On the Scene
On the Scene is a gallery of photos exhibiting the interaction of Final Draft, Inc. staff members with the scriptwriting community.

While the US is the central hub of the global film and television landscape, there are certainly other countries around the world that provide groundbreaking entertainment, like the UK, India and – of course – Australia.  Final Draft, Inc. VP of Sales Scott McMenamin was recently invited by the Australian Writers Guild to attend their annual AWG Conference, held last week in Melbourne.  Along with Australia native, AWG honoree, NCIS: Los Angeles creator, and Final Draft user  Shane Brennan, McMenamin braved the 14-hour, cross-continental flight where he attended the event and met with some of the top institutions and minds that make up the framework of the Aussie film community.

While overseas, McMenamin also traveled to Sydney and had the chance to visit Fox Studios Australia, many of the top Australian resellers of Final Draft – like Apple retail stores -- and the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) to discuss how the next generation of screenwriters is learning their craft on Final Draft.  In addition, the writer, producers and editors of Home and Away, one of Australia’s longest-running television programs that has been on the air for almost 25 years, asked McMenamin to join them at their offices to discuss some of the latest features of Final Draft and how they could better leverage those features for production.  They spent the better part of the day together and McMenamin was given an official production script written on Final Draft as a souvenir to bring home to the main office in Calabasas, CA.

At the conference, although he was halfway around the world, McMenamin was surrounded by many familiar and friendly faces, including film producer Ross Grayson Bell (Fight Club) and screenwriter John Collee (Happy Feet), with whom McMenamin shared a bus seat and reading materials en route to the popular AWG Conference cookout.  And, during the speeches given by the top screenwriters and figures of the AWG, McMenamin was caught blushing when Jimmy McGovern (The Street, Moving On, Accused) discussed his love-affair with Final Draft in front of a crowd of hundreds.

Once the official business was done, McMenamin joined the many Australian film pros for cocktails and fine cuisine from the land down-under.  He felt a small dose of the life of a celebrity as he found himself surrounded by Final Draft users who wanted to meet the Vice President of the 20 year-old company.  With friends and colleagues around the globe, it is no wonder that Final Draft remains the entertainment industry standard for screenwriting software.