After releasing their film "Quinceañera" in 2006 to critical success at Sundance, Glatzer and Westmoreland found it difficult to secure funding for further projects during the Great Recession. In the interim, they produced "Pedro" (2008), a film about Pedro Zamora – an AIDS activist cast member on MTV's "The Real World" in 1993. By 2011, their management had dropped them, however, it was also at this time that Christine Vachon and Pam Koffler of Killer Films had reached out to produce their next projects.