Unbelievably this is the first screenplay ever written by Mike Rich, after winning a screen-writing contest, it got the notice of Sean Connery who was kind enough to star and produce the film. Only a few steps later Van Sant was brought on. Familiar territory to Good Will Hunting, as both stories are about mentally gifted young men from rough backgrounds. Both men begin to develop with the help of an older mentor. In Finding Forrester the mentor just happens to be Pulitzer Prize winning author William Forrester.

With his first acting experience (That's two amazing firsts in this film.), Robert Brown wonderfully plays the lead Jamal Wallace. It must have been mighty intimidating acting up against the legendary Connery. But he pulls it off brilliantly. Connery goes with his usual over-the-top performance, however this time Van Sant keeps him a bit more subdued than normal. It's the type of acting that garners an Oscar nomination.

Jamal is an average student at a public high school in the Bronx, so average he gets C's. He excels at basketball and is recognized for it. The catalyst to the story is that, he sort of accidentally scores incredibly high on a standardized exam. This catches the attention of a respected private school, they want him for his brains, but mostly for what he can do on the basketball court. Around the same time, Jamal's friends dare him to sneak into Forrester's place, he's been watching them from his window for years. Of course no one has any idea who he is. Jamal leaves his backpack in the apartment, this leads to the mismatched friendship that are so often found in the movies. Forrester is old and white, while Jamal is young and black, what brings them together is their love of writing.

Jamal instantly starts having the cliche' type racial problems at his all rich, mostly white school. Most of this is brought on by another cliche', the evil professor. The frustrated writer who couldn't do it and is now teaching. Played to perfection by another menacing actor, F. Murray Abraham. (This seems to be the only kind of role he's offered anymore.) He doesn't believe Jamal can write as well as he does and gets him into trouble over it.