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: Green Book

January 28, 2019

In critical circles, certain words have toxic connotations. “Conventional.” “Old-fashioned.” “Sentimental.” There are good reasons why these words have gained dubious reputations; the history of cinema is full of condescending movies that subject aud...

The Hero's Journey: Aquaman

January 25, 2019

Within the first fifteen minutes, we realize Aquaman is a superhero genre script, an origin story, and a buddy movie all rolled into two hours and 30 minutes. That is a hefty haul for most writers, but David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and Will Beall h...

All the Write Moves: If Beale Street Could Talk

January 21, 2019

Like his previous film, the Oscar-winning drama Moonlight (2016), Barry Jenkins’ new picture, If Beale Street Could Talk, might seem like a difficult artifact from which to extract screenwriting lessons. While both films have received considerable ac...

All the Write Moves: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse

January 14, 2019

Given the sheer number of Spider-Man movies that have been released since Tobey Maguire gave Kirsten Dunst that upside-down kiss back in 2002, it’s reasonable to wonder whether there’s anything left to say about the iconic Marvel Comics character. Th...

Write On with Mimi Leder

January 11, 2019

In this episode of Write On, director Mimi Leder discusses her latest film 'On the Basis of Sex' and her connection to Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s story.

Peter Hedges on Ben Is Back

January 3, 2019

When novelist, playwright and Oscar®-nominated filmmaker Peter Hedges sat down to write the screenplay for the new addiction drama Ben Is Back, he drew from a personal place. “I grew up in a family ravaged by alcoholism,” Hedges said.

All the Write Moves: Destroyer

December 31, 2018

Contemporary media has no shortage of stories about complicated police detectives, but there’s always room in the mix for a smartly-crafted piece that uses a murder mystery as a means of exploring character. Destroyer, the new film from respected ind...

All the World’s a Stage: Playwriting for the Screenwriter

December 28, 2018

When it comes to dramatic writing, the allure of the stage is clear. Picture this: every year, approximately 50 thousand scripts are registered with the WGA, and that’s not even taking into the account the number of screenwriters who never register t...

‘Destroyer’ Director Karyn Kusama On Why Working Closely With Screenwriters Is Essential To Her Process

December 25, 2018

Traditionally, a director won’t see a script until it’s been written, rewritten, polished, and perfected to the nth degree. Then, when the script is in a near-perfect state, the screenwriter relinquishes control and sits idly by as the director takes...