Final Draft Blog

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Cocaine Bear Writer Jimmy Warden on Creating Empathy for a Coked-Up Bear on a Rampage

March 4, 2023

Cocaine Bear is a hilarious romp about two potentially alarming things: a ferocious bear and a massive amount of cocaine. Put them together and you get one of the wildest, most absurd, genre-busting films ever made. The idea is so ludicrous, it proba...

How To Find New Ways Into Old Stories

February 19, 2023

You’re beginning to write a screenplay involving a familiar concept or genre, and you’re struggling to make it different from other films you’ve seen before. How many ways can you tell a zombie apocalypse story? What’s a different way to approach a c...

‘Your Place or Mine’ Writer Aline Brosh McKenna on Creating Modern Romantic Leads

February 19, 2023

If you love writing romantic comedies, you’re in luck - they are making their way back to the audiences that adore them. While recent titles like Ticket to Paradise (starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney), The Lost City (starring Sandra Bullock) ...

Setting: It's Much More Than Just a Simple Slug Line

February 19, 2023

INT. or EXT.? DAY or NIGHT? The choices of what information to include in a scene heading appear to be limited, making it seemingly one of the easiest elements of a script to dash off quickly so you can move on to the meatier stuff of scenes and char...

Inserting Your Personal Life Into Your Screenplay

February 14, 2023

You shouldn’t be afraid to insert your personal life into your screenplay. Even if you’re writing about a zombie apocalypse or a high-adrenaline heist, the more of yourself you put into your script, the stronger impact it will have on readers. Not on...

A Look at Lincoln and How to Write Historical Figures into Movie Characters

February 10, 2023

In a nod to Abraham Lincoln's birthday on the 12th, we wanted to take a look at how the nation's most written about president has been portrayed in film and what lessons you can take away when writing about a historical figures.

How to become a successful writer of multiple genres

February 6, 2023

Screenwriters frequently get mixed advice.

How to make Rom-Coms great again

February 1, 2023

It’s Valentine’s Day and you want to watch a rom-com. There are plenty of tried-and-true classics like Pretty Woman, Sleepless in Seattle, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but there are also even more tired-and-dull rom-coms too (My Best Friend’s Gi...

How Watching Movies Taught Quentin Tarantino and Can Teach Screenwriters

January 30, 2023

It’s important for aspiring screenwriters to watch movies: older films as well as current ones. Many of the films of today have been inspired by films of the past, and in some cases, this knowledge can lead to box office success, multiple awards, and...