In 1984, Eleanor Gaver graduated from NYU film school and worked for the filmmakers Beth and Scott B. They taught her how to make a film for nothing  and when Blake Edwards saw her fist feature he offered to represent her. So Gaver moved to LA, but back then the only work for female directors was exploitation so she made a biker movie. The company required her to shoot a scene with exploitive sex or violence every ten minutes. No way was she going to do that again. Gaver turned to writing scripts and got the green light to also direct Life in the Fast Lane starring Tea Leoni, Fairuza Balk, Noah Taylor and Patrick Dempsey. After that, Gaver returned to New York to make films her way.