Final Draft Blog

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5 Takeaways: The Psychological Thriller ‘She Dies Tomorrow’

August 12, 2020

Perhaps the only way to describe She Dies Tomorrow is psychological thriller meets an ode to anxiety and short-lived relationships. While granted the film was made before we’d ever heard of the horror-inducing virus COVID-19, the film could’ve been m...

Unscripted 8.12.20: This Week in Screenwriting News

August 12, 2020

Screenwriting career consultant Lee Jessup discusses this week's success stories, industry news, online events, and more. Watch now!

The Fast Five: Anti-Trust is the Industry’s Latest Buzz Word and Ben Affleck Makes Movie Headlines Again

August 10, 2020

The name of the game this week is “anti-trust.” With the abolition of old laws and media consolidation leading to accusations of unfair business practices, anti-trust violations have never been trendier. Ben Affleck is also somewhat trending again ov...

Q & A with Bellevue Lit Manager John Zaozirny, Moderated by Lee Jessup

August 10, 2020

Bellevue Literary Manager John Zaozirny answers pre-submitted audience questions about breaking in, the business of writing and more, moderated by screenwriting career consultant Lee Jessup. Plus a special drop-in from Infinite screenwriter Ian Shorr...

Stories are Connectors: Screenwriter-Filmmaker Randy Wilkins on the Evolution of his Craft

August 6, 2020

Screenwriter and filmmaker Randy Wilkins has a history with Spike Lee that goes way back. As an English major with a passion for filmmaking at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Wilkins was assigned as Lee’s host when Lee vis...

5 Takeaways from Hulu's 'Ramy'

August 4, 2020

Viewers watching season two of Ramy (co-written and played by Ramy Youssef) will note the writers have set aside his hilarious quest for love for a much deeper, philosophical quest. As the title character tells Sheikh Malik, played beautifully by Mah...

The Weekend Movie Takeaway: The Emmy Awards Nomination Announcements Signal Hope For Our Narrative Future

August 4, 2020

When it comes to collectively celebrating the power of mass narrative, the Oscars® and the Emmy® Awards are arguably the two highest-profile events of the year. While the 2020 Oscars managed to come and go a few weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic hit...

The Fast Five: Netflix Ups Its Emmy®’s Game, While Issa Rae and Jordan Peele Help One Writer Break Out

August 3, 2020

A writer in Spokane sold her short-story for seven figures, professional writers share their expertise via Comic-Con@Home, and Netflix shatters the record for most Emmy nominations in a single year. There’s a lot of lessons that aspiring writers can ...

Weekend Writing Inspiration: 7 Creative Strategies to Survive 'Distance Learning' and Keep Writing this Fall

July 31, 2020

With many school districts here in the U.S. planning to open this fall with “full distance” or “hybrid” learning in short order, many writer-parents are anxiously wondering how to keep working their day jobs — let alone keep writing and preserve our ...