Heller expanded Minnies relationship with her mother (Kristen Wiig), for example.
She also added new layers to the material while at the Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
It wasnt one of these simple, three-people-in-a-room scripts that you might really get your head around easily.
Credit: Sam Emerson/Courtesy Everett Collection
Anyone can relate to feelings like Is there anyone out there who loves me that I dont know about?
Does everybody think about sex as much as I do?
Am I a freak?
or Is something wrong with me?
Youre not going to want to [have sex].
In that sense,The Diary of a Teenage Girlis a breath of fresh air.
When and why she used animation
The film employs innovative, cartoon-like animation.
So many people have done drug trips before, Heller says.
They can be really cheesy.
The animation always served to really bring us into Minnies minds eye.
Were really seeing the world through her creative lens, whenever were seeing an animation.
She believes women are innately good at the job.
Still, Heller was the only woman nominated in the DGA Awards feature film categories.
(No women were nominated in the Oscars directing category either).
I hope next year, [the category] is filled with women.
What action should be taken to get more women on these lists?
Looking ahead, Heller says we need to maintain that attention to see progress.
We keep this conversation going until there really truly is a major shift.
