Final Draft Blog

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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...

Write On: 'Inside Out 2' Co-Writers Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein

January 24, 2025

“People think sequels are easier, and I’m like, ‘No, no, it’s much harder. It is much harder to write.’ They have never written sequels, those people, because you need to do everything as well as the first and yet better, and go to new places, follow...

5 More Screenwriters You Might Not Have Heard Of

January 23, 2025

In the article “5 Screenwriters You Might Not Have Heard Of,” we spotlighted a handful of important screenwriters who had written popular or critically-acclaimed films, yet are not widely known today. Screenplay writers don’t always get the recogniti...

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.

Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest 2025 opens March 10

January 17, 2025

Is your screenplay or TV pilot ready for the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Competition? With dozens of screenwriting contests out there, it’s important to consider which ones are worth your time and money. Over the past 20 years, the Big Break ...

New Year's Writing Resolutions

December 30, 2024

Congratulations writers! You have reached the end of another writing year. Regardless of what stage you are at in your writing career, it’s important to take the time to recognize all you have accomplished in 2024.

How long does it take to write a screenplay?

October 21, 2024

An aspiring screenwriter might wonder: how long does it take to write a screenplay?

Killer Lines: How Dialogue Can Take Horror Scripts from Good to Great

October 17, 2024

Happy Halloween! 'Tis the season for falling leaves and pumpkin-flavored lattes. It's also the season for screenwriters to ponder such issues as ‘are machetes passé?’ and the relative merits of fast versus slow zombie pacing. In short, it’s horror mo...