Make a concept out of your movie idea. The movie idea may be the actual concept or a part of the concept you will make into a movie. Your concept must be short and clear and it should be able to answer the basic question "What is the story all about?" For instance, a movie idea can initially be "a love story about a foreigner and a local." The final concept can be "an Asian businessman and an American artist need to make life-changing choices to make their long-distance relationship work."
Turn your concept into a story line. A story line provides the main details that happen in the story. This usually ranges from a one-page to a five-page document. The story line guides you in making a script as this allows you to see if the flow of the story works from start to end. Going directly to scriptwriting may result in major revisions if the main details are not polished prior to making the script.
Write your script and follow the industry format when making it. A script generally uses the "Courier New" font or any similar font that is easy to read. The format provides a heading for each sequence, then each sequence is numbered chronologically. It also describes the sequence's location and time frame.
For instance, for an opening sequence set on a basketball court, the format can be "Seq. 1. Int. Basketball court. Night." This means that the film's first sequence happens in an interior setting, specifically in a basketball court. The sequence also happens in an evening. After this, a scene direction in paragraph form is written right below the sequence's heading. This describes the details that happen in the sequence. If there is a character who speaks in any part of the sequence, the character's name and speaking lines will follow the scene direction describing what the said character does, while speaking.
Register your script at the U.S. Copyright Office. This protects you as the owner of your work. As of August 2011, you must pay a $35 processing fee for the registration. Although this is not a requirement when pitching your movie idea to a movie studio or producer, this is essential to avoid getting your work stolen and you have no reliable proof that you own the material.
Prepare the documents you will need to pitch. Aside from the script itself, you must make a logline, a one-sentence description of your movie idea that is usually the same as your concept. You must also provide a one-page synopsis or storyline that movie executives can read. They usually read these documents first before moving on with the script, if they find the shorter documents interesting. If you feel it will help, prepare some visual aids like drawings of possible scenes in the movie or a storyboard to support your presentation.