Her career as a screenwriter developed after Ismail Merchant and James Ivory asked her to develop a script based on her 1960 novel "The Householder, " published when she was living as an expatriate in Delhi.
This film, by the producing and directing team of Ismail Merchant and James Ivory, deals with his passion for French political reform during the approach of the Revolution, his ambiguous attitude toward slavery (exemplifled in his alleged affair with a black maid, Sally Hemings), and his love for a married woman, Maria Cosway.
"Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has been a beloved member of the Merchant Ivory family since 1960, comprising one-third of our indomitable trifecta that included director James Ivory and the late producer Ismail Merchant, " said the company's director of development, Neil Jesuele.