Everybody knows Harper Lee wrote To Kill A Mockingbird. But few realize the role she played in creating the look of the film.

Hoping to involve Lee (whose full name is Nelle Harper Lee) in the filmmaking process, producer Alan J. Pakula sent her the following letter and suggested the film’s art director Henry Bumstead visit her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama.

Lee agreed and Bumstead visited later that month.

Bumstead then sent the following letter back to Pakula and detailed his time spent with Lee in her hometown, what he learned from it, and how he planned to incorporate it into the film.