Debut theatrical feature film of writer-director Steve Pasvolsky.
This Australian movie features the talents of some of Australia's best skaters which includes footage of skateboarder Tony Hawk at Maroubra in Sydney, the capital city of in New South Wale,s which was photographed by his own specialist cameraman.
Central character Spasm (Sean Kennedy)'s nervousness around girls is drawn from writer-director Steve Pasvolsky's own experiences: "When I had my first experience with a girl I got a spasm in my back and I couldn't move and it was like 'Don't touch me!'," said Pasvolsky.
It was important for the film's writer-director Steve Pasvolsky to have real skating and realistic characters in the film. Growing up as an immigrant in a middle-class area with friends from broken homes, many of the characters' traits are inspired by his personal experiences, even down to the skateboarding. He said: "Although the Deck Dogz are using skateboarding to express themselves, and to break free, its still something they hide behind. That was all personal experience. I hid behind surfing for ages. I probably used to overdress in a surfing way. I used to bleach my hair so I could belong".
The nick-name of Jay Filkins (Sean Kennedy) was 'Spasm', the nick-name of Robert Benardi (Richard Wilson) was 'Poker', and the nick-name of Phong Trang (How Thi Lu) was 'Blue Flame'.