Photo courtesy of Hulu

Deep in the heart of Texas, where church bells ring on a cloudless Sunday morning, a dutiful housewife is late for her daughter’s play rehearsal. Where has she been? Well, she intended on going to the local Target, but her watch stopped, and so she drove away.

Candy Montogmery repeats this story several times throughout the pilot episode for Hulu’s Candy. The five-episode series details exactly what Candy was doing and where she really was on that fateful day.

Before its premiere, I was lucky enough to have interviewed Candy Showrunner and Executive Producer, Robin Veith, along with EP Nick Antosca. Having never heard of this true-crime case myself, Veith, an admittedly obsessive true crime fan, couldn’t believe that she hadn’t known the case either!

“Nick and I had just finished working on The Act (Hulu) together and he asked me if I wanted to work on this one as well,” said Veith. “The more I started looking into it, the more I told Nick 'let’s do it'. It was right up my alley.”

Adapting courtroom transcripts

Once the deal was done and the writer’s room was established, the real work began. Starting with research.

“It was Robin and our research assistants who were getting the courtroom transcriptions, Antosca explained. “I heard the story about twenty years ago just reading what was published. The story just stayed with me. Once Robin came on board, we reached out to Jim Atkinson, who is a producer on the show, he wrote Evidence of Love about the case along with John Bloom, so he had a ton of research.”

“We were able to speak for several hours with Robert Udashen, one of Candy’s lawyers," added Veith. “We also had thousands of pages of court records to go through, but speaking with Jim was fascinating because he spent a lot of time in the physical presence of these people. It just became a matter of distilling all of these ideas into the story we wanted to tell – from the defendant's side and the prosecution's side.”

Viewers will also find themselves torn between Candy’s innocence or guilt as each episode progresses. Even the writers found themselves at odds when it came to the polarizing suburban mom.

“It led to a lot of spirited debates in the writer’s room. Having that much information, our writers were able to take different positions," said Antosca. “You can have the same information and say: 'I think she’s a psychopath', or 'I understand what was deep inside of her and came out.'”

We're all slightly off, here

As a showrunner who’s been in the business for over fifteen years, Veith contributes her deep bench of qualified writers to help build her writer’s room.

“You need a deep bench because if they are extremely talented and good human beings, they are probably booked consistently," joked Veith. “I tend to work top-down when building my room. It was a really well-balanced room that I really enjoyed.”

The show toggles between the present and the past of the main characters, but the pilot Veith pitched was in an unorthodox format.

“When we first started working on the show, I pitched the idea to Nick that the pilot should be a day in the life and it just so happens to be a day that changes their whole lives forever," said Veith. “Nick immediately set up battle stations and made sure I got to tell the story the way that I wanted to. I wanted to tell this story [about how] everything [is]… slightly off.”

Hulu leading the charge?

True crime is having a moment on television and podcasts, and Hulu seems to be leading the charge. Between the critically acclaimed series The Drop Out and The Girl From Plainville, true crime is here to stay. But Antosca, to his credit, doesn’t feel the pressure to live up to those series.

“I just don't think about it in terms of the marketplace. I never set out to be in the true crime genre,” said Antosca. "I only want to be involved with true stories that you can’t get out of your head. It seems like a lot of true crime has to do with investigations and that’s just not compelling for a viewer. For this story, I just think it’s a question of character psychology. I don’t think there can be an oversaturation of stories that explore complex characters and ask questions about how humanity in a story seems incomprehensible.”

Sometimes gold does fall from the sky

Candy is as complex of a character as they come, which was a drawing point for star and producer Jessica Biel.

“Talk about gold just falling from the skies. We sent Jessica the script and within forty-eight hours she wanted to set up a meeting,” explained Veith. “She immediately had an extremely compelling take of Candy that I hadn’t even seen. She’s not only an amazing actress but an extremely savvy producer.”

Speaking of production, we all know it takes a village to execute a show, but this couldn’t be more true for Candy.  “We started shooting in November and then we wrapped in mid-February of this year,” said Veith. Antosca weighed in, “Doing it in a pandemic adds more complications.”

To Young Vieth, Antosca & You

When asked what advice they had for their younger-selves, Vieth focused on the craft of writing for television. “Do not be afraid to remember that you have a voice while also trying to work within the parameters of another show,” she expresses. “A part of your job when you’re on staff is delivering a script within the voice of that show, but that doesn't mean there isn't a little area for you to shine your light out from under that barrel.”

Antosca concurred and offered a producer’s advice. “Get off your phone. Get off the internet. Stop reading about the news and other people's opinions. Think your own thoughts and allow yourself to go on a journey to the things that only you have to say. If not, you will be thinking other people’s thoughts. You need to do something that not everyone else is going to say or do.”

Candy is available now on Hulu!