According to Leonard Maltin, the film was adapted by author Joseph Wambaugh without any studio interference. Halliwells said the picture was made exactly on his (Wambaugh's) terms.
The film was financed by director Harold Becker, screenwriter Joseph Wambaugh, and many of Wambaugh's friends, which allowed them to have total creative control.
After the way his novel was adapted for its film version, The Choirboys (1977), Joseph Wambaugh decided to take more control of his literary works, which led him to have a much larger influence on the production of this movie and its successor adaptation, The Black Marble (1980). Joseph Wambaugh was credited as sole screenwriter on both films.