Was originally made as the short film Gowanus, Brooklyn (2004), which won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. Shareeka Epps and Karen Chilton reprise their roles as Drey and Drey's mother. Matt Kerr, who plays the substitute teacher Mr. Light in this film, played Mr. Dunne in the original short.
The Dan Dunne character was originally written to be in his mid-thirties. However, the filmmakers changed this to accommodate Ryan Gosling's age. Gosling was 25 years old at the time of filming.