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.

Five Types of Screenwriting Paralysis

August 16, 2019

Tech Tip: Reformatting

August 16, 2019

Sometimes paragraphs in Final Draft are inadvertently misformatted – Action paragraphs mistakenly render as character names, Scene Headings look like Transitions, lines of dialogue look like Parentheticals.

The Bricks of Breaking In with 'The Bold Type' Showrunner Wendy Straker Hauser

August 14, 2019

Photo Credit: Getty Images For The Bold Type showrunner Wendy Straker Hauser, writing for television wasn’t even on the map when she graduated college. “It honestly took me a long, long time to figure out that I wanted to be a TV writer. Probably ove...

Write On with Matt Dy of Lit Entertainment Group

August 13, 2019

Literary manager Matt Dy discusses his tenure at Austin Film Festival as their contest director, why he made the move to Los Angeles to join the team at Lit Entertainment Group and more.

First Time Screenwriter Sarfraz Manzoor on 'Blinded by the Light'

August 13, 2019

In 1987, England was in the grip of racial and economic turmoil under Margaret Thatcher’s leadership, a neo-Nazi movement was on the rise, and in a crappy town northwest of London the music of Bruce Springsteen was blowing the teenage mind of a Pakis...

Hobbs & Shaw' Still Dominates the Box Office, 'Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark' Follows Close Behind

August 13, 2019

This weekend’s box office results offered up a variety of takeaways, some good for the health of big screen storytelling, some not so much.

All The Write Moves: 'Veronica Mars'

August 12, 2019

By this point, it’s not bold to describe Veronica Mars as one of Hollywood’s most indestructible franchises. After debuting as a regular series on UPN, where it ran from 2004 to 2005, the show transitioned to the CW for the 2006-2007 season, then ret...

Tech Tip: Breakdown your Script with the Story Map and Beat Board

August 9, 2019

Please note: this article refers to Final Draft 11. Final Draft 12 has many more advanced story-building tools. Check out all the great new features of Final Draft 12 here. Ah, the corkboard. The writer’s roadmap; a finite space for infinite ideas th...

The Peanut Butter Falcon' Writers On How Their Movie Went From a Fun Idea to Making a Positive Impact

August 9, 2019

A decade ago, Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson were working in their respective careers and living average, ordinary lives. Both were unknown in the film industry with no concrete plan or background to break in. But then, eight years ago, the duo me...