Larry McMurtry and Cybill Shepherd became friends during the making of
The Last Picture Show. In 1981 he encouraged her to apply to the women directors’ program of the American Film Institute; as part of her application she submitted a script of
Shelby Foote's novel
September September. She was rejected but McMurtry agreed to work on the script with her. They received a development deal at Carson Productions at
Columbia Pictures which ultimately decided not to make the film. However after Shepherd starred in the hit series
Moonlighting she managed to set it up at Turner Broadcasting. ==References==