The writer, Carmela Hayslett, named Bettie Rae Todd after actress Thelma Todd. She also kept a photo of Thelma Todd on set with her during the filming of Bettie Rae's monologue scenes.
Carmela Hayslett wrote the script to experiment with a minimalist form of filmmaking. The script only required two actors, two locations, with a two and a half page script, and was meant to be only a few minutes long.