Wanting to get away from his stage mom Suzanne and the pressures of show business, he runs off set with a fellow actress, Natalie.

The film's producers, concerned with the money they are losing due to a delayed shooting schedule, enlist Rick Schiller, a down-on-his-luck indie filmmaker and Taylor's reluctant limo-driver, to find the boy.

Director and co-writer Don McKellar said he got the idea for the film when he was at an Oscars party and found himself talking to actor Haley Joel Osment, who was then hot off the success of The Sixth Sense.

"[3][4] McKellar envisioned a lighter take on a child star story and took his idea to Michael Goldbach, then a writer at the Canadian Film Centre.

wrote the film "goes to great lengths to humanise and sympathise with its namesake, asking questions about mass media's consumption of child performers —rich and famous in a day, then tabloid-fodder for the rest of their lives", adding it "never misses an opportunity for a smart joke or a poignant observation at the expense of someone who thinks they know better.