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.

It Builds Character Part III: Character choices and going beyond top level actions

December 22, 2021

Writing teacher William Zinsser describes creativity as having levels, or orders. The first idea you get is referred to as first order, the second is referred to as second order, and so on. Zinsser encourages his students to think beyond first order ...

Write On with ‘The Witcher’ Showrunner Lauren Schmidt Hissrich

December 21, 2021

The hit Netflix series starring Henry Cavill returns! Geralt of Rivia, a solitary monster hunter, struggles to find his place in a world where people often prove more wicked than beasts. Showrunner Lauren tells Write On: "I think I always think about...

History of TV: The 'Arrested Development' saga

December 17, 2021

Ruminating on Arrested Development is a bit like prepping for American Ninja Warrior. The quirky comedy that, to many, defined the genre for the early 2000s is a minefield of politically (in)correct humor, as deeply layered as the banana business the...

Write On with ‘Hip Hop Family Christmas’ Co-Writer Saeed Crumpler – Part I

December 17, 2021

In this special 2-part episode of Write On we talk to Flatbush Misdemeanors staff writer and co-writer of Hip Hop Family Christmas Saeed Crumpler about going from rapper to screenwriter: "I had to make a change; I always loved film, and I just went b...

The Novice' is a taught tale on American hustle

December 17, 2021

The Novice is a genre-bending sports film, which puts women front and center in the world of rowing while also delivering a psychological thriller-style gut punch. Isabelle Fuhrman’s tortured Alex Dall is a captivating character study of the college ...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: Sorkin’s ‘Being the Ricardos’ focuses on Lucille Ball’s most stressful week

December 17, 2021

I Love Lucy and its follow-up The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour were such landmark programs that despite the final episode airing over 60 years ago, and the likelihood that the majority of Americans have probably never watched an episode, there are memorable...

Spec Spotlight: Joe Russo on 'The Last Will & Testament of Charles Abernathy'

December 15, 2021

Screenwriter Joe Russo says his latest project, Netflix's The Last Will & Testament of Charles Abernathy, was "born out of necessity."

It Builds Character Part II: Using your personal story to inform character

December 15, 2021

Martin Scorsese famously said, “The films that I constantly revisited or saw repeatedly held up longer for me over the years not because of plot, but because of character.” Character is the reason we get attached to stories. From Luke Skywalker to Sh...

Write On with 'Desus & Mero' Writer Robert Kornhauser

December 15, 2021

The late night TV writer talks to Write On about breaking in and his early inspirations: "I was kind of the weird kid who at, like, 11 was watching David Letterman… [the realization] came to me in my very early teens like, 'Oh, this guy's not just sa...