A few years ago I directed a short called "Ballet Diesel." It's about a diesel dyke with several closeted girlie habits like walking like a ballerina, hence the nickname "Ballet Diesel" (my girlfriend did actually call me this at one time because of the way I walked down hills). It was such a hit at festivals that I was trying to think of a way to turn the essence of the film into a feature. All of the possible film scenarios I came up with ("Ballet Diesel in the military," for example) were too slapstick for my taste, so I decided to deviate from the concept but kept what I thought was funny--basically, a character that takes herself way too seriously, has little knowledge of herself, and can't see herself as others do; someone that gets offended by the reality of themselves, and someone caught between genders and pulling themselves in the wrong direction. This was also during a time in my life where I started auditioning again and was trying to grow my hair out (just a couple of inches) and put on some less butch attire to make myself more "marketable." So out of these thoughts, "Butch Jamie" was born. Jamie is someone who struggles with her career and her perceived gender, as I have struggled many times, but in her case especially, her gender impacts her career and her career impacts her gender.
The subplot of Howard was brought in from an idea I had to make a short mockumentary about cat actors. My producing partner and at the time life partner, Leah, adored our cat Huey like no other, and she loved to project fantastical notions upon him. This was my inspiration for the short mockumentary, and at some point it made sense to bring this idea into Butch Jamie. During the writing process, Leah would continue her antics with Huey (although aware that she was joking, unlike Lola) and would put his paws together for a "Dear God," or stand him up on his hind feet to pretend to measure his growth.