She teamed up with director Mary Harron to write the films "American Psycho," "The Notorious Bettie Page," and the 2019 film "Charlie Says." She was a writer and story editor on Showtime’s "The L Word," where she played the recurring character Gabby Deveaux. She has written and directed seven short films, two of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. 

She can be seen in acting roles that include "The Watermelon Woman," "Chasing Amy," "American Psycho," and "The L Word."  Turner taught screenwriting at Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia University, University of Georgia, University of California, Los Angeles, and New York University. She published an essay in The New Yorker in April of 2019 and expanded on that essay in her 2023 memoir, "When the World Didn’t End," from Penguin Random House. She is currently adapting that book to a feature film. Her most recent screenplay, "The Highway that Eats People," goes into production in November of 2024.