All the characters in the film were named after actors or actresses who have appeared (or in one case almost appeared) in films directed by Stanley Kubrick.
Much of the script is based on biographical events from the lives of the writers and their friends. In addition, much of the script arose from conversations had by the writers in other circumstances. For instance, the question of how different the world would have been if Robert Bresson's The Devil, Probably (1977) had been as successful as Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) was a real conversation had by the authors after they saw Bresson's film at the 2007 BFI Southbank retrospective of the director's work.
A character not included in the final version of the script was someone who created an application entitled 'Which Slacker character are you?' Ironically, Moledina later discovered a similar application actually existed, entitled 'Which Linklater film should you be in?'