 Each of the youths in the film is based in part on the life of  Scott Heim (II) (qv), the book on which the film is based. Scott  claims to have seen a UFO with his family, excelled in school and  lived with his single mom after a divorce (like Brian), he announced  baseball games (like Neil) and his infatuation with cosmetics and  British goth pop made him the subject of death threats (like Eric).