The Girlfriend Experience Information

The Girlfriend Experience is an American anthology drama television series created, written, and directed by Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz. The first season stars Riley Keough as Christine Reade, a law student intern who also works as a high-end escort. Executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, it is based on the 2009 film of the same name. A 13-episode first season premiered on April 10, 2016, and all episodes were made available on Starz On Demand.

On August 1, 2016, Starz renewed the series for a 14-episode second season, focusing on new characters and storylines, with Seimetz and Kerrigan returning.

Plot

Chicago-Burnham Law School student Christine Reade (Riley Keough), lands an internship at the law firm of Kirkland & Allen and struggles to balance her workload, expenses and classes. When her close friend Avery reveals that she has been working as an escort, she encourages Christine to tag along and introduces her to a friend of one of her clients who is also looking for an escort. Christine eventually makes the decision to work as an GFE, women who provide "The Girlfriend Experience" - emotional and sexual relationships available through the transaction of money, under the pseudonym "Chelsea Rayne", initially working for Avery's madam Jacqueline (Alexandra Castillo). Christine eventually strikes out on her own, experiencing pitfalls along the way as clients cross boundaries and she uncovers a scandal at Kirkland & Allen.

Cast and characters

Main

Season 1

• Riley Keough as Christine Reade
• Paul Sparks as David Tellis
• Mary Lynn Rajskub as Erin Roberts

Season 2

• Louisa Krause as Anna Greenwald
• Anna Friel as Erica Myles
• Carmen Ejogo as Bria Jones

Recurring

Season 1

• Kate Lyn Sheil as Avery Suhr
• Alexandra Castillo as Jacqueline
• Amy Seimetz as Annabel Reade
• Sugith Varughese as Tariq Barr
• Michael Therriault as Skip Hadderly
• Sabryn Rock as Kayla Boden
• James Gilbert as Jack

Episodes

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Production

In June 2014, the series was greenlit by Starz, with a 13-episode order with the series being based upon The Girlfriend Experience which was directed by Steven Soderbergh who also serves as an executive producer on the series, while Lodge Kerrigan and Amy Seimetz, wrote and directed all 13 episodes and also serve as executive producers. In September 2014, Riley Keough was cast as the female lead. Shane Carruth composed the musical score for the series. Principal photography took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

In January 2017, it was announced Louisa Krause, Anna Friel and Carmen Ejogo were cast as the three female leads of season 2. The second season will feature two parallel storylines, with Kerrigan and Seimetz writing and directing their own storyline.

Reception

Critical response

The Girlfriend Experience received positive reviews from critics, earning a rating of 81% with an average score of 8.6 out of 10, based on 31 reviews, on the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. The site's critical consensus reads: "The darkly fascinating (and utterly bingeworthy) The Girlfriend Experience powers past any shortcomings with a breakout performance by Riley Keough." Metacritic provides a score of 78 out of 100 from 27 critics, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Matt Zoller Seitz, reviewing for Vulture, gave top praises to the series, stating that "The Girlfriend Experience is actually four or five shows rolled into one, and a big part of its specialness resides in those moments where it morphs from one thing into another", as well as giving high praise especially to the season finale: "[It] is the most daring, dense, allusive, and multilayered single episode of TV I"?ve seen since the finale of season three of Louie".

Accolades

For the 74th Golden Globe Awards, Riley Keough was nominated for Best Actress in a Miniseries or Television Film.

Home media

Amazon Video acquired rights to the series for the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria and Japan, with the series premiering on June 27, 2016, excluding Japan. The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD in region 1 on August 2, 2016.