Hav Plenty - Production

Production

Financing for the film came from Cherot's time as a New York City cab driver, and a third mortgage on his mother's home. Principal photography took eighteen days in and around New York City and New Jersey.

Upon completion of principal photography, Cherot was out of money again, and it took him almost a year to complete his edit and make a screening print of the film. In May 1997, at his first "cast-and-crew screening" in a small screening room in New York City, Hav Plenty producer Robyn M. Greene by chance ran into Warrington Hudlin and Bill Duke in the lobby of the building and invited them up to view the film. Immediately after the screening, Hudlin invited Cherot to participate in the inaugural year of the Acapulco Black Film Festival, now the American Black Film Festival. Cherot accepted on the spot, and one month later, in June 1997, Hav Plenty was the opening night film in Acapulco, the first film at the first festival.

After seeing Hav Plenty at the Acapulco Black Film Festival, Tracey Edmonds and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds offered to attach their names to the film and record a new soundtrack, consequently attracting an intense amount of media attention to what was previously a small, obscure independent movie. Three months later, after a screening at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 1997, Harvey Weinstein offered to buy Hav Plenty for an amount between $1.5 – $2.3 million. The entire time that passed between Cherot's first obscure screening in New York City to Weinstein's multi-million dollar handshake-deal in Toronto was four months.

According to an interview with Chris Cherot, Miramax wanted to give the movie a happier ending. They compromised by adding the "one year later" scene which shows a happier ending, while at the same time leaves room for argument that Hav and Lee didn't end up together.

After screenings at the Sundance Film Festival in January 1998 to start the official "buzz", Miramax theatrically released Hav Plenty in the United States on June 19, 1998, with worldwide distribution following afterward.