Write On: A Screenwriting Podcast

“Be sneaky and read every script that you can get your hands on. If you can work in a studio, read the original draft, read the revisions, see how the script got to the final script. That's what I was doing. I would use the opportunities of working in that system to learn,” says screenwriter Julian Breece on Final Draft’s Write On Podcast. Julian, along with Dustin Lance Black, wrote Rustin, the new biopic about little-known civil rights activist Bayard Rustin, played exquisitely by actor Colman Domingo. Rustin, alongside Martin Luther King, helped make the 1963 March on Washington a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, while dealing with racism and homophobia as an out gay Black man in the 1960s. Julian shares his inspiration for writing the film, Bayard Rustin’s belief in non-violent civil disobedience and what it was like working with Ava DuVernay on the Netflix series When They See Us. Julian also talks about sneaking his own scripts into the reading pile while he was working at Disney and other risks he took to help jumpstart his career. Take a listen to the podcast to see what you can learn from Justin’s journey.

Guest Paul Giamatti talks about his role in the film 'The Holdovers' while screenwriter David Hemingson discusses crafting authentic characters and emotional story arcs. They explore the film's love story and its message of people coming together to save each other. Hemingson also shares his personal experiences in the story.

One year after saving the town of Angel Falls from a psychotic killer on Christmas Eve, Winnie Carruthers (Jane Widdop) can’t let the fear and guilt of the event go. Struggling to make sense if her life, she wishes she’d never been born – only to find herself in a nightmare parallel universe. The film is a mash up of the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life and Scream. On this episode, I speak to screenwriter/producer Michael Kennedy about using a classic Christmas movie as inspiration for a slasher horror/comedy film. We also talk about the importance of queer representation in the horror genre. “I wanted to give this a cornucopia of vastly different types of representation in the movie, but I also didn’t want for that to be what the movie is about. I wanted it to be just matter of fact. For me, if I can make a movie where seven of the characters are gay, then I should do that!” says Kennedy. He went on to say that the quest for queer representation in Hollywood has been slow, but those who want to see it need to speak up. “It is satisfying as a producer to see that a lot of the change and stuff in this industry can happen if you just ask for it. Sometimes, you won’t be in the position to be able to do that and I really bided my time with that, so I’m really fortunate. It was great to not only ask for what I wanted but also get it,” he says. For a deeper dive into the screenplay, take a listen to the podcast.

Season 3 of The Morning Show is now streaming on Apple TV+. With some of the most engaging actors working in television (Jennifer Anniston, Reese Witherspoon, Billy Crudup and Nicole Beharie), showrunner Charlotte Stoudt talks with us about some of the most shocking and groundbreaking scenes that are meant to blow your mind this season. This dramaturge-turned-showrunner, Stoudt’s love of working with other writers is palpable. “The delight of sharing a story space with other writers is one of the great joys of this job. I never get tired of sitting across from a writer and having them say, ‘What if we did this?’ It’s like a Christmas present every day,” Stoudt says.   Stoudt also gives her advice on what to include in a spec script, no matter what kind of writing job you’re up for. “The best writing samples give some insight and truth about what it means to be alive. That can take any form – comedy, sci-fi ­– I don’t think the genre matters if you’re able to put something of your most primal self on the page. There has to be something that’s alive inside of you, that hooks you and makes you go, ‘Who is this person telling this story?’” To hear more about the challenges and delights of running The Morning Show, take a listen to the podcast.  

The new film Nyad tells the true story of athlete Diana Nyad (Annette Benning) who, at the age of 60 and with the help of her best friend and coach Bonnie (Jody Foster), commits to achieving her life-long dream: a 110-mile open ocean swim from Cuba to Florida. We talk to screenwriter Julia Cox about what it was like getting to know the real Diana Nyad, structuring the screenplay to create a satisfying sports movie and creating one of the most daunting physical antagonists on the page: the ocean.  “I did think of the ocean as the mother of all antagonists and I tried to structure the screenplay so it didn’t feel too episodic, really focusing on a different obstacle with each attempt [to swim from Cuba to Florida]. In real life, there are sometimes two or three reasons why something happens or doesn’t happen, but in a screenplay, you have the impulse to distill it down and confront each obstacle with enough attention to make that feel tense and satisfying when she overcomes it,” Cox says.   Cox also discusses how this story didn’t fit into typical sports movie tropes.  “It's an unconventional sports movie in that she doesn’t have an opponent. We get a whiff of other people attempting to do the same thing and that creates some tension, but for the most part this is about one woman in the sea, supported by her team but competing against herself. So along with the ocean, her obstacle was often her own body and her own mind and when all these things were aligned, when she made peace about continuing to try, when the elements were working for her, that’s when she was able to make it.” For a deeper dive into the screenplay, take a listen to the podcast.   

“Starting to write a project like this, we always begin with a set of very strong personal desires,” says Anatomy of a Fall writer/director Justine Triet, adding, “I’m quite reticent of scripts that are too clever or that clearly have the intension of disseminating things where information or the person disseminating information has the upper hand over my ability to navigate the narrative.” The new film Anatomy of a Fall won the Palme d’Or at the recent Cannes Film Festival and could be called Anatomy of a Marriage – at least one that ends in a mysterious tragedy. Set in a remote village in the French Alps – perhaps reminiscent of the hotel in The Shining, frustrated writer Samuel (Samuel Theis), is found dead in the snow beneath his family’s chalet and his wife Sandra (Sandra Hüller), becomes the number one suspect in his suspicious death. In this shocking family drama that moves into a chaotic courtroom, the verdict comes down to the couple’s 11-year-old blind son’s gut-wrenching testimony. Directed by Justine Triet from a script written by Triet and her own life-partner Arthur Harari, Triet talks about writing the film from an emotional place and not relying on structure or over-used devices like flashbacks to create a deeper sense of mystery. This film is the best lesson on how to tell a character-driven murder mystery – while keeping the audience guessing – I’ve seen in a long time! Listen to the podcast to go deeper into how Triet crafted the story.

“I’m not happy with a script unless I can look through it and find at least five or six pages where there’s no dialogue – where the story tells itself through imagery,” says horror screenwriter Dennis Paoli. Feeling strongly that the screenwriter’s job is to help the director see their vision for the scenes and characters, he says that instead of writing shot-by-shot, he writes, “Visual by visual. I try to give the important visuals that are inherent in that scene that help tell the story.” Famous for writing the cult-classic body-horror film Re-Animator from 1985, Paoli has a new film called Suitable Flesh starring Heather Graham and Barbara Crampton just in time for Halloween. In Final Draft's Write On podcast we talk about the importance of a screenwriter embracing visual storytelling on the page and discuss the challenges of reinterpreting H.P. Lovecraft’s story The Thing on the Doorstep to create two bewitching female leads. Listen to the podcast to hear more about Paoli’s long working partnership with the late Stuart Gordon (director of Re-Animator), making the “Miskatonic-verse” feel fresh and modern, and planting Easter eggs in the new movie.   

“The Fly was our biggest reference," first time feature writer/director Anna Zlokovic tells Final Draft's Write On podcast about her inspiration for her horror film Appendage. The spooky thriller is about a young fashion designer who sprouts a mysterious growth on her body that changes her life forever.   We sat down with the exciting newcomer -- who was recently listed on IndieWire's 28 Rising Female Filmmakers to Watch in 2023 -- to discuss her inspiration for the film. "That movie just has such an amazing blend of tone where it's tragic and sincere in its tragedy," she said. Listen to Final Draft's Write On podcast to hear more. Appendage premieres on Hulu October 2.

Adult Swim’s animated sitcom Teenage Euthanasia is back for season 2. Set in a futuristic Florida, the Fantasy family is back at it with comedy and unbearable suffering. The show’s cast includes Cheer’s alum Bebe Neuwirth.  Final Draft sat down with the show’s co-creators Alissa Nutting and Alyson Levy - a rare female animation duo in a male dominated industry - to hear about what it’s like to work together, come up with ideas and write this hit show. Teenage Euthanasia's final season premieres September 27 on Adult Swim. Listen to our podcast here. 

The new film Golda – starring a bewitching Helen Mirren as Golda Meir, the Iron Lady of Israel, was written and produced by Nicholas Martin. Martin is best known for writing the 2016 film Florence Foster Jenkins. With two amazing biopics about strong, defiant women, we talk about how to find the moment that defines a character and how to focus the story on a short period of time instead of a cradle-to-grave saga. For Florence Foster Jenkins, it’s her journey to Carnegie Hall and for Golda Meir, it’s the 18-day Yom Kippur War. To Martin’s surprise, that focus on the war turned the film Golda into a thriller.  “The structure was dictated by the phases of the war,” says Martin. “So, it was really a thriller and a war film rather than a personal drama about a woman’s struggle to command a nation at war. That’s what gave it its thriller shape.”  To pinpoint that moment, Martin turned to a quote from Winston Churchill.  “He famously said at the beginning of the Second World War, when he became Prime Minister, ‘All of my mistakes have brought me to this point.’ … And then I thought I think this is the same for Golda… We’ve got such a thumping narrative of the Yom Kippur War, such a clear beginning, middle and end and she’s under so much pressure, I think if we cut away from this it would dilute the tension and it would be mixing genres in a way. So, it seems that just sticking to this one story which is complicated enough, let’s try and keep it simple, tell this one story well,” says Martin.    Listen to this episode to find out more about Martin’s research process, how learning to use a spreadsheet upped Martin’s structure game, and hear why Meryl Streep threatened to never speak to Martin again while making Florence Foster Jenkins.