But, as Jones noted, it was not needed. Love Letters and Writing Breakthrough (1983–1993) Love Letters (1983) Jones wanted to continue to direct, however, she struggled to find any opportunities because at the time women were not typically allowed to direct films. When pushed by Roger Corman to direct her second feature, yet another exploitation film, Jones convinced Corman to aim for the art house market instead. She insisted, having been a distributor of Truffaut and Fellini films, that Corman had an already impressive art house distribution network. Plus, given the rise of home video in the mid-80s, Jones eventually convinced Corman making a film both in the art house outlet and on home video would make back the money spent. After Jones’s spec script for Love Letters impressed Corman, he was on board. Jones credits a lot of the idea behind Love Letters to her, at the time, long-distance relationship with her husband. Given that she was on the West coast, and he was on the East, letters were their primary form of communication. Jones wondered what effect those letters would have on her young daughter. Simultaneously, Jones had become fixated on Alan Parker’s 1982 family drama, Shoot the Moon, about the traumas of a married man in an affair. Citing it as a male character she had seen a zillion times, Jones wondered what a film from the other woman’s point of view would be like. By conjoining this concept with that of her daughter stumbling upon her and her husband’s letters, Love Letters was born. When writing the script, Jones made sure the story took place in a limited number of locations for the sake of saving money and time. Jones utilized her own house as the main location of the film. Amy Madigan was in mind for the main role during the writing process, but Meg Tilly was Jones’s first choice when casting. After her falling out, Jamie Lee Curtis fell in love with the script and assumed the role, much to Jones’s pleasure. James Keach was a late replacement after the first choice for the role, of whom Jones has never publicly disclosed, dropped out seven days before shooting. Jones credits the screenplays of Harold Pinter as her main source of inspiration for the film’s flashback structure. Mystic Pizza (1988), Maid to Order (1987), and Indecent Proposal (1993) Jones’s coming-of-age classic Mystic Pizza is inspired