Friends (With Benefits)
Official poster
Directed by	Gorman Bechard
Written by	Gorman Bechard Ashley McGarry
Produced by	Gorman Bechard Ashley McGarry
Starring	Margaret Laney Alex Brown Anne Petersen Jake Alexander Lynn Mancinelli Brendan Bradley Rooney Mara
Cinematography	Adrian Correia
Music by	Dean Falcone Stephen Harris
Distributed by	What We Were Thinking Films Inc.
Release date	June 12, 2009 (2009-06-12)
Running time	94 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Friends (with benefits) is a 2009 romantic comedy film released on June 12, 2009 at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival.^[1]

Production

Casting

The film stars Margaret Laney as Chloe and Alex Brown as Owen, lifelong best friends and current med school students. Rounding out their tight-knit group of friends are Anne Peterson as Allison, Jake Alexander as Jeff, Lynn Mancinelli as Shirley, Brendan Bradley as Brad and Rooney Mara as Tara.

Development

Taken off a script originally written by Gorman Bechard in 1999, the film was shopped around that summer under the title Fuck Buddies to every major studio in Hollywood. Inevitably, the script was put on the back burner until Bechard started looking for a lighter follow-up to his extremely dark 2005 feature You Are Alone. In 2006 Bechard teamed with writing partner Ashley McGarry and they began to rewrite the film, changing the title to Friends (with benefits) and casting Margaret Laney in the lead role.

Filming

Production began in April 2007. The film was shot over 18 days in New Haven, Connecticut.

Release

The film debuted at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival on June 12, 2009 and received their award for "Best Romantic Comedy".^[2] The film was released on DVD in the United States in August 2010.