There is a running theme of references to Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The main character's name is Alice, and her online screen names include "MadHatter" and "MrTeapot", both of which are characters from that story.
In an interview, writer Isa Mazzei talked about how star Madeline Brewer decided how naked she would be throughout the film. "How she handled nudity was interesting. We had a nudity rider [in the contract] for legal reasons, obviously. It was up to Maddie on set how naked she wanted to be in each scene. She was able to engage with the character in such a deep way where she could say, like, 'Today I think Alice is more nude than written,' or on other days, 'Alice is less nude than written.' It really helped make sure that none of the nudity was coming from an objectifying or gratuitous place. It was always tied into the character's psychology and where Alice was at that point in the story."
Writer Isa Mazzei drew on her time as a webcam model when writing the screenplay. She said in an interview the goal she started with was to create a film where an audience would empathize with a sex worker. The two films she looked at most when conceptualizing what she wanted were Whiplash (2014) and Black Swan (2010). Both of those movies have protagonists who are obsessive and ambitious about what they're doing; who throw themselves into self-sacrifice for their art. She was also inspired by David Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983) because he never uses body horror gratuitously. It's always connected to a theme or character.
Co-writer Isa Mazzel has a cameo as 'Checkout Girl.'
Prior to filming, director Daniel Goldhaber actually performed on a cam website to better understand the main character. He made several attempts, but couldn't entice anyone to actually pay him.