[3] She began conceiving the film in 1993, shortly after finishing The Lotus Eaters, while on a retreat with Better Than Chocolate's other producer, Sharon McGowan.The two dared each other to create a lesbian coming out comedy.
[4] Thompson was committed to not having Better Than Chocolate be in "the tradition of the celluloid closet" and thus gave the lesbian characters in the film a happy ending.
[5] Her other credits include the films Saint Monica[6] and Bearded Ladies: The Photography of Rosamond Norbury,[7] the television series The Beachcombers,[8] Da Vinci's Inquest and Big Sound, and stage plays including Brides in Space[9] and The Last Will and Testament of Lolita.
[10] She was also coauthor, with Saeko Usukawa, of two coffee table books on film history, Hard Boiled: Great Lines from Film Noir and Tall in the Saddle: Great Lines from Classic Westerns.
Saeko Usukawa, an art book writer and editor with Douglas & McIntyre, was Thompson's partner from 1978 until her death in 2009.