Filmmaker Finn Taylor, who lives in San Francisco, began developing the idea for Cherish after meeting a former participant in the city’s electronic bracelet program. Recalls Taylor, “He told me this story that ended up in the film. Apparently, he was going stir-crazy and his friends figured out a way to utilize this super-long phone cord to get the modem outside. They drew chalk lines so he knew how far he could roam, and they played basketball. Then they would pull down his shorts and jump on the other side of the chalk line so that he couldn’t get revenge.”

His curiosity piqued, Taylor sought out other people who had been in the program. “What I learned is that people, being animals and being inventive, were always trying to find ways around the device. I thought, ‘Well, this could be interesting for a film.’ It was something that I hadn’t seen that much about.”

He continued his research, interviewing the deputies who administer the program and learning about the various devices that are used. The deputies themselves also sparked his imagination. “They seemed to be very straightforward, honorable guys. Maybe it was just my own projection, but they also struck me as sweet and somewhat lonely. So I started to form a character based on that.”