gravesend initially started as a novel written by salvatore stabile at the age 15, with the characters partially inspired by close friends of his. stabile, who later attended a film course at new york university, was inspired to turn the story into a movie after watching kevin smiths "clerks". using $5,000 in inheritance he received from his grandmother's passing, filming for the feature began in 1994 and took about three years to complete, with only a 16mm camera utilized due to costs. due to the tight budget, stabile was only able to hire actors willing to perform for free. after gaining the attention of investors with the yet-to-be-finished material, stabile was granted an addition $60,000 to use for post-production, and eventually steven spielberg and oliver stone convinced manga entertainment and island digital to distribute it after meeting stabile.