Final Draft Blog

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5 Lessons on Writing a Biopic from Ridley Scott’s 'Napoleon'

November 28, 2023

Who is Napoleon Bonaparte? Considering how significant he was in 19th-century Europe, it’s surprising that 2023's Napoleon seems to be the biggest and most comprehensive biopic of the French emperor's life over 200 years later. The film, directed by ...

Write On: 'It's a Wonderful Knife' Writer Michael Kennedy

November 8, 2023

One year after saving the town of Angel Falls from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve, Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) can’t let the fear and guilt of the event go. Struggling to make sense if her life, she wishes she’d never been born – only to fin...

Lessons from Coppola’s Character-Driven 'Priscilla'

November 7, 2023

From Muhammed Ali to Napoleon to Elvis Presley, most movies about historical or culturally significant people have that particular person at the center of the story. In Sofia Coppola’s latest film, Priscilla, the focus of the story is not on one of t...

How to Develop Your Unique Voice for YouTube

October 17, 2023

If you think YouTube has passed its peak as a social media platform, think again. It is the second most visited website in the world, just behind Google and way ahead of Facebook. Part of the appeal of YouTube is that it has such a wide variety of co...

How to Make Your Characters Sound Different on the Page

September 22, 2023

If you were to take a scene for your latest screenplay, remove the names and read it out loud, would you know which characters were saying which lines? Or do they all kind of sound the same?

What Kind of Writer Are You? Plotters, Pantsers and Plantsers

September 13, 2023

Every writer has their own style when it comes to finding inspiration for a story, plotting out the beginning, middle and end, then sitting down and actually writing it (the hard part!). There are three fun terms used in the writing community to iden...

Write Like It’s the Last Thing You’ll Ever Write!

September 8, 2023

Writing like it’s the last thing you’ll ever write might sound overdramatic to some people, but writing is all about having the right mindset.

What is a Plot Twist?

September 5, 2023

Warning: There are plot twist movie spoilers in this article. A great movie employs a number of ways to hook an audience and keep them emotionally invested in the story for the duration of the film. Sometimes it’s a greatly empathetic character, like...

It Might Not Be You: 5 Things That Might Be Affecting Your Writing

August 25, 2023

Everyone experiences highs and lows with their writing. One day you’re the greatest writer in the world, and the next, you’re the worst writer of all time. It’s easy to blame ourselves when the writing just isn’t coming together on the page the way w...