Final Draft Blog

All the tips, tricks and information you need to inspire your writing!
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Saving and Backing Up Your Screenplay Files

August 19, 2022

The importance of a screenwriter saving and backing up their work cannot be stressed enough. Creativity is a precious thing and you have to seize those sometimes fleeting moments of inspiration. If you’re in the zone writing something you’re particul...

The Outline Editor™: How to Use the Tool for Outlining Success

July 22, 2022

Have an idea for a movie or TV pilot and want to write a screenplay, but you don’t know where to begin? Not only does Final Draft offer industry standard formatting for feature and TV scripts, but it also has various outlining tools that can help you...

Comic books and graphic novels: Creating the foundation for a film adaptation

June 21, 2022

There was once a time when only the occasional iconic superhero received the movie treatment. But in the past two decades, the popularity of the Marvel and DC film franchises has transformed the marketplace, and now comic book adaptations dominate th...

Importing a PDF into Final Draft

June 15, 2022

Any screenwriter knows that one of the most gratifying moments of the writing process is the moment they convert their script to PDF. Why? Because it means the script is complete, and it’s time to email it to friends and industry reps to read. But wh...

Why use screenwriting software?

May 31, 2022

For nearly a century the image of a writer hunched over a typewriter has been an indelible one. From William Holden using a traditional typewriter in Sunset Boulevard to Nicolas Cage typing away on his electric one in Adaptation, this visual has beco...

Three-Act Structure: The foundation of screenwriting

May 31, 2022

Most screenplays utilize the classic Hollywood three-act structure. At its core, the three acts represent a beginning, a middle, and an end. Some people attribute the origins of this structure to the Greek philosopher Aristotle. In his earliest survi...

A Screenwriter’s Guide to Social Media

May 2, 2022

Many A-list screenwriters utilize social media platforms like Twitter to promote their films and to interact with others in the film business, but is there any reason for a novice screenwriter to follow suit? In terms of self-promotion, there is a lo...

Dialogue Choices and Dual Dialogue

April 18, 2022

In real life, people don’t speak in perfectly rendered and well-orchestrated dialogue. Not in most cases, anyway. The way we converse with others can vary depending on whom we’re speaking with: If we speak to an employer or authority figure, we’ll be...

Focus Mode & other features we love for screenwriting

April 11, 2022

You want to write a television or movie script. You’ve got the spark, even the motivation… but creative writing isn’t always easy. Oftentimes, a novice writer doesn’t know where to begin or where to take their story. Even a professional scriptwriter ...