Production
In the summer of 1984, filmmaker Spike Lee originally intended to shoot a film titled Messenger, centered around a bicycle messenger. However, due to difficulties in securing funding, this project fell through. The setback led Lee to craft a script feasible within his financial means. Despite facing challenges, Lee managed to redirect an $18,000 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, initially intended for Messenger, towards She's Gotta Have It. Lee was inspired to do the film by conversations he had with male friends that boasted about how many female friends they had, which led him to want to make a movie about an "independent Black woman who is leading her life as a man as far as relationships go." While a $20,000 grant from the American Film Institute for his previous work was revoked, the film also used a $10,000 grant from the Jerome Foundation, and $500 from the Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association. Lee adopted a cost-effective approach, working with minimal locations, and no elaborate costumes or sets, to complete the film without the prolonged effort of raising substantial funds for a larger production. To research the lead character, "Nora Darling," Lee collaborated with his Spelman College classmate Tracey Willard, creating a questionnaire circulated among thirty-five women. The questions delved into various topics, including unfulfilled fantasies, perceptions of men, and preferences in sexual acts.
Facing budget constraints, Lee took on the role of "Mars Blackmon" himself, as he could not afford to hire another actor. The production involved Lee's family and friends, with his father, Bill Lee, composing the film's score and making a cameo as "Sonny Darling." Lee's sister, Joie Lee, played "Clorinda Bradford," and his brother, David Lee, handled still photography. Cinematographer Ernest Dickerson had a cameo as "Dog #8." Actor John Canada Terrell, has claimed that Lee cast him without an audition. This would be Terrell's breakout role and he would later appear in Mo Better Blues (1990). She's Gotta Have It was the feature film debut of actress Raye Dowell.
Filmed over twelve days during the summer of 1985 in Brooklyn, New York, in the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn, Crown Heights, and at the Ferry Bank Restaurant, the film adhered to a $175,000 budget. Shot predominantly in black and white with a single color sequence, Lee worked with a non-union crew, without film permits or insurance. Originally filmed in Super 16 mm, Lee scrambled to secure funds for a 35 mm blowup when the film was accepted into the January 1986 San Francisco Film Festival.
Despite Island Pictures' policy of distributing unrated films, Lee believed that an R rating was crucial for the film's success and did multiple edits to secure an R rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. Finding the pre-edited film's content comparable to mainstream films like Body Double (1984) and 9½ Weeks (1986), Lee contended that the board's demands for numerous cuts were rooted in discomfort with African-American love scenes.
To finish the film, Lee also held a rough cut screening at NYU, later calling attendees to "become financially involved in helping us complete it." The film was profitable, earning $7.1 million domestically.
