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.
Filmmakers Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar on creating ‘Jockey’ and the joys of collaboration
Jockey premiered at Sundance 2021, where Clifton Collins Jr.’s turn as horse jockey Jackson took the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Best Actor. The intimate portrait of an aging athlete faced with transitions in both his personal and profession...
Read More
Equipped, Part I: Comedy writer-producer Dan O'Shannon
Welcome to "Equipped," a biweekly interview series picking the brains of your favorite showrunners, show creators, EPs, and all-around legends. What makes a successful writer tick? How do they handle bad news? How have others changed their lives and ...
Read More
How Asif Akbar created ‘The Commando’ with speed and collaboration
“I always knew I wanted to be a director,” says Asif Akbar, director of the 2022 film The Commando regarding his experience at film school Columbia College – Hollywood. “The school let every student get experience in every aspect of production. I wen...
Read More
How creator and showrunner Sascha Penn ensures ‘Raising Kanan’ sticks to its roots as a family drama
Kanan Stark (Mekai Curtis) sits at a diner table along with his friends and family, joking around and smiling. As they step outside, a car slows down and gunshots fire. Just as quickly as they could smile inside, they duck.
Read More
Rising Through the Ranks: Sam Pavich on becoming a writer’s assistant on '4400'
Sam Pavich accumulated plenty of experience as an assistant throughout four years in the Echo Lake Entertainment offices before getting staffed as a writer's assistant on 4400 last March.
Read More
Auntyland Film Festival's founder and director Sylvia Wong Lewis on flipping the script
The new Auntyland Film Festival (AFF) is accepting short-length indie films by and for women and BIPOC artists for its inaugural film festival now through January 30, 2022. The film festival touts itself as the only film festival that "embraces matur...
Read More
5 Screenwriting Takeaways: Nicolas Cage is full of empathetic quiet rage in 'Pig'
Pig created quite the stir this year. With its strange premise: Nicolas Cage plays a hermit in the woods who is forced out of hiding to recoup a stolen truffle-hunting pig, one may expect from the trailer they are getting John Wick meets Tarantino, b...
Read More
5 Screenwriting Takeaways: How ‘Nightmare Alley’ creates a mind-bending neo-noir thriller
Nightmare Alley is one of those movies that keeps you guessing from the first frame. Essentially everything about the movie is both familiar and completely foreign to the audience, making it an enticing and curiosity-filled ride. Set at the end of th...
Read More
5 Screenwriting Takeaways: 'Licorice Pizza' is weird, wonderful, and full of hope
Licorice Pizza is about as Paul Thomas Anderson a flick as they come. Anderson somehow makes the sprawling San Fernando Valley feel manageable as kid actor and entrepreneur Gary Valentine (Cooper Hoffman) makes his part of town a little smaller by fr...
Read More
What’s new in Final Draft 13?
WRITING GOALS &
PRODUCTIVITY STATS
Set goals and get valuable insights to take your work to the next level
TYPEWRITER
A new typewriter-like view option improves your focus
EMOJI
Craft more realistic onscreen text exchanges and make your notes more emotive
And so much more, thoughtfully designed to help unleash your creativity.
LEARN MORE