Final Draft Blog

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5 Screenwriting Takeaways: Amy Schumer gets personal in ‘Life and Beth’

March 28, 2022

Just as the whole world did, it feels as if Amy Schumer went through some serious self-reflection during the pandemic. Schumer has mentioned much of Life & Beth is autobiographical (at least 50%), revealing “secret” self-struggles in the series, ...

Work Your Win: A catch up interview with Big Break winner Ben Johnson, Jr.

March 25, 2022

When television and film writer Ben Johnson Jr. found out he won Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest, he was thrilled but also hit with a sudden concern: How does he get from South Africa to Los Angeles?

Breaking Batman: 33 years after ‘Batman’, the Dark Knight still rises

March 25, 2022

PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS. Gotham City has never been known as a nice place to live. It’s crime-ridden, kind of gloomy, and has political problems. That doesn’t even include the array of villains who are hell-bent on taking it over, destroying it...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: ‘The Outfit’ is a thrilling one location crime drama

March 25, 2022

PHOTO COURTESY OF NICK WALL / FOCUS FEATURES Leonard is not a tailor. He’s a cutter. There’s a difference and he corrects people when they call him a tailor. In The Outfit, Leonard, who also goes by the nickname English by the mobsters who come into ...

Discussing inspiration with 'The Outfit' writer-director Graham Moore

March 24, 2022

Photo courtesy of Nick Wall/Focus Features. Graham Moore, Academy® Award-winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game, has made his feature directorial debut with the crime drama The Outfit. The film, which Graham also co-wrote with Jonathan McClain, f...

History of TV: Behind ‘The Shield’ is a different kind of cop show

March 24, 2022

Television procedurals have long been the heart of primetime viewing: the decades-long Law & Order series, the never-ending Grey’s Anatomy, the 9-1-1s, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and everything by Wolf Entertainment. Twenty years ago, The Sh...

Level Up Part V: Mindset

March 23, 2022

Welcome to part five of our five-part series on upgrading your screenwriting game! We’ve been exploring five main pillars of a screenwriter’s life and how taking an assessment of each pillar can help you break through any blocks or plateaus you may b...

Write On with 'The Girl From Plainville' Creator/Showrunner Liz Hannah

March 22, 2022

Inspired by the true story of Michelle Carter's unprecedented "texting-suicide" case, The Girl From Plainville starring Elle Fanning is a Hulu miniseries that explores Carter's relationship with Conrad Roy III and the events that led to his death. Sh...

‘Mothering Sunday’ director Eva Husson brings her passions together

March 21, 2022

What was life like in the 1920s just after the First World War ended? That’s the backdrop for the film Mothering Sunday, a historical drama written by Alice Birch, based on the novel by Graham Swift and directed by Eva Husson. Just a few years after ...