1. Circumstances of Production

2. Early 1980s: Soderbergh traveled back and forth between Los Angeles and home town of Baton Rouge, LA, attempting to work in industry; works in TV documentary short production, post-production firm, spec script writing 1985: Directs Yes: 9012 Live concert film for band, Yes 1987: Completes Winston, a short film that Soderbergh calls “version of sex, lies, and videotape, the story of a woman who creates an imaginary life for herself so she can keep a man who was after her at a distance” (Steven Soderbergh: Interviews 19)Steven Soderbergh: Interviews Late 1987: Soderbergh writes sex, lies, and videotape script over eight-day move from Baton Rouge to Los Angeles, while reflecting upon desire to change his behavior, which he parallels to John’s

3. “I was involved in a relationship with a woman in which I was deceptive and mentally manipulative. I got involved with a number of other women simultaneously... Another six months of this behavior—this went on for the better part of a year—and I would have been, bare minimum, alcoholic and, going on from there, mentally screwed up.... I just became somebody that, if I knew them, I would hate” (Interview in Connoisseur 10/1991, reprinted in Biskind, Down and Dirty Pictures 40).

4. Early 1988: Soderbergh gives script to his agent, who markets to producers Robert Newmyer (Outlaw Productions) and Nancy Tenenbaum (Overseas Entertainment) who negotiate $1.2 million deal with RCA/Columbia Home Video and Virgin for domestic and foreign video rights Producers took on task of selling theatrical distribution rights if RCA/Columbia passed on “first look” deal Shooting lasts 30 days, with Soderbergh rewriting some dialogue to fit characters and improvisations actors had developed during rehearsal

5. 1/1989: film premieres at U.S. Film Festival (Sundance) Screens at American Film Market; Miramax purchases distribution rights for $1 million, and markets film as “quality indie” production Film screens at Cannes, where it wins Palm d’Or Opens May 1989 in U.S. on 350 screens, then expands nationwide (“platform” release) Film grosses $24 million domestically sex, lies, and videotape’s success prompts investment in similar psychologically oriented films Image Source: Senses of CinemaSenses of Cinema

6. Editing, particularly crosscutting between spaces and times, with or without sound bridges Camera movement, particularly tracking and zooms Implicit meanings/themes: Gender relations, honesty and dishonesty, technology and self-discovery and self-revelation Symptomatic meanings: sex and relationships in the post-AIDS era, contemporary “yuppie” life