Your Final Draft Writing Week

August 19 – 26

Inspiration for your screenwriting this week:

How to Write a Screenplay with a Partner: Tips for Successful Co-Writing

Some of the most iconic screenplays of all time were written by screenwriting duos, films like A Quiet Place, No Country for Old Men, and Avengers: Endgame among many others. 

Writing with a screenwriting partner can amplify your strengths, plug your weaknesses, and spark creative choices that you may have never made on your own. But collaboration isn’t always easy. Sometimes it isn’t even necessary. 

Here we’ll discuss the dynamics of partnering with another screenwriter, the best practices to make the collaborative process between two screenwriters work, and whether or not you need a screenwriting partner in the first place. 

Read Now →

How Screenwriters Can Master the Cold Query

Cold querying can be an effective tool to get representation, and to get your scripts read and considered by industry insiders and decision-makers in Hollywood.

When you’re not winning major screenwriting contests and fellowships, and when you don’t know anyone in the industry yet, the cold query is perhaps your best option to break through those Hollywood walls and get noticed.   

With that in mind, here we discuss and share simple and effective best practices, directives, habits, and examples you can follow to create a cold querying process that works for you.

Read More →

Write On: ‘Sirens’ Creator/Showrunner Molly Smith Metzler

In this episode, we chat with Molly Smith Metzler, showrunner and creator of the hit Netflix limited series Sirens starring Julianne Moore, Meghann Fahy and Kevin Bacon. Smith Metzler talks about making the transition from playwriting to television, and what she learned about being in the writer’s room for Orange is the New Black. 

Listen Now →

From Big Break to 'Chicago Fire': 2022 TV Grand Prize Winner Natalie Messier Tells All

When Natalie Messier entered the Final Draft Big Break TV writing competition in 2022, she didn’t expect to win. Her dramedy pilot 'Killer Queen', about a woman who discovers her husband is a serial killer, was a sharp, funny, and oddly tender take on the delayed coming-of-age trope, but at that point, she says, “I hadn’t really received much acclaim for anything I’d written.”

Winning changed everything for Natalie. Read all about her amazing screenwriting journey in our exclusive interview.

Read Now →

Want to check if your script is formatted correctly?

Make sure your script is industry ready! Use Final Draft’s Reformat tool to catch formatting issues before submission

Learn More →

Do you have a previous version of Final Draft? Upgrade today for a fraction of the price.

Learn | Support | Big Break Contest | Contact