I didn't have anything to lose if I wrote a screenplay." She began writing sitcoms with a comedian friend but was plagued by second thoughts about her work. Khouri was frustrated and kept "contemplating and meditating" until she got this idea of "two women going on a crime spree." She felt as if a light bulb had gone on over her head, making her more interested in the idea. She originally created the character Louise as a woman living in Texas who works as a communication secretary, "somebody sitting behind one of those big desks with a headset on directing people and taking calls and all that stuff." She imagined that Louise considered herself a liability as an employee, and that women would never be able to achieve power. This version of Louise would always remain narrow in her ambitions, someone "who never realized women could be executives until she saw one come in the front door." The character Thelma, on the other hand, was first written as a character who "had kids and stuff like that, but I realized that she couldn't have kids. The idea that Darryl wanted her to wait, because the kids would be a sacrifice for him financially, fit perfectly. And, of course, she's really a child herself. I had to set it up that way. I love to laugh, and I wanted this to be a movie you were enjoying and having a good time with because you were watching these women get their lives. Even though they would lose them, they were becoming more and more themselves. It was a beautiful experience, a liberating experience to watch that." Subsequent work Her second film as a writer, the romantic comedy-drama Something to Talk About (1995), earned mixed reviews from critics. In June 2002, Khouri made her directorial debut with her adaptation of Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, which grossed a total of $73,839,240 worldwide. The film opened at number two in the box office behind The Sum of All Fearss second weekend. In 2006, Khouri created, wrote and directed the pilot for the legal television series Hollis & Rae that was produced by Steven Bochco. Khouri directed Mad Money in 2008, a crime-caper film starring Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes. In 2012 she developed ABC's country music drama series, Nashville, starring Connie Britton and Hayden Panettiere. Khouri's husband T Bone Burnett