Final Draft Blog

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How Ted Lasso Succeeds At Representing Female Friendships

April 7, 2023

The Emmy-award winning Apple TV series, Ted Lasso, is successful at a lot of things – like melding British and American humor, and making people care about the other sport called football.

Andor Showrunner Tony Gilroy on the Importance of Finding a Hook in Action Scenes

April 6, 2023

Andor is a dark, sci-fi-thriller that follows the adventures of Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), a Rebel Alliance intelligence officer, as he searches for his missing sister while trying to evade the evil Empire. The show is set five years before the even...

5 Lessons Shazam 2 Teaches Screenwriters About Defining Characters and Destroying Cities

March 22, 2023

Kids love superheroes. For decades, kids have read comic books, dressed up like their favorite superheroes and forced their parents to buy toys, lunchboxes and shirts that show off their pride for epic crimefighters. Shazam! is the type of comic book...

5 Tips for Cinematic Formatting

March 20, 2023

In my article 5 Tips To Making Your Screenplay Look Professional, I wrote about how in an extremely competitive marketplace it's important for screenwriters to make their scripts look as professional as possible. In addition to having your screenplay...

5 Tips To Revising an Old Screenplay

March 20, 2023

Whether you’re an aspiring or professional screenwriter, chances are you might have more than one underproduced script in your arsenal. Although it’s good to be looking forward and to keep generating new concepts for new screenplays, sometimes an old...

How John Wick 4 Writer Broke in With His Extreme Spec Script

March 16, 2023

John Wick is one of the most visually spectacular and emotionally unrelenting action franchises around. Chapter 4 is about to hit theaters - part Western, part Kung Fu film, part Samurai story and part redemption tale, this genre mash up is thrilling...

‘Take 5’ How Scream 6 keeps a horror film franchise fresh

March 13, 2023

In the month of March 2023, franchise sequels are abundant: Creed III, John Wick 4 and Scream VI. Between sports dramas, action and horror, each franchise has its own set of rules and tropes. The Scream franchise is a compelling study because of the ...

Big Break Winner Michael Morra on his Inspiration, Style and Biggest Writing Regret

March 10, 2023

When Michael Morra started receiving notifications that his screenplay, About McKenna, was advancing in the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest he was both excited and curious. With each email, he was advancing to the Top 10 then winning the ...

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...