Garden State is Zach Braff's directorial debut. The film is partially based on his own experiences growing up in New Jersey as well as his experiences in Los Angeles before the show Scrubs gained greater success. By drawing on knowledge from his mother and his stepfather, both psychologists, as well as his step mother, a therapist, Braff gave the scenes dealing with psychiatrics and pharmaceuticals greater accuracy.

Since Braff wrote and directed the film, he was very invested in the story and the outcome. Braff chose the soundtrack on his own as well. The soundtrack and the songs in the movie follow the same order because Braff would send the soundtrack to everyone he shared the script with so that they would know the final order of the music. Braff eventually won a Grammy for the soundtrack.

Braff said that Hollywood's initial response to the Garden State script...