While the opening credits say "based on true events", Thayer did not exist. Writer and director Regina Crosby based Teenage Dirtbag on her experience in high school, Coeur d'Alene (where the high school scenes were actually filmed), and not on any one instance. Of the movie, Crosby said "It definitely talks about the pain you go through in growing up," She said. "You have a lot of regrets that you take into adulthood from high school, and you almost never get the opportunity to make corrections on those regrets or reach out to somebody you didn't reach out to at the time."