Think through your story carefully. Not all stories can sustain a two-hour movie. Ensure the story has enough conflict and momentum to carry it through a feature-length film. According to the website of John August, writer of films such as “Big Fish” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” the purpose of the outline stage is to pinpoint problems early on so they can be fixed before writing the actual script.
Create interesting characters. The outline will tell the story of the protagonist (good guy) and the antagonist (bad guy), and so it is crucial that you, the writer, understand who these people are. Their actions throughout the story must make sense to the audience because they will lead to the inevitable confrontation. Keep the audience off-balance by conjuring characters that are unique to your perspective.
Identify the big moments in your story. These moments, often called “beats,” represent the highlights of your movie. A film with a three-act structure typically has nine significant beats, the most important of which are: the inciting incident, the midpoint, the low point and the climax.
Sketch out the scenes that fill in the space between your big beats. These are important scenes too, because they provide important information (called “exposition") to the audience, comic relief and action (“set pieces”).