But Not Essential is a 1982 British TV film directed by Peter Duffell as part of the First Love series.
[1] It is set in a Welsh hotel in 1962 where Annie, a student, arrives to spend the summer as a waitress.
[2] Like the other First Love films, Experience preferred.... was shot "in about twenty days for well under £0.5m"[3] though the overall budget was £505,000.
[2] Screen International said that UA Classics had great success with Experience Preferred....
[3] Looking back in 1987, David Rose (interviewed by Nicolas Kent) in Sight & Sound described it as “one of Channel 4’s first big successes in America”.