* AbilityOverAppearance: The cellist was written to be a boy, but Elvy Yost impressed with her audition. So Ira Lerman became [[GenderFlip Irene Lerman]].
* AcclaimedFlop: Has an 80% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes but made only a little over $12 million at the box office. Its budget was $20 million.
* ActorInspiredElement: Charlotte playing the piano at the start of "Someone to Fall Back On" was inspired by Aly Michalka auditioning with Aimee Mann's "How Am I Different?"
* AwesomeDearBoy:
** [[spoiler: David Bowie]] cameo'd at the end because he was a fan of Todd Graff's film ''Camp''.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in New Jersey but filmed in Texas, making [=Sa5m=]'s line about "high school football in Texas" amusing.
* CastTheExpert: The other performers at Bandslam were local unsigned bands from Austin.
* CastTheRunnerUp:
** Creator/VanessaHudgens auditioned to play Charlotte, but was cast as [=Sa5m=] instead. She apparently watched videos of [[Film/TheAddamsFamily Wednesday Addams]] for inspiration.
** Gaelen Connell auditioned to play the cellist since he plays it in real life (as noted above), and Liam Aiken was up for the role of Will. Upon seeing Gaelen's audition, Todd Graff decided to cast him as Will.
* DawsonCasting: But of course. The only cast member who was still in high school was Charlie Saxton (Bug).
* EnforcedMethodActing: Aly Michalka was on tour during pre-production and so arrived later mid-way through rehearsals. This helped convey that Charlotte comes from a different background than the rest of the band.
* ExecutiveMeddling: There was [[http://www.deadline.com/2009/08/behind-the-scenes-of-bandslam-summit/ much criticism]] over Summit Entertaiment's marketing strategy of the film, in which it changed the name of the film from ''Will'' to ''Bandslam'' and sold the film as a ''Film/HighSchoolMusical''-esque tween musical rather than as a coming of age story. With that, despite good critical reviews, it only made $12 million out of its $20 million budget. Several heads of marketing at various other studios called it one of the worst attempts at marketing a film they've ever seen.
* IronyAsSheIsCast: Gaelen Connell is a talented cello player, yet does not play an instrument once in the film.
* PlayingWithCharacterType: Creator/VanessaHudgens plays a similar character to Gabriella Montez in ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'' but with considerably less {{Disneyfication}}. Her FriendlessBackground has led to her becoming an EmotionlessGirl, and it takes a lot more to finally coax her to sing in public.
* RealitySubtext: The awkwardness in Will and [=Sa5m=]'s kiss scene was very real, according to Gaelan Connell.
* RenamedToAvoidAssociation: Tim Jo is a classical bassist and auditioned for Bug originally. He was cast as Omar instead.
* ThrowItIn: Gaelan Connell and Vanessa Hudgens filmed the New York home movies themselves.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Glory Dogs were originally called River Dogs before the filmmakers discovered there already was a band in New Jersey called the River Dogs.
* WorkingTitle: The title changed from ''Will'' to ''Rock On'' to ''Bandslam''.
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