1988: While studying mass culture at the Universite de Montreal, Claude Fortin shoots a short scenario on vhs in which the main character steals a camera and attempts to film his life story. The script is Fortin's reaction to having "grown up in front of a tv," powerless to affect its content.

His instructor, Jean Marc Felio, is impressed and encourages him to elaborate the idea.

1989: Fortin fleshes out the story of the camera stealer. His central character will be a member of the so-called Generation x, the 20-to 35-year-old crowd that, according to Fortin, is underrepresented in the boomer-oriented mass media. Felio takes on the role of producer and applies for funding from sogic and Telefilm Canada. They refuse the project. Felio switches roles to advisor and suggests that Fortin join Main Film, a Montreal-based film co-op.

September 1989: Fortin approaches Cinema Libre, distributors of The Grocer's Wife and A Bullet in the Head, with a 50-page script. The script is sketchy, says the young director, "with room for dialogue improvisation". Claude Forget of Cinema Libre is intrigued and writes a letter of support to help with funding.

December 1989: Fortin receives $16,000 from a Canada Council Explorations grant for a 40-minute video project, about half the final budget. With more faith than experience, Fortin pragmatically decides to shoot a feature-length film/video, given that the long format is more likely to be screened and/or programmed than a short.

The structure of Le Voleur de camera solidifies: a man on the dole goes about his daily business and attempts to remake The Decline of the American Empire with his stolen camera. The portion taped on video takes the character's pov as he learns to use the medium of video. Blurring the line between fact and fiction, Fortin casts himself in the central role.

June 1990: Fortin gets Main Film to rent him equipment at one-tenth its normal low price, selects a largely inexperienced crew and starts principal photography on 16mm. A heat wave hits Montreal while the eight-person crew crams into the very small apartment that serves as the main location. With instructions from his assistant director, Fortin learns how to "stay in the frame".

June-July 1990: Processing of footage is done through a Program to Assist Filmmakers in the Private Sector grant from the National Film Board.

The filmmaker discovers one-third of the 16mm footage is unusable it's unsynchronized due to equipment problems. Felio suggests a reshoot. Instead, Fortin rewrites the script and shoots only a few new scenes.

July 1990-July 1991: Fortin shoots the video excerpts from the "voleur's" perspective on Hi-8. Demonstration footage is lifted directly from television. He edits throughout the year.

Meanwhile, Felio consults a lawyer about the legalities of using unauthorized tv footage and encourages Fortin to cut the pirated images. Possibilities of a television sale seem unlikely with bootleg goods, says the advisor. Fortin isn't concerned. He decides to go ahead, keeping the tv-napped footage in the film, and continues to edit, cutting approximately 50 hours of tape down to 20 minutes using a home Hi-8 video editor.