I knew that Jennifer Beals and I were going to have a fantastic conversation when, after connecting on Zoom and chatting for a bit, she asked if I would mind it if she turned off her camera because it helps her concentrate better. Opening up about being what she describes as “very shy,” she went on to describe her inspiration for pursuing a wide release of “The L Word: A Photographic Journal,” a collection of photos she’d personally taken during the filming of the original “L Word” series, which she’d compiled into a book in 2010 to hand out to the cast and crew after they’d wrapped the show. Having bowed out of fan events due to a certain level of uncomfortability being in crowds of strangers, she was convinced by cast members Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig to join them at an event taking place in the U.K. one year, and it was there that she learned that fans weren’t just interested in the photos she’d taken, they all but demanded greater access to them.
Opting for a physical book over something like a gallery show or simply sharing the photos online because, she says, "it’s nice sometimes to just have something to touch," she looks back at the act of taking them as not only a way to steady herself and calm her nerves on set, but to capture and preserve the "lightning in a bottle" show, as she describes it — and as fans see it — that is "The L Word," a show that ended it's original run 16 years ago and has still — even factoring in its three season continuation, "The L Word: Generation Q" — not been replaced in the hearts of fans, in terms of popularity and the offering of a weekly meeting place, on television, for the full spectrum of the LGBTQ+ community to see their lives reflected back at them with a whole cast of characters, and not just one or two.
