Final Draft Blog

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Read interviews with the pros, catch up with industry news, and listen to Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast by Final Draft.

Write On with 'Diary of a Future President' Creator Ilana Peña

September 17, 2021

The Disney Plus Original series is about a young Cuban-American girl who embarks on a journey to become the future president of the United States. Creator Ilana Peña talks about the very personal origins of the main character, Elena Cañero-Reed: "Ele...

Eating Our Way to Extinction' with documentary filmmakers Otto and Ludovic Brockway

September 17, 2021

Eating our Way to Extinction is a compelling new documentary from filmmakers Otto and Ludovic Brockway, and produced by Sir Richard Branson and Kate Winslet (who also narrates the film). Spanning the globe and several continents, the film is an explo...

Writer-director Kay Cannon on rethinking the world of 'Cinderella'

September 17, 2021

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Cinderella... Who dreamed of being a dress designer.

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: 'Shang-Chi' and how to develop a Marvel origin story

September 17, 2021

Shaun is just a guy living in San Francisco who parks cars for a living and wanders through life with no direction. But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is a Marvel movie, so that definitely won’t be the place he ends up. His character arc m...

‘The Human Factor’ documents 30 years of the Middle East peace process

September 16, 2021

What’s it like to be a part of the toughest negotiations on the planet? How do you bring two enemies to the table to discuss peace?

History of TV: Why Showtime's ‘Weeds’ is lit

September 16, 2021

Before Walter White, there was Nancy Botwin; the suburban SoCal widow (played ever-so-coolly by Mary-Louise Parker) who sold cannabis to support her family, including four (dead) husbands and three children. She faced danger, death, several cities to...

Following Hurricane Ida, Justin Chon talks depicting the plight of New Orleans-based Asian-Americans in 'Blue Bayou'

September 15, 2021

I have a Zoom hangout with Justin Chon the day after Category 4 Hurricane Ida makes landfall to New Orleans, where he shot his third feature film, Blue Bayou. It’s produced by MACRO’s Charles D. King and Poppy Hanks, as well as others. The tear-jerke...

In Memoriam: Irma Kalish gave the world classic sitcoms like ‘The Facts of Life' and ‘Good Times’

September 15, 2021

On Monday, September 6, the world lost one of the first-ever female television comedy producers with the passing of Irma Kalish at age 96. Kalish’s work is a historic treasure trove of TV comedy history, with work stretching from Maude and All in the...

Write On with 'The Eyes of Tammy Faye' Writer Abe Sylvia

September 14, 2021

The biopic about televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker is based on the documentary of the same name. Writer Abe Sylvia talks about what drew him to the project: "I grew up in Oklahoma in the 80s, and that's right in the middle of the Bible Belt, and while ...