Ken Flott began writing the short story in 2006 while working on Duality (2006) and posted it in increments on Myspace.com over the course of several weeks. His inspiration was a picture that he stumbled across on FoundMagazine.com. The picture is used several times throughout the film.
In the screenplay, the character played by John Trent is actually given a name (Blake). Director Dom Portalla decided to change this during production, feeling that only the innocent characters should be named, while all others would be referred to by vague descriptions (hunter, bartender, business man, etc.)
Earlier drafts of the script included much more of the title character, Nicky. His role was reduced, as the writers felt that his appearances would be much more significant if used more sparingly. They also did not want actor, Charlie Tacker, to be aware of his character's fate.
The film's budget was raised using the crowd funding platform Indiegogo. 10% of the funds were donated to RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) by the filmmakers.
In the original screenplay, the opening scene took place on the side of a desolate highway. It was changed to the playground that is now featured in the film during the location scouting process. All of the incomprehensible dialogue shouted by Joe Spallone is improvised as is the line, "does that look familiar" that Ken Flott responds with.