Final Draft Blog

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Take 5: What ‘Babylon’ can teach writers about story, conflict and theme

January 13, 2023

Babylon gives audiences a glimpse into the wild west of Los Angeles when silent films produced the first movie stars and the thirst for fame, fortune and the pursuit of a dream brought people from around the world to southern California. With an ecle...

Character Breakdown: Finding complexity and depth in ‘The Whale’

January 13, 2023

When an actor gains or loses a tremendous amount of weight for a movie role it often leads to accolades and Oscar buzz. Over the last 25 years, performers like Charlize Theron, Tom Hanks, Christian Bale, Renée Zellweger, Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway ...

How To Keep Your Protagonists in Peril

January 10, 2023

If you’re writing an action, thriller or horror script, it’s important to have your protagonists in constant peril. These genres rely heavily on audiences watching to see how a character survives or overcomes a perilous situation; more often than not...

5 Tips For Handling Exposition in Your Screenplay

January 10, 2023

One of the trickiest and biggest challenges for a screenwriter is how to best handle exposition. What is exposition exactly? It’s the insertion of expository information into a narrative; this information can be about the characters’ past or current ...

Take 5: What ‘Avatar 2: Way of the Water’ Can Teach Screenwriters of Any Genre

January 4, 2023

Not everyone has $350+ million to spend on making a technological marvel like Avatar 2: Way of the Water, but at the end of the day, it’s a movie that requires compelling characters and a story that excites the audience in order to be successful. Ava...

Choosing a Setting for Your Script

December 30, 2022

5 Tips To Staying in Screenwriting Shape

December 22, 2022

It’s not always easy to stay inspired and maintain a creative mindset on a regular basis. Many times screenwriters feel burnt out or spent after an extended period of writing. They’ll stare at an empty page and not feel the same excitement they initi...

How a filmmaker used her low-budget skills to create a $50k union feature

December 22, 2022

What does “low budget” mean? It’s all based on context. One person’s $50,000 film might be low budget, but so would a $10 million dollar Ridley Scott studio picture.

How To Write a Topical Screenplay

December 21, 2022

Inserting topical issues into a screenplay can add an extra layer of depth and make your script fresher and more relevant. The best managers, agents and producers have their finger on the pulse, and if they think your script is reflecting our times a...