Max Winkler and David Gelb met in playwriting class at the University of Southern California, where they quickly became friends. They originally cowrote King of Central Park as a play for their final project. Their teacher rejected the manuscript, complaining that the work was a screenplay and not a stage play.The two rewrote the project as a screenplay with the intention of shooting in Gelb's childhood neighborhood in Manhattan. King of Central Park is a film that reflects the filmmakers' fears of the responsibilities and expectations of growing up.