Lies” to be able to tell a story for three young adults and really show them that even when they’re in the most dire situations that could take anybody down, like having your hands taken away, you can still make choices that can carve out a future for yourself that you want to be in. I feel so glad I could be part of something where the message is so strong.