The film is based on a true story written by Chad Berry and David Langlinais.

The film is inspired by the true story of Texas painter Shannon Kincaid,[3] an adopted Irish-American artist who was given away at birth by a 16-year-old mother.

The screenplay for Three Days in August was the winning entry in a screenwriting competition sponsored by the Dallas Film Society in 2015.

Three Days in August was announced in Variety in October 2015, with Barry Bostwick, Mariette Hartley, Ed Hyland, Mollie Milligan, Meg Foster, Cal Bartlett and Colton Tapp attached to star and Johnathan Brownlee to direct and produce.

[8] The film had a limited national theatrical release through the Dallas-based Studio Movie Grill chain in December 2016.