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.

Configuring Your Distraction-Free Writing Environment

July 11, 2022

Inspiration is lightning in a bottle, and sometimes losing a crucial moment because of a distraction or a necessary but mundane task can spoil an entire writing session. This is why creating a streamlined work environment is essential to the writing ...

25 years later: Screenwriting lessons from Nic Cage blockbusters of the 90s

July 8, 2022

Twenty-five years ago, the moviegoing audience didn’t live in a world of comic book heroes and massive special effects spectacles all year round. The summer blockbuster season started Memorial Day weekend and the tentpole films released through the b...

‘The Terminal List’ showrunner empowers his writers room to create great TV

July 8, 2022

The Terminal List wasn’t a piece of intellectual property that David DiGilio owned. Instead, he was offered the opportunity to pitch his perspective on the show and get hired on as showrunner. What he brought to the table was both experience and his ...

Filmmaker Rebeca Huntt revisits her journal in Tribeca darling 'Beba'

July 7, 2022

I had the pleasure of speaking with auteur writer/director, Rebeca Huntt, shortly after the Tribeca debut of her first feature project, Beba. Told through the first-person point of view of Huntt herself, Beba [Spanish for baby] is a didactic document...

Write On: 'Marcel the Shell' Cowriters on Writing a Script

July 6, 2022

Based on the viral YouTube short from 2010, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On follows Marcel (Jenny Slate), a 1-inch tall shell who lives a colorful existence with his grandmother Connie (Isabella Rossellini) and their pet lint, Alan. When asked about c...

‘Apples’ director Christos Nikou speaks on creating art from a place of pain

June 28, 2022

Apples is a joyous study in getting to make exactly the movie you want. Its specificity of tone and taking the time to bask in its strangeness owe many thanks to the self-assured hand of filmmaker Christos Nikou. Nikou has invented a strange and wond...

Write On with 'Spiderhead' Co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

June 28, 2022

Based on George Saunders' short story Escape from Spiderhead, the Netflix adaptation follows inmates at a state-of-the-art penitentiary who volunteer as medical subjects to shorten their sentences. Paul Wernick describes the moment he and co-writer R...

Rising Through the Ranks: Jake Lawler on falling in love with the leap

June 27, 2022

Jake Lawler brings all the focus and determination from his history as a professional athlete to his current career in the writers’ room. “I wish 10yr old me could see how good it gets, but I know I’m making him proud,” Lawler tweeted after landing i...

History of TV: 'Ugly Betty'

June 23, 2022

An unforgettable lead character is undoubtedly one of the keys to creating a successful show. In the case of Betty Suarez, you’ve got that plus a supporting cast of family and coworkers that grab the audience's attention and refuse to let go with the...