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.

The Necessity of Diversity Editors in Hollywood

December 30, 2020

For decades, BIPOC have fought tirelessly to be heard, acknowledged and supported within the entertainment industry, but Hollywood has long been controlled by white people who hire white people who write from a white perspective (and therefor their a...

Hunter Hunter' Writer-Director Shawn Linden on the Horror of Battling Nature

December 18, 2020

Final Draft spoke with writer-director Shawn Linden on his survival-horror film, "Hunter Hunter" starring Devon Sawa and Nick Stahl. A fur-trapping family in the remote wilderness finds themselves in a battle with nature: a hungry and dangerous wolf.

Director John Suits On Sci-Fi, Editing and His New Film 'Breach'

December 17, 2020

Director John Suits opened up about his current project, Breach, starring Bruce Willis, Thomas Jane and Rachel Nichols. Written by Edward Drake and Corey Large, this sci-fi action film takes us on a journey through deep space, where aboard an interst...

Director April Mullen on Independent Film & 'Wander'

December 17, 2020

Aaron Eckhart, Tommy Lee Jones, and Heather Graham star in April Mullen's new edge-of-your-seat thriller, Wander, in which a paranoid private investigator with a troubled past is hired to investigate a suspicious death in the town of Wander. He soon ...

Talking Suspense and Stakes in Braden R. Duemmler's 'What Lies Below'

December 16, 2020

In writer-director Braden R. Duemmler’s debut feature sci-fi/horror What Lies Below, we are whisked into the suspense when 16-year-old Liberty (Ema Horvath) returns home from camp and learns that her mother Michelle (Mena Suvari) has a new boyfriend ...

How Not to Network as a Screenwriter

November 20, 2020

Writers, so begins my tale of woe:

The Development of Seth Savoy's 'Echo Boomers'

November 18, 2020

Director Seth Savoy's feature film debut is a crime drama that flashily delves into the divide between Boomers and Millennials. Echo Boomers follows an underground crime ring in Chicago comprised of Millennials who steal from the wealthiest and wreak...

What Are The Responsibilities Of a Screenwriter?

November 12, 2020

One of the most searched screenwriting-related questions on Google is, "What are screenwriters responsible for?" Ending with a preposition aside, that's an incredibly loaded question that I'm going to try to answer. This question will likely prompt d...

Can Screenwriters Thrive in New York City?

November 6, 2020

Can screenwriters thrive in New York City? That’s a great question. First, let me introduce myself: My name is Vanessa King. I am a self-taught screenwriter who grew up in a remote part of Canada. In the early aughts, I moved to New York to pursue my...