The entire film was shot in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Dell Rapids, South Dakota. It featured local residents who were not actual actors. It was also an independent film made on a budget of 120,000 dollars.
The entire shoot lasted a year and a half over summer days and weekends. Sometimes winter months would go by without a single frame shot. The kids were growing up so fast, the director was afraid the boys would start growing mustaches.
Due to camera noise, all of the sound, including voices, had to be dubbed in later. The film was edited completely without sound first, then voices and effects were added over a six-month period.
The candidate, Schlesinger, who lands face first in the mud, is played by the father of the actor playing Stu. The dad at the soccer practice who spots Lewis "the Loser," is played by the father of the actor playing Bone. The woman in Lewis' campaign HQ who hands him a newspaper is the mother of the actor playing Tyler.