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 Big Break Winner Mira Z. Barnum

August 12, 2021

Mira Z. Barnum won the 2020 Big Break Screenwriting Contest for her TV pilot Beirut. She talks to Write On about what it takes to win a screenwriting contest: I personally suffer from perfectionism, but the most important thing is to get [your script...

Filmmaker Matt Yoka's birds-eye-view of '90s Los Angeles in ‘Whirlybird’

August 12, 2021

Flying thousands of feet up in the air, Zoey Tur documents the lives in Los Angeles from her helicopter with her then-wife, Marika Gerrard, by her side. The chops of helicopter blades echo as she shares each protest, car chase, and community uproar —...

Peter 'Drago' Tiemann on his fright fest, 'The Stairs'

August 11, 2021

A group of friends takes a bonding trip through the woods, only to discover a haunting and mysterious stairwell that solves an almost twenty-year missing persons case and pits them against an evil beyond their imagination. The Stairs is Peter “Drago”...

Paul Dood's Deadly Lunch Break's Brook Driver

August 11, 2021

Screenwriter Brook Driver might be relatively new to the industry, but he's already a winner. The U.K. native won the Final Draft Screenwriters Award at 2021's SXSW® festival — along with co-writers Matthew White and Nick Gillespie — for Paul Dood's ...

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: 'Resort to Love' is a new take on the lovelorn wedding singer

August 10, 2021

Resort to Love is not breaking the romantic comedy mold in any way, but by embracing tropes and delivering on light summer fun, it’s a feel-good movie through and through. Erica (Christina Milian) is in desperate need of some eat, pray, love after he...

Write On with 'Nine Days' Writer-Director Edson Oda

August 7, 2021

‘Nine Days’ is the story of a reclusive man who conducts a series of interviews with human souls for a chance to be born. Edson Oda talks to Write On about the challenges of being a Writer-Director: "You have to think with different hats. An instruct...

‘Paul Dood’s Deadly Lunch Break's Matthew White

August 6, 2021

5 Screenwriting Takeaways: How 'Stillwater' contends with being a ripped-from-the-headlines drama

August 6, 2021

Imagine being the parent of a child found guilty of murdering her roommate while attending college in another country. That’s the premise behind Stillwater, which many believe takes its inspiration from Amanda Knox — an American convicted of murderin...

‘Ride the Eagle’ is a heartfelt movie shot in relative isolation

August 5, 2021

Ride the Eagle, shot in relative isolation with strict Covid protocols and a limited cast, feels like a pandemic movie. It has some heartwarming moments, and reminds its audience there can be much self-discovery in isolation — chosen, or forced.