Screenwriter David Freeman based the script on his own life. While working for New York magazine in the late 1960's, he fabricated a story about a pimp, which was published in the May 1969 issue as "The Lifestyle of a Pimp".[4] At the time, New York was still an upstart publication and lacked a full-time fact-checking department. Freeman was not caught at the time, and only disclosed his deception during an interview with the magazine promoting the film in March 1987, stating "I was trying to write fiction in the form of journalism."[4]