Uncle David was filmed over five days in October 2009 on the Isle of Sheppey, a location chosen for its proximity to London.Urquhart 2011. Hoyle commented that the profusion of barbed wire fences there made him wonder if they were "keeping people out or keeping people in?". Reich said that he had been "obsessed" with Sheppey, a place he had considered "a truly Godforsaken wasteland" since working on a television show there ten years previously. He remarked that the "trailer trash setting" of the film was influenced by Harmony Korine's Gummo (1997) and John Waters' Female Trouble (1974). He also said that the filming budget of under £1000 was a homage to "the spirit of John Waters." All the extras featured in the film were real inhabitants of Sheppey, and to film a scene in a local cafe, they walked in and asked the proprietors if they could shoot there. Although they had planned to tell any enquirers who approached them that they were shooting a horror film, during the shoot none of the locals expressed any interest in the crew's activities.
