Final Draft Blog
All the tips, tricks and information you need to inspire your writing!
Read interviews with the pros, catch up with industry news, and listen to Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast by Final Draft.
Do You Have to Live in LA to be a Screenwriter?
This is a question that’s commonly asked by many aspiring screenwriters: do you have to live in LA to be a screenwriter? Speaking from my own personal experience, I know you don’t need to live in LA to land your first screenwriting job or sell your f...
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How Long Should My Movie Script Be?
‘How long should my movie script be?’ is a question many beginner screenwriters ask, and it’s an important one because it can impact your script’s marketability. Below I explain why script size matters, reveal the ideal page range, and give tips on h...
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Write On: 'A Real Pain' with Writer/Director Jesse Eisenberg
“What I wanted to do with this movie was take this interesting relationship that I have been exploring over the course of my writing, over 20 years, and this dynamic, and set it against the backdrop of something so objectively worse than anything the...
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‘Heretic’ and Religion in Horror
Warning: spoilers ahead! Why does it seem like so many horror stories have religion as part of the narrative? In everything from Bram Stoker’s Dracula to 2024’s The Deliverance, demons and devils are always seeming to pop into the horror genre, with ...
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How To Be a Screenwriter in 5 Basic Steps
Maybe you’re a fan of movies, TV series or various streaming content and have thought: ‘I’d like to write stuff like this. I’d like to be a screenwriter.’ Well, it’s only natural to want to take part in something you enjoy, and the prospect of gettin...
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Write On: 'Three Women' Creator Lisa Taddeo
“One of the things that I really wanted to focus on, and I felt it immediately after meeting Lina the housewife in Indiana [played by Betty Gilpin in the show], whose husband no longer wanted to kiss her on the mouth, I felt like this woman was as im...
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The Bricks of Breaking In: Oscar Nominated Screenwriter Allison Schroeder On Mining Your Life Experiences
For many writers, the passion for creating starts at an early age. For Allison Schroeder (Hidden Figures, Christopher Robin), this was absolutely true thanks to her English teacher mom. She happily recalled:
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The Art of Killing Off Major Characters in your Script
Nothing stirs the emotions like the death of a major character in a feature film or television series. Whether they’re killed off midway through a Quentin Tarantino movie or during a pivotal episode of a TV series, these moments get people talking an...
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Write On: Screenwriting Coach Lee Jessup & Literary Manager Jeff Portnoy
“The streaming bubble finally popped, and I think the tip of the spear that popped it was the double strikes we had last year and now we’re calling it the great contraction. It’s a really tough time for up-and-coming writers to break in. It’s tough f...
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What’s new in Final Draft 13?
WRITING GOALS &
PRODUCTIVITY STATS
Set goals and get valuable insights to take your work to the next level
TYPEWRITER
A new typewriter-like view option improves your focus
EMOJI
Craft more realistic onscreen text exchanges and make your notes more emotive
And so much more, thoughtfully designed to help unleash your creativity.
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