Based on real characters; and a real party that occurred December 1992. Many of the actors appearing in the film knew the person on whom the main character is based.
As there was only a small budget for this movie, cast and crew members made use of their own things to meet the story's needs. 'Randall Kleiser' used his house and pool for the scenes set in Brandon's home. Eric Roberts provided his own white horse to ride in flashback scenes. Lee Grant used a favorite coin ring for Amalia's gift from Nick. Sally Kellerman brought her own dog, and so on.