A Christmas Story has its origins in Jean Shepherd's In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, which is a collection of semi-autobiographical short stories about his childhood, and was published in October 1966. This is why Jean Shepherd is the narrator in A Christmas Story.
A Christmas Story wouldn't have existed without Jean Shepherd's writing, but it also wouldn't have existed without Director Bob Clark's previous success, particularly on the movie Porky's, a raunchy 80's comedy that made 105 million dollars with a budget of only 4 million dollars. Studios allowed Clark to work on A Christmas Story due to the previous success. (Please be aware, unlike A Christmas Story, Porky's is rated R and is not a family-friendly movie!)
