I wrote the first draft of Girl Talk in early 2016, never thinking it was going to be produced. Part of that thought pattern stemmed from insecurity – before Girl Talk I had never made an acutely personal film. I had been living as an out gay woman for quite some time but making such a public and artistic declaration of my queerness felt insurmountable. Yet, for some reason the story kept lingering and I knew that in order to advance as an artist, I had to tackle uncomfortable and painful moments from my own experiences. I wanted to showcase a queer character who existed outside of the false dichotomy we often find LGBTQIA characters. They are either depicted as “coming out” or in a secretive relationship. In Girl Talk, we follow Mia as she explores the disparity between emotional and physical intimacy, coming to a head when she meets an intriguing couple. She’s navigating these issues as an out person, without any need to hide.

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In the early drafts of the script, the story was so close to my true-life experiences that it wasn’t palatable to a cohesive narrative. It was also far more graphic, which just wasn’t necessary. Chelsea Moore, my producer, worked with me on the script to focus on the emotional beats of the story. Who is Mia? What does she want? What does she need? What does she lose and gain throughout the narrative? Once we nailed down those questions, we were able to launch into production mode.

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So much of female sexuality has been at the hands of cis-het-male creators. This has perpetuated so much mythology and misinformation about female sexuality, especially queer femme sexuality. I’ve seen representations of queer femme sex on camera that’s either delicate, revelatory or novel. It’s by and for male viewers. Look at Blue is the Warmest Color, The Handmaiden, and Disobedience. All of those films have capitalized on lesbian sex, yet all fail in really examining the inner life of the character.

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The fact is those representations simply don’t portray the complexity and diversity of how our community has sex. Like gay men or heterosexual sex, sex between two women can be messy, vulnerable, ‘dripping’ with erotic passion, silly, or just sort of boring. Writing Girl Talk didn’t feel like a radical act, rather a truthful one. Yet, through multiple screenings over the years it’s become clear that speaking honestly about queer femme sex is both a radical and necessary act.