Reality Bites is a 1994 American romantic comedy-drama film written by Helen Childress and directed by Ben Stiller in his feature directorial debut. It stars Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke and Stiller, with supporting roles by Janeane Garofalo and Steve Zahn. The film follows aspiring videographer Lelaina Pierce, working on a documentary about the disenchanted lives of her friends and roommates. Childress wrote the initial screenplay on spec in 1990, inspired by the lives of her friends and herself during the U.S. economic recession in the early 1990s.