Adapting Lesbians: Maria Maggenti and the Practice of Lesbian Screenwriting

Since the mid-nineties, feminist film scholars have increasingly paid scholarly attention to lesbian directors of independent and commercial cinema. The same has not been true for lesbian screenwriters. Given that more women write than direct, their inclusion in feminist film scholarship is long overdue. This essay initiates a discussion about the idea and the possibilities of lesbian screenwriting through an examination of the commercial film The Love Letter (Peter Ho-sun Chan, 1999). Adapted by screenwriter Maria Maggenti from the 1995 book by novelist and literary critic Cathleen Schine, The Love Letter not only retains its lesbian characters but also accentuates their roles, making lesbianism more present in the narrative and more central to its meaning than in the book. Reading the film's use of lesbianism against the novel facilitates a discussion about how the practice of lesbian screenwriting informs not only the adaptation process but also the meaning a film generates.