Both director/writer Stephen Milburn Anderson and writer Paul Sinor have served in the Korean "Dead Men Zone" (a.k.a. DMZ).
Paul Sinor's first draft of the script concentrated on the issue of inter-gender combat troops, but when North Korea's political situation heated up in the mid 90's, the setting was moved to make the film topically relevant as well as socially intriguing.
Producer Joshua D. Maurer first met writer Paul Sinor when Maurer was cast as Private Roger Horn the third lead in the critically acclaimed CBS dramatic television series "Tour of Duty" and Lieutenant Colonel Sinor was hired by CBS as the series technical advisor as he had previously served three tours of duty as a soldier in the Vietnam War. After the series concluded, Maurer stayed in touch with Sinor and when Paul suggested he read his novel "Bright Eyes" as a possible film adaptation, Maurer became intrigued, read and loved the book and immediately embarked on its development.
Producer Joshua D. Maurer was the first to develop this project when he optioned Paul Sinor's novel "Bright Eyes" and worked with Sinor to adapt his novel into a screenplay.