Back in the early 90’s I had done quite a bit of work for Sheila Nevins at HBO, mostly editing and post-producing Real Sex episodes and programs. I had a sense of what she was looking for. What piqued her interest? The goal was to get a 55-minute cut to her sometime in the summer of 1995. Brent and I worked hard to bring the stories and atmosphere of these girls and their world to the screen. Brent would bring in Bobby Shepherd and another good friend Sam Pollard his to screening sessions where their sound advice would be incorporated into the each edit.
When the time came for Brent show the cut to Sheila I had no doubt that she would go for it. It was everything she craved, socially and politically provocative and sexually exploitative with hint of anti-male perspective. Indeed, after screening the film Sheila told Bent it was like watching an archeological dig that revealed a new sub culture. She offered Brent a sizable sum of money on the following conditions:
Replace me as editor (apparently because I was too independent).
Make himself a character with a first person voice over.
Remove any character that managed to leave the world of prostitution (Miriam).
Brent accepted these conditions. The program and subsequent episodes became part of the "America Undercover" series where it lives on today.
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Watch the clip (2' 33")