Parting Glances marked Bill Sherwood’s feature film directorial debut. According to a 26 Mar 1986 Var article, Sherwood wrote the screenplay in two months, beginning Dec 1983, with characters largely based on real people because he wanted to avoid widely accepted gay stereotypes. In a 2 Mar 1986 LAT article, Sherwood commented that, for years, gay characters in films were “portrayed badly or offensively…if at all.” Sherwood also stated that he chose to begin the film with the characters “Michael” and “Roger” kissing right away, to normalize their behavior instead of presenting it as shocking.
       As stated in production notes found at AMPAS library, after Sherwood finished the screenplay, he spent six months raising production funds. Sherwood and producer Arthur Silverman raised $40,000, “enough to start up production,” by Jun 1984. Investors included friends and family, and Var stated that there were around twelve investors, with the lowest individual contribution made at $1,000. First-time film producer Yoram Mandel brought in additional funds.
       Six weeks before shooting began, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) abolished a low-budget pay scale previously offered to independent producers, forcing Sherwood to cast the film with strictly non-union actors. Casting calls specified that Parting Glances was a gay film, though actors’ sexual orientation did not affect their eligibility for roles, and both homosexual and heterosexual actors played gay characters in the film, in addition to homosexual actors playing straight characters. Sherwood cast some friends, including Kathy Kinney, a comedienne and former colleague of Sherwood’s at Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and Theodore Ganger, a high school friend. The cast and crew numbered more than one hundred people, many of whom agreed to work for free or deferred payments.
       According to production notes, filming began late Sep 1984 on Fire Island, New York. Sherwood shot the final scenes, set at Fire Island, first, so that he could take advantage of the late summer weather. To avoid expenses, Sherwood set the story at a limited number of locations, and the filmmakers were able to secure certain locations for free. Different sections of a large apartment in Manhattan served as the location for both Michael and Roger’s apartment and "Nick’s" apartment; a house in New Jersey owned by a crew member’s relative served as "Cecil" and "Betty’s" townhouse; and the Brooklyn, NY, apartment of a friend of Sherwood’s served as the Soho loft where “Joan” hosted Roger’s surprise party. At the loft location in Brooklyn, a sound problem occurred when a humming noise emitted by a factory in the same building was picked up by recording equipment; to avoid the hum, filmmakers shot the party scene at Joan’s apartment over two weeks, between the hours of 4pm and 4am. During the later hours, cast and crew “tip-toe[d] around in order not to wake the neighbors…breaking the silence for only a few minutes while the shot was taken.”
       The 26 Mar 1986 Var article reported that funding ran out after seven weeks of production, with one more week left to shoot. Sherwood assembled an incomplete edit of the film and showed it to Paul A. Kaplan, the associate producer of the Broadway production As Is, and Kaplan agreed to fund remainder of the shoot. The final “cash costs” for the film were $250,000.
       According to production notes, Sherwood, a former music student at Juilliard, applied his musical background to the film by assigning different characters musical themes, using a mixture of classical music and rock n’ roll, and sometimes playing both at the same time. Sherwood stated, “I think of film as a musical piece. I see the shape of the way someone moves and the musical inflection of the way they deliver the lines as well as the camera movements and lighting as a kind of musical expression.”
       The film was shot in Super 16mm, a format in which what would normally be the 16mm sound track area is incorporated into the available picture area providing greater resolution for 1.85:1 16mm-35mm blowups, and later “blown up to 35mm for theatrical release,” as stated in the 26 Mar 1986 Var. Knowing the film would be converted to 35mm, Sherwood and cinematographer Jacek Laskus lit more areas within the frame “that would otherwise have been too dark” after the blow-up.
       Critical reception was largely positive. Reviewers consistently praised technical aspects of the film, impressed by what the filmmakers accomplished on such a small budget. Steve Buscemi’s performance received positive attention as well; in a negative NYT review on 19 Feb 1986, Janet Maslin claimed that Buscemi’s character “Nick” was “a notable exception” in a film otherwise mired in superficiality, and stated that the actor had a “powerfully anarchic presence…[making] a memorable impression.” In his 24 Feb 1986 HR review, Charles Ryweck commented that the film’s subject matter would likely limit audience appeal, but lauded “the friskiness of the young lovers, the sexual fooling around and their general high spirits as they accept their sexual persuasion without any guilt.”
       According to production notes, the film was first screened at New York’s Independent Feature Market in Oct 1985. Cinecom International Films signed on to distribute the film one week after it was screened for the company’s marketing and distribution executive, Ira Deutchman. The 26 Mar 1986 Var article reported that, after the film opened “to considerable acclaim” in New York, NY, and Los Angeles, CA, Cinecom, Intl. booked additional engagements in Seattle, WA; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; Boston, MA; and Washington, D.C.
       A 7 Nov 2007 DV news item reported that the Outfest Legacy Project, a joint collaboration between Outfest and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Film & Television Archive, restored Parting Glances for a Jul 2007 screening at Outfest’s twenty-fifth anniversary.
       End credits contain a "Special Thanks" to the following organizations and individuals: Massimo Betti-Berutto; David Bronstein; Roger Dean; Ralph Giarrusso; Jill Godmilow; Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Graef; Bill Jenkins; Sam Kitt; Anthony Kowalski; Marc Krasnow; Limelight Disco; Jay Merritt; James Mulkin; Edward Murphy; New York Shakespeare Festival; Al Pierce; John Pierson; Peggy Rajski; Gil Richardson; John Sloan; Philip Tactile; Mark Thelen; Renato Tonelli; Jill Uhlfelder; Rich Upton; and Irwin Young. A dedication follows the special thanks which reads: "for Mark, Billy, and Paul." "Sound Scape 1" songwriter Stuart M. Argabright's name is misspelled in the end credits as "S. Arbright."
       The summary and note for this entry were completed with participation from the AFI Academic Network. Summary and note were written by participant Katelyn Cooley, a student at Oregon State University, with Jon Lewis as academic advisor.