Final Draft Blog

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History of TV: How ‘Boy Meets World’ Tackled Coming-of-Age, Comedy Style

January 28, 2021

All of the shows on ABC’s popular family-themed block of Friday night programming that ran from 1989 to 2000 were spectacularly ‘90s in aesthetic. Watching for the teased hair, neon color-blocking and Walkmans (the pre-iPod, iPod) alone is worthwhile...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: Genre Subversion and Female Rage in 'Promising Young Woman'

January 25, 2021

Screenwriters and movie lovers have likely caught wind of the premise for Promising Young Woman by now. It’s the buzziest release of 2021 so far, with the Oscar® rumor mill churning for star Carey Mulligan who plays protagonist Cassie; a young woman ...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways From Regina King's 'One Night in Miami'

January 22, 2021

The date is February 25th, 1964. The location: Miami, Florida.

History of TV: Politics and Olivia Pope Define Shondaland Hit ‘Scandal’

January 21, 2021

I resisted watching Scandal when it originally aired. I’m not into politics. But the premise is screenwriting genius — not really surprising coming from its creator, acclaimed showrunner Shonda Rhimes. Scandal is about a former White House communicat...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: HBO Max's 'I Hate Suzie'

January 19, 2021

HBO Max has brought the darkly funny laugh-cry British hit I Hate Suzie to American audiences, and it's a cathartic watch to go down the rabbit hole with a woman likely having a worse existential crisis than you (pandemic and political crisis aside)....

A California Christmas' filmmaker Lauren Swickard is a #WomenInFilm powerhouse

January 19, 2021

I happily stumbled upon an actress recently who was not only the lead in one of Netflix’s top Christmas movies last year, but wrote the screenplay and produced it as well. As if writing a screenplay isn’t a feat in itself! At the age of twenty-seven,...

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'

January 18, 2021

Craving a distraction from the 24-hour news cycle, I had the opportunity to find sanctuary in Amazon Prime's Christmas Day release, Sylvie's Love, about a woman working at her father's Harlem record store in the late 1950s who meets an aspiring saxop...

Afro Horror: A Recap of 2020's Best Tips For Writing Horror That Thrills

January 15, 2021

It’s a new year, so let’s kick 2021 off right by revisiting some of the tips and rules for the horror genre I've written about in this space. It has been my honor to talk shop with you, so I thought I'd pause for a moment to give you a round-up of my...