- Who is the protagonist?
- What is the protagonist’s situation at the beginning of the film?
- Who or what is the antagonist?
- What event or occasion serves as a catalyst?
- What is the protagonist’s dramatic action? (first act in the direction of need/want)
- What is the antagonist’s dramatic action?
- How is the protagonist’s action resolved?
- Do you have any images or ideas, however unformed, as to the climax? The ending?
If you can’t answer these questions, executives will believe you have no story. Skirting the lines of convention always, never fully breaking it.