Martin Kove was originally asked to appear in the film as a thirty second cameo in reference to The Karate Kid, but after reading the script he asked the director to write him a bigger part.
Allan Ungar and Cody Hackman met in Los Angeles at a house party and discovered that they both grew up just outside Toronto. Hackman pitched Ungar the idea for the story, and the two spent the next couple of weeks sitting in different Starbucks locations around Los Angeles writing the film.