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.

Filmmaker Cooper Raiff Talks Screenwriting Process of Hal & Harper

February 3, 2025

If there’s one writer/director whose work I’ve been consistently excited by and whose name at festivals promises a project both heartbreakingly raw and funny, it’s Cooper Raiff. He was a SXSW breakout in 2020 with college comedy Shithouse, which snag...

How Sundance’s ‘Rabbit Trap’ Screenplay Took Shape

January 31, 2025

For his feature debut and Sundance premiere Rabbit Trap, writer/director Bryn Chainey took what might seem like an unconventional path to develop the period horror story. After drafting two unproduced features with the goal of trying to fit industry ...

Writing Motivation: Tips From Pro Screenwriters

January 30, 2025

The entertainment industry can be a challenging environment. The ever-changing nature of the business and market trends can make it tough to stay motivated when writing your screenplay. How can you keep that scriptwriting energy going when it feels l...

Write On: 'The Performance' Co-Writer Josh Salzberg

January 29, 2025

“Fugler [Robert Carlyle] was a character that I really connected with from the beginning. I know it sounds a little strange that the Nazi was my way into this, but it really was that idea of, ‘How can we get inside his head and make sure that he’s a ...

5 Tips for a Winning Screenwriting Strategy

January 28, 2025

The better prepared you are as a screenwriter, the greater the chances of you completing a screenplay and selling it. This is why it’s important to have a screenwriting strategy. What ideas are script worthy? How are you going to manage your time? Wh...

5 Screenwriting Lessons from Golden-Globe Winner ‘The Brutalist’

January 27, 2025

This year’s winner of the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Performance by a Male Actor for Adrien Brody (Drama), The Brutalist has become one of the most intriguing films to come out of 2024. Writer/Director Brady Corbet’s mid-century t...

Big Break Contest Judge Jeff Portnoy On Why You Should Enter

January 24, 2025

According to Jeff Portnoy, literary manager at Bellevue Productions and a judge for the 2025 Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest, what makes Final Draft’s screenwriting competition stand out from other screenwriting contests is its emphasis o...

Write On: 'Inside Out 2' Co-Writers Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein

January 24, 2025

“People think sequels are easier, and I’m like, ‘No, no, it’s much harder. It is much harder to write.’ They have never written sequels, those people, because you need to do everything as well as the first and yet better, and go to new places, follow...

5 More Screenwriters You Might Not Have Heard Of

January 23, 2025

In the article “5 Screenwriters You Might Not Have Heard Of,” we spotlighted a handful of important screenwriters who had written popular or critically-acclaimed films, yet are not widely known today. Screenplay writers don’t always get the recogniti...