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.

Sundance Screenwriters Lab: Eva Vives, Writer-Director of 'All About Nina'

September 18, 2018

“It was an extraordinary year. The year of Sundance, I call it.”

Jeremiah Zagar on his Sundance-Winning Film 'We the Animals'

August 17, 2018

Though Jeremiah Zagar’s adaptation of Justin Torres’ We the Animals made its debut only months ago at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, critics are already praising it.

Sundance Lab Spotlight: Brett Weiner and Emma Fletcher

July 6, 2018

Each year, Sundance Institute labs bring together aspiring writers and directors who want to take their projects to the next level. Notable projects that evolved in these labs include Damien Chazelle's Whiplash; Cary Fukunaga’s Sin Nombre and Ryan Co...

Madeline Zima Makes her Writing and Directorial Debut with "Warm Human Magic" at Dances With Films Festival

June 14, 2018

At the age of two, actress Madeline Zima performed in her first TV commercial. From there, she went on to roles in The Nanny, Californication and Heroes. Recently, Madeline stepped into a whole new type of role — that of writer-director.

Write On with our 2018 Hall of Fame Award winner, Howard A. Rodman

February 6, 2018

Howard A. Rodman, past President of the Writers Guild, West comes from a family of writers and entertainers; his father was a screenwriter, his mother a script coordinator and his step-mother a soap actress.

Big Break Top 3 Finalist Joe Taylor: How Performing Standup Comedy Helps My Writing

June 28, 2016

About ten years ago I wrote my first screenplay with my roommates. It wasn’t great, but I was hooked and wanted to get better. I took classes, read books and did everything I could think of to learn the craft of screenwriting. I also started writing ...

"Making it" Means Making Magic

April 21, 2016

I don't know why you got into the business of writing, of grasping at words to explain the images in your brain, and editing within an inch of your life. For most, it's a kind of call, a transcendent purpose. Otherwise, who would chose to subject the...

Pursuing Your Passion and Paying the Rent

April 16, 2016

It’s a well-known struggle: finding a way to pursue your dreams while still managing to pay the rent. Writer Andrew Lee, winner of the Big Break Half-Hour Comedy category for his Brooklyn Nine-Nine spec, knows this tension too. Though he always wante...

Big Break TV Winner Eric Buchman's Tips on Contest Entry

April 1, 2016

Meet Eric Buchman. By day, he’s the Script Coordinator for the hit NBC show Blindspot. By night, Buchman writes his own spec scripts, and dreams of one day hiring his own Script Coordinator to run a show he has created. Now that Buchman is the TV Gra...