Butter on the Latch and Thou Wast Mild and Lovely earned positive critical acclaim as a director on the rise. Her third feature, Madeline’s Madeline, played the Sundance Film Festival in 2018.For Gubbins, the out-lesbian writer, Shirley marks both her first feature film as a screenwriter, and her first foray into the world of Sundance.
She decided to adapt the original novel by writer Susan Scarf Merrell as a passion project. Gubbins first earned notice by Hollywood when she created the cult TV.