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.

Holiday Slashers: How ‘Heart Eyes’ Scares Up a Killer Concept

February 13, 2025

Roses are red / Violets are blue / Heart Eyes is the new holiday slasher / At a theater near you

Write On: Comedy Writing with Brent Forrester

February 13, 2025

“My recommendation to anybody who is writing animation is to take advantage of the things you can do in animation that you can’t do in live action, which is to spend an infinite amount of money, right? If you and I are going to write a scene and you ...

Meera Menon on Breaking Zombie Genre Rules in ‘Didn't Die’

February 12, 2025

As screenwriters, we probably all have some variation of this dream—to make a film, and get accepted into a prestigious festival like Sundance or SXSW, and stand on the stage afterward to face an applauding crowd. It’s a great dream. But how do you c...

Multi-Cam TV Writing Tips from a Top Showrunner

February 11, 2025

Michelle Nader is one of the most accomplished multi-cam and comedy writers working today.

Filmmaker Cooper Raiff Talks "Bumping" in Screenwriting

February 3, 2025

If there’s one writer/director whose work I’ve been consistently excited by and whose name at festivals promises a project both heartbreakingly raw and funny, it’s Cooper Raiff. He was a SXSW breakout in 2020 with college comedy Shithouse, which snag...

5 Screenwriting Lessons from Golden-Globe Winner ‘The Brutalist’

January 27, 2025

This year’s winner of the Golden Globe for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Performance by a Male Actor for Adrien Brody (Drama), The Brutalist has become one of the most intriguing films to come out of 2024. Writer/Director Brady Corbet’s mid-century t...

Big Break Contest Judge Jeff Portnoy On Why You Should Enter

January 24, 2025

According to Jeff Portnoy, literary manager at Bellevue Productions and a judge for the 2025 Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest, what makes Final Draft’s screenwriting competition stand out from other screenwriting contests is its emphasis o...

How Actor Julia Stiles Wrote Her First Feature Screenplay

January 21, 2025

For Julia Stiles, years of performing as an actor have provided a unique advantage in her latest creative venture—screenwriting and directing.

Write On: 'The Boys' Creator and Showrunner Eric Kripke

January 17, 2025

“The most subversive thing this show could do is make you cry… If you really boil down television, really cook it in the pan, it’s the character business. I’m in the character business. Movies are in the plot and spectacle business, for television, t...