Final Draft Blog

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Bricks of Breaking In: 'The Flash' Writer Eric Wallace on Adaptability

May 3, 2024

Known as a go-to writer for genre, showrunner Eric Wallace’s journey into television started as a 6-year-old really into horror movies, Godzilla and Frankenstein. That passion has taken him from fun childhood filmmaking to show running. Wallace recal...

What ‘Dune: Part Two’ Teaches You About Writing a Sequel

March 8, 2024

Rare is it that a movie will have a studio backing its sequels before the filming of the first frame of the first film. But when visionary director Denis Villeneuve is building the epic world of Dune, based on the 1965 novel by Frank Herbert, the sto...

Write On: 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' Showrunner and Executive Producer Albert Kim

February 28, 2024

“I would encourage anyone to lean into the specificity of their personal experience [when it comes to writing]. I mean, we're at a time now, fortunately, where everyone is more open to those kinds of stories… Look at something like Beef. The specific...

What 'Bob Marley: One Love' Teaches You About Writing a Biopic

February 23, 2024

Bob Marley may never have discovered his voice. Amid the turmoil in Jamaica, his life could have ended before he could ignite the world with songs of peace and freedom. Or he could have chosen an easier path, but then there likely wouldn’t have been ...

Write On: 'Masters of the Air' Co-Executive Producer and Writer John Orloff

February 18, 2024

“I always go back to theme. Why are you writing this story? What is that final couple of minutes of the movie and what do you want the audience to feel? I kind of always build backward from that in some ways. In a movie, how do I make the 118 minutes...

Write On: 'Lawmen: Bass Reeves' Showrunner Chad Feehan

February 5, 2024

The Bricks of Breaking In: FBI: International Writer Kristina Thomas on Trusting the Process

February 5, 2024

FBI: International writer Kristina Thomas related her path into writing television to the famous image of a straight line to get you where you need to compare with the reality of a line all balled, jumbled, and twirled around that eventually gets you...

What ‘Poor Things’ Can Teach Us About Embracing Uniqueness

January 12, 2024

Poor Things is unlike any movie in theaters. Directed by visionary filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and written by Tony McNamara, this strange fantastical comedy tells the story of a woman who is brought back to life by a mad scientist using her own baby's...

Write On: 'Silo' Showrunner Graham Yost

December 15, 2023

“It really comes down to scene work. Do these characters pop? Is this fun to read? Is it fun to imagine what’s going to happen next? When you get to the end of that pilot do you want to find out what’s going to happen in the next episode? It’s all of...