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.

5 Tips to Writing a Great Opening

September 7, 2022

In my article 5 Clichés to Avoid in the Opening of Your Script, I stressed the importance of grabbing industry professionals in the first couple pages of your spec script. Whether it’s a feature screenplay or a television pilot, most managers, agents...

Right Story, Right Character

September 7, 2022

In my article about National Lampoon's Vacation, I wrote that one of the reasons for the film’s success was it paired the right character with the right story. Sometimes there is a tendency for screenwriters to focus more on plot and less on the prot...

Write On with 'Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.' Filmmakers Adamma and Adanne Ebo

September 2, 2022

Based on writer-director Adamma Ebo's 2018 short film of the same name, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul. follows Trinitie Childs (Regina Hall), the first lady of a prominent Southern Baptist Mega Church, as she attempts to help her pastor-husband, Lee...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: 'The Black Phone' dials up tension by drip-feeding clues

August 31, 2022

On the surface, The Black Phone is a story about a 13-year-old boy named Finney who is kidnapped by a serial killer known as the Grabber, but something more mysterious haunts him throughout this story. In the soundproof room where he and many others ...

5 Clichés to Avoid in the Opening of Your Script

August 25, 2022

Sometimes in life — when talking and expressing ourselves to the people around us — clichés are unavoidable. There are only so many ways to convey the most common feelings and situations that we all go through. When writing a screenplay, however, it’...

Write On with 'Me Time' Writer-Director John Hamburg

August 25, 2022

Starring Kevin Hart and Mark Wahlberg, Me Time follows a stay-at-home dad (Hart) who joins an old friend (Wahlberg) on a wild birthday adventure while his family is away. Writer-director John Hamburg discusses his approach to balancing character and ...

Saving and Backing Up Your Screenplay Files

August 19, 2022

The importance of a screenwriter saving and backing up their work cannot be stressed enough. Creativity is a precious thing and you have to seize those sometimes fleeting moments of inspiration. If you’re in the zone writing something you’re particul...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: ‘The Gray Man's’ character development can level-up your craft

August 19, 2022

Moviegoers love characters who specialize, especially in violence. It’s even better if they’ve been part of a secret government program and can focus their specialty on someone more vicious than they are.

Write On with 'The Inhabitant' Writer and Big Break Finalist Kevin Bachar

July 29, 2022

Photo courtesy of Kevin Bachar 2017 Big Break Category Winner Kevin Bachar stopped by the Write On podcast to discuss his new feature, The Inhabitant, starring Dermot Mulroney and Leslie Bibb. "It's a relative of Lizzie Borden set in modern times," s...