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.

Dialogue Choices and Dual Dialogue

April 18, 2022

In real life, people don’t speak in perfectly rendered and well-orchestrated dialogue. Not in most cases, anyway. The way we converse with others can vary depending on whom we’re speaking with: If we speak to an employer or authority figure, we’ll be...

Focus Mode & other features we love for screenwriting

April 11, 2022

You want to write a television or movie script. You’ve got the spark, even the motivation… but creative writing isn’t always easy. Oftentimes, a novice writer doesn’t know where to begin or where to take their story. Even a professional scriptwriter ...

Storyboarding Tips for Starting a Script

March 11, 2022

You have a story to tell and maybe even have images in your head. But maybe you’re still learning scriptwriting and when it comes to storyboard creation — which is important if your story is visually driven — you’re still a novice. So, let’s dive int...

Can Screenwriters Thrive in New York City?

November 6, 2020

Can screenwriters thrive in New York City? That’s a great question. First, let me introduce myself: My name is Vanessa King. I am a self-taught screenwriter who grew up in a remote part of Canada. In the early aughts, I moved to New York to pursue my...

Tips For Writing Period Dialogue

May 16, 2017

What people say, and how they say it, tells us a lot.

Five Things Writers Can Learn From Ghostbusters

April 3, 2017

The original Ghostbusters film remains to this day a benchmark for supernatural comedies. It’s a tricky genre to get right and increasingly unpopular among studios due to budgetary concerns. But if you’re going to attempt to write a supernatural come...

Five Things Writers Can Learn From The Breakfast Club

March 20, 2017

John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club is one of the most beloved films ever made. Many of its themes—such as bullying and alienation—ring as true for teenagers today as it did when it was first released in 1985.

Jaws: A Masterpiece Created by Collaboration and a Deadline

March 17, 2017

With contributions from various writers, a director and even the actors, the screenplay for Jaws is one of the best examples of cinema being a collaborative art form. And the circumstances surrounding the writing prove that sometimes a deadline is go...

Reader Profile: Spotting a Unicorn: How to Stand Out From the Pack

March 14, 2017

FINAL DRAFT: How did you start out reading? READER: I was just out of college and running around Los Angeles making pennies as a Production Assistant on various film shoots, and needed a way to pull in a little more income. A friend at a production c...