Final Draft Blog

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4 Tips to Never Forget Your Protagonist

April 2, 2024

Your protagonist is the main character of your feature screenplay or television pilot.

Never Lose Your Characters Again: Tips for Tracking Character Arcs While Writing

March 26, 2024

Whether you have one main character or several, tracking their character arcs is not always easy.

5 Steps for Developing Great Characters

August 8, 2023

Let’s say you have a great concept for a feature film or a television pilot, but you haven’t considered the characters yet. More often than not, aspiring screenwriters will populate their scripts with “stock characters,” meaning the characters are de...

Internal Conflict Vs. External Conflict

July 4, 2023

Over the years, I’ve read my share of scripts from aspiring screenwriters. If it’s a character-driven drama, there is plenty of internal conflict; if it’s an action/adventure, sci/fantasy or thriller/horror there’s a good deal of external conflict.

Character Archetype: The Femme Fatale

June 16, 2023

The femme fatale is a notable character archetype in cinema history. Think Catherine Tramell from Basic Instinct or Amy Dunne from Gone Girl. A true femme fatale is as captivating as she’s conniving, and desirable as she is deadly.

Writing a Family-Friendly Tale? The Little Mermaid Has Lessons for Screenwriters

June 2, 2023

The Little Mermaid is about a young woman who falls in love with someone who doesn’t know she exists, the dynamic of a father who wants to protect his daughter and how she overcomes impossible odds after being tricked by a sea witch.

Plot Device Cheat Sheet: How to Use Deus ex Machina

May 25, 2023

Every writer knows the meaning of the word "unmotivated." Some days, it's just an uphill slog to find the energy to even approach the keyboard, much less get actual words on a page.

The Great’s Tony McNamara on Making History Characters Feel Modern

May 23, 2023

Power. Sex. Identity. And comedy? Huzzah! Season 3 of The Great is finally streaming on Hulu and we’re heating up the borscht! If you haven’t seen the show, it’s about Catherine the Great’s (Elle Fanning) marriage to Peter III of Russia (Nicholas Hou...

Guardians of the Galaxy: How Family, Humor and Music Equal Smash Hit

May 11, 2023

Who are the Guardians of the Galaxy? Ten years ago, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who knew anything about this group or was even interested in a movie about these unknown characters roaming the galaxy.