Final Draft Blog

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Read interviews with the pros, catch up with industry news, and listen to Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast by Final Draft.

How I Won My Final Draft Category

May 4, 2017

I entered a half-dozen or so screenwriting competitions between my arrival in Los Angeles in 2011 and the time I won the family category in the 2016 Final Draft Big Break contest with my original feature, The Snow Fight.

Big Break Feature Winner: Alexis Perkins, Writer of "Derby City"

April 26, 2017

Road-trip comedy script Derby City has a strong punchline: A fugitive con artist convinces an unsuccessful Mormon missionary to split a truck rental and flee cross-country by promising to convert to Mormonism.

Spec Spotlight: Joe Ballarini, Writer of "Skyward" - Part II

April 25, 2017

“For every spec you see that I have sold, I have not sold a lot of stuff. I’ve written a ton of things that weren’t that good, which was me chasing the spec market.”

Spec Spotlight: Joe Ballarini, Writer of "Skyward" - Part I

April 24, 2017

Joe Ballarini has sold a lot of spec scripts. But Skyward, the spec he sold recently to Fox, may be the most consequential one yet. Every writer has that “one special story that you keep in your heart,” says Ballarini. “And this is one of them.”

Screenwriting Role Models: Dan O'Bannon

April 20, 2017

Many talented people helped to make Alien a landmark film, but screenwriter Dan O’Bannon created the blueprint.

Netflix Original "Sand Castle" scribe Chris Roessner talks to Final Draft

April 19, 2017

Chris Roessner talks to Final Draft about his Netflix Original movie "Sand Castle", and how joining the military paved the way for film school and a reunion with his military Father.

Spec Spotlight: Nick Yarborough on LETTERS FROM ROSEMARY KENNEDY

April 18, 2017

Nick Yarborough is making a splash in the Hollywood scene with his upcoming dark biopics Letters from Rosemary Kennedy and The Secret Life of Dr. James Miranda Barry. A rare native to California, he took time to speak with Final Draft about his exper...

InkTip Film THE EYES Now In Theaters: Q & A with screenwriter Robert T. Roe

April 17, 2017

Robert T. Roe is a Portland-based screenwriter who wrote the limited location thriller, The Eyes. Robert's script was discovered on InkTip by producer Robbie Bryan with Good To Be Seen Films.

Spec Spotlight: Jared Cohn talks Lynyrd Skynyrd Biopic

April 13, 2017

In October 1977, the rock-n-roll world was shaken when the plane carrying band members of Lynyrd Skynyrd crashed in Mississippi. The tragic event killed three original band members as well as severly injuring the surviving band member Gary Rossington...