Actress Chantal Contouri once joked to the writer-director James Harkness about playing a sixty year old prostitute being the only thing that would entice her back to the screen. Three months later she was offered a script from him about playing a Madame.
Two sex workers attended the debut performance of the original stage play Birthday and an affecting closing sequence saw them rush to tell writer James Harkness that it was the most "honest and inspiring" account they had seen of the work they do.
To create the brothel location for filming Birthday, the Producers and Production Designer put an advertisement in the Trading Post to find a home that owners were willing to have totally transformed into a brothel. After a speedy response, a house in Unley, Adelaide was totally and authentically renovated from top to toe; even fooling the neighbors.
The leading actresses met regularly to go on "brothel and cake" outings, visiting several operating premises in their research for their roles and interviewed a number of sex-workers about their lives and experiences.