Final Draft Blog

All the tips, tricks and information you need to inspire your writing!
Read interviews with the pros, catch up with industry news, and listen to Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast by Final Draft.

Writer-Director John Swab on 'Body Brokers'

February 24, 2021

Writer-director John Swab's latest film Body Brokers follows protagonist Utah (played by Jack Kilmer); a drug addict who finds himself at the center of true-to-life rehab schemes, where patients are funneled in and out of facilities, allowing rehabs ...

Write On with 'Land' Co-Writer Jesse Chatham

February 23, 2021

Jesse Chatham talks to guest host Sade' Sellers about how his screenplay about a bereaved woman seeking out a new life off the grid went from placing in the Nicholl Fellowship to becoming a feature directed by and starring Robin Wright ( House of Car...

Thomas Clay's 'The Delivered' Explores the Concept Of a Puritan Western

February 23, 2021

Where does an idea come from? Maybe it’s a conversation you overhear at a party, or inspiration strikes while on a long walk.

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: The Uneasiness of 'Malcolm & Marie'

February 22, 2021

From the outset, Malcolm & Marie wants to make the audience feel uneasy. Malcolm walks in circles through a gorgeous Malibu home that he currently cohabitates with his equally gorgeous girlfriend Marie on what’s supposed to be the greatest night ...

Write On with 'Willy's Wonderland' Screenwriter G.O. Parsons

February 19, 2021

G.O. Parsons has written one of the wildest rides of the year with Wally’s Wonderland, a B-movie homage that pits Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage against a horde of demonic animatronics. “I went into writing Willy's Wonderland with the intention, t...

‘Crestone’ is the Cross-Section of Poetry and Rap and Isolation and Freedom

February 19, 2021

Filmmaker Marnie Hertzler’s documentary Crestone led her to follow some high school friends to the remote town of about 100 people. Her anti-consumerist high school cronies set out to live a utopian life to focus on music — mainly their SoundCloud ra...

Writer-Director Castille Landon On Her Film 'Fear of Rain'

February 19, 2021

This past week, I was lucky enough to speak with filmmaker Castille Landon about her horror feature, Fear of Rain. Landon, best known for her acting work in films such as Sex Ed and Apple of My Eye, makes her writer-director debut with this project. ...

Mona Fastvold’s 'The World to Come' Explores Forbidden Love in 1850s Rural America

February 19, 2021

Mona Fastvold has several writing credits under her belt as well as a film titled The Sleepwalker that she both wrote and directed. She never planned on directing a film she hadn’t written though.

5 Screenwriting Takeaways from 'Judas and the Black Messiah'

February 19, 2021

Is this a biopic or a cat-and-mouse film? In a way, it’s both. And that’s because Judas and the Black Messiah has two origins. On Final Draft’s Write On Podcast, writer Will Berson discusses the origins of his screenplay and how it looked at the FBI’...