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.

How 'Drop' Creates a Single Location Thriller

April 18, 2025

Drop is a fairly simple concept: Kill your date or your son dies. Sure, you can go into more details but those 7 words are intriguing enough that it almost doesn’t need further explanation.

Write On: 'NCIS: Origins' Showrunners David J. North and Gina Lucita Monreal

April 17, 2025

“If you can make the twists [in the story] hit your character in an emotional way and set up their emotional arc, then when the case twist intersects with them, if it’s hitting them in the deepest way, in the most unexpected way, maybe – then you’ve ...

‘The Studio’: How to Craft a Hollywood Satire

April 16, 2025

Screenwriters are always told to write what they know — and let’s be honest, what you know is how hard it is to break into Hollywood or get the green light for your passion project. The good news? That struggle is incredibly relatable to anyone who’s...

How is a TV show made?

April 15, 2025

Ever watched a TV show and wondered ‘How did they make this?’ From a writer first getting an idea to a showrunner delivering a finished season to a network, there are numerous steps in the making of a TV show, and not every journey from page to scree...

‘A Minecraft Movie’: Building a Blockbuster Block by Block

April 11, 2025

It’s hard to escape Minecraft. Over 200 million people play the game each month with about 43% consisting of players between the ages of 15-21. If you have kids, they’ve probably asked to play Minecraft (and you probably have the game in some capacit...

Paul Thomas Anderson’s Filmmaking Journey

April 10, 2025

With the trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film One Battle After Another hitting the internet, the veteran filmmaker shows he can still create a buzz. This is partially due to the film being his first collaboration with movie star Leonardo DiCap...

Write On: Big Break 2024 Grand Prize Winners Laura Kroeger and Maia Mulcahy

April 9, 2025

“I think it was more like a litmus test of, where is the script? How would it be received? With this script, I was a quarter finalist in some competitions, and this was obviously the most exciting, the winning… I just wanted to really put my best foo...

Write On: 'Dying for Sex' Co-Creator & Co-Showrunner Kim Rosenstock

April 9, 2025

On today’s episode of Write On, we chat with Kim Rosenstock, co-creator and co-showrunner for the new limited series, Dying For Sex, starring Michelle Williams, Jenny Slate and Sissy Spacek. Based on a true story, Dying for Sex is about a woman diagn...

Lessons for Screenwriters from CinemaCon 2025

April 9, 2025

Since 2011, CinemaCon has transformed Las Vegas into the movie industry’s ultimate insider gathering each year, drawing studios, stars, and distributors for a glimpse at Hollywood’s coming attractions. The event is the official convention of the Cine...