Final Draft Blog

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The Secret To Writing Good Jokes in a Script

April 16, 2024

Any comedic writer will tell you there’s nothing more satisfying than a well-placed joke. That’s probably because writing comedy isn’t easy. Just like any other screenplay, a comedic screenplay has to have a well-developed story and three-dimensional...

Moonshot Initiative Wants To Help You Pitch Your Pilot in Hollywood

April 12, 2024

Getting into a room to pitch your ideas for a new series is the dream for screenwriters. These meetings are a big part of selling scripts, landing writing assignments, or breaking into writers' rooms in Hollywood, but getting into the room can seem i...

How To Create the Suspension of Disbelief in Your Screenplay

April 12, 2024

Suspension of disbelief is when someone takes a fictional narrative and ignores certain aspects that are unrealistic or implausible. English poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge is often attributed with introducing the concept of "suspension ...

3 Must-Ask Questions Before You Write a Sellable Script

April 9, 2024

In my article "Big Story, Small Budget," I wrote about how you should be mindful of production costs when deciding what to write because it’s a major factor in why scripts get bought and produced. Generally speaking, the more cost-effective the proje...

4 Tips to Never Forget Your Protagonist

April 2, 2024

Your protagonist is the main character of your feature screenplay or television pilot.

How To Outline Your Short Story

March 29, 2024

There are many reasons to outline your short story before you write it. Probably the most compelling reason to create an outline is to help you keep the story focused and avoid going on tangents that may not serve the story.

Never Lose Your Characters Again: Tips for Tracking Character Arcs While Writing

March 26, 2024

Whether you have one main character or several, tracking their character arcs is not always easy.

How To Use Digressions To Create Natural Sounding Dialogue

March 22, 2024

Many aspiring screenwriters struggle to make dialogue sound naturalistic. Often, the dialogue is stilted and doesn’t sound like the way people actually speak (this can be said of a few professional screenwriters as well). Or the dialogue is just perf...

5 Editing Hacks for Screenwriters

March 19, 2024

Your script should look as professional as possible, or industry professionals will likely pass on your script after a cursory read. In addition to using screenwriting software like Final Draft that formats your script to industry standards, you shou...