'Impeachment' showrunner was 'very cautious' when writing scenes where Monica Lewinsky could be 'misunderstood'

• Sarah Burgess was "very cautious" in scenes where Monica Lewinsky could be "misunderstood."
• The "Impeachment" showrunner said she read almost 60 books before writing the script.
• Lewinsky signed on as a producer in 2019 and gave feedback on scripts for each episode.

"Impeachment: American Crime Story" lead writer and showrunner Sarah Burgess said she was "very cautious" while writing scenes where Monica Lewinsky could potentially be "misunderstood" by the viewers.

This season of the FX series, which premiered Tuesday, follows the impeachment of former president Bill Clinton (played by Clive Owen) and the intense scrutiny then 24-year-old Lewinsky (played by Beanie Feldstein) faced after the public found out about her 18-month-long affair with him.

In a recent interview with Insider, Burgess opened up about writing Lewinsky's character and the former White House employee's relationship with Clinton. "Impeachment" was officially greenlit by FX in 2019 with Lewinsky signed on as a producer.

"Anytime I was writing a scene where Monica could be misunderstood in the way she was misunderstood at the time, I was always very cautious," Burgess told Insider.

Burgess explained that she only had a chance to meet Lewinsky after she had already written the script for the first three episodes, but Lewinsky was still closely involved with the writing process right from the beginning.

At a virtual Television Critics Association panel held in August, Feldstein separately shared that Burgess and executive producer Brad Simpson had Lewinsky review the script for each episode.

In addition to giving a closer look at the backlash Lewinsky faced after her affair with Clinton became public, the 10-part season also depicts some of the events leading up to the impeachment of the president - including a moment from November 1995 when Lewinsky reportedly flashed her thong straps at Clinton while the two were at the White House.

Burgess previously told The Hollywood Reporter that she was hesitant to include the infamous thong-flashing scene in the show because she was nervous about "retraumatizing Monica."

Lewinsky disagreed with Burgess and asked the writer to include the scene in the script, arguing that Lewinsky would ultimately get blamed for the omission if the crucial interaction between Clinton and the former White House intern wasn't shown on screen.

"Listen, I would've loved to have been really selfish and said, 'That's great that you guys think we don't have to show that, fantastic,' but I'm incredibly experienced in understanding how people see this story," Lewinsky told THR.

Lewinsky added that leaving out the thong-flashing scene would be "unfair to the team and to the project because it would leave everybody vulnerable" to criticism.

The upcoming "American Crime Story" season re-creates many important historical events with close attention to detail, following in the footsteps of the previous installments of the show that focused on the trial of O.J. Simpson (season one) and the assassination of designer Gianni Versace (season two).

Burgess told Insider that her research for "Impeachment" involved reading almost 60 books and countless FBI and Department of Justice documents, as well as special counsel Kenneth Starr's investigation into the events surrounding Clinton's impeachment.

"A lot of the pandemic gave me time to read all of those very thoroughly," Burgess said.

Burgess shared that she also listened to all of the tapes Lewinsky's co-worker Linda Tripp made of her calls with Lewinsky - multiple times.

"There's never too much research for me," Burgess added. "I just took in all of that and then made my writing decision based on which character I was focusing on."