Screenwriting Blog | Final Draft®

Vanessa King

Vanessa King is an NYC-based producer, screenwriter, and professor who has worked in development with top-level industry talent for nearly two decades. Her work as a writer has received numerous awards, having earned her recognition from industry bodies including AMPAS/Oscar’s Nicholl Screenwriting Fellowship (feature) and Sony Worldwide Entertainment’s Emerging Filmmaker Program (TV Series). In 2005, she co-founded the New York Screenwriters Co-Op, New York’s only free-to-the-public screenwriting workshop with over 2000 active members. Vanessa is faculty at Gotham Writer’s Workshop (NYC) and Staffordshire University (UK), where she teaches both television and screenwriting to students, beginner to post-graduate. She recently was Showrunner of the TV pilot “Two Roads”, a concept she co-created and co-wrote for Sony’s VUE Network. Vanessa is passionate about diversity and inclusion within the industry and was a consultant on Final Draft Screenwriting Software’s Diversity and Inclusion product build. She’s a board member of the Diversity List, amplifying top scripts written by female-identifying and BIPOC writers. She is a judge for the Hip Hop Film Festival, The UCLA Graduate Screenwriter’s Showcase and The 24 Hour Film Festival. She was named one of The Huffington Post’s 13 Women To Watch and for three consecutive years, has been named to Vanity Fair’s “Downtown 100”, a list that recognizing New York’s top networkers in the entertainment industry. Originally from Canada, she lives in New York City.

Writer-Director Stephen Kijak on 'Shoplifters of the World'

March 30, 2021

When iconic English rock band THE SMITHS broke up in 1987, their legions of highly devoted superfans around the world were crushed. Fans' devotion to the band's music elicited tears, heartbreak, anger, confusion and, as an urban legend has it, a host...

Safer at Home' Writer-Director Will Wernick Talks Pandemic Thrillers

March 8, 2021

For months, the pandemic upended moviemaking. Productions were put on hold mid-shoot. Some were indefinitely rescheduled, while others were altogether cancelled. The state of the industry was a giant question mark — the severity of COVID-19 and the u...

So You Wanna Take A Screenwriting Class

March 4, 2021

We are all storytellers. Whether those stories are little white lies, two hour dramatic pieces, or three hundred pages novels, storytelling is a uniquely human trait we all share and writing is something we can all do — and I tell all my students tha...

Tiller Russell On 'Silk Road' and Creating Fiction From Reality

February 25, 2021

Tiller Russell is no stranger to delving into the minds of detectives and the criminals they hunt. His storied career as a director, writer and producer includes the hit Netflix docu-series Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer. While his lates...

Writer-Director John Swab on 'Body Brokers'

February 24, 2021

Writer-director John Swab's latest film Body Brokers follows protagonist Utah (played by Jack Kilmer); a drug addict who finds himself at the center of true-to-life rehab schemes, where patients are funneled in and out of facilities, allowing rehabs ...

Jessica Goldberg and Angela Russo-Otstot on co-writing the Russo Brothers' 'Cherry'

February 10, 2021

Apple TV+'s new crime drama Cherry is a film directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (best known for their directorial work on multiple films within the Marvel universe) and from a screenplay written by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg, adapted fro...

Filmmaker Nick Sasso On Multiple Hats, Muay Thai, and the Importance of Complex Relationships in 'Haymaker'

February 2, 2021

Writer-director-producer and star Nick Sasso's Haymaker is a film that follows Nick, a retired Muay Thai fighter, now working as a bouncer. One night, Nick prevents an assault on a Trans performer which forges a trust that results in her hiring him a...

Is Screenwriting For Me?

January 18, 2021

As I sit down to write another article focusing on questions asked by new screenwriters, I truly hesitated about writing on the topic inspired by the question, "Is screenwriting for me?" It's probably one of the most difficult questions to answer.

Writer-Director Eugene Ashe on Classic Love Stories and 'Sylvie's Love'