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.

All the Write Moves: Russian Doll

February 26, 2019

Songwriters face an inherent conundrum when trying to innovate because the chromatic scale of Western music includes only 12 unique notes. The challenge is to arrange and combine these limited resources in surprising ways. A similar conundrum faces t...

The Weekend Movie Takeaway: February 19th, 2019

February 20, 2019

Blockbuster cinema titan James Cameron (The Terminator, Aliens, Titanic, Avatar) has been planning an adaptation of the Japanese manga known in English as Battle Angel Alita for more than a decade.

Write On with Writer-Director Isabella Eklöf

February 20, 2019

With the support of the Danish Film Institute, Swedish writer-director Isabella Eklöf premiered her feature debut ‘Holiday’ at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. Eklöf discusses her creative and development process and her overall career in filmmaking.

All the Write Moves: Velvet Buzzsaw

February 12, 2019

Cinematic satire has become something of a lost art. During the so-called “age of irony” in the 90s, the notion of presenting exaggeration as a means of revealing hypocrisy (or other social foibles) became somewhat redundant. Close to two decades lat...

Creed II Screenwriter Juel Taylor Talks His Big Break, Collaboration and the Importance of Having a ‘Fire Script’

February 7, 2019

Locking himself in a room for days is not necessarily Juel Taylor’s idea of fun, but for the 31-year-old co-writer of Creed II, it’s what got the job done.

Before You Know It Filmmakers On How To Get Your Passion Project Made

February 7, 2019

It’s a rare and difficult thing to write, direct, and star in your own film. But that is exactly what Hannah Pearl Utt and Jen Tullock did with their Sundance feature film debut, the comedy Before You Know It. The pair also knows what a tremendous fe...

All the Write Moves: Glass

February 5, 2019

M. Night Shyamalan, modern king of the twist ending, outdid himself with the final scene of Split (2016) — his surprise hit about a serial killer with multiple personalities — by connecting the picture to Unbreakable (2000), his cult-favorite thrille...

How Sundance’s Hala Made Minhal Baig an Honest Storyteller

February 5, 2019

Minhal Baig is the writer and director of Hala, a movie which, up until its Sundance premiere, she kept secret from her mother.

Write On with Kevin O'Brien

February 5, 2019

Writer-director Kevin O'Brien discusses his transition from Creative Director to filmmaker, raising money through crowdfunding, and submitting his debut feature 'At the End of the Day' to film festivals. Information about the film can be found HERE.