To help keep your screenplay from being used as kindling instead of being made into a movie, here are five important areas to consider:

1. Picking a Subject for Your Screenplay: What should you write about?

Many people ask what subject should they write about for their screenplay. Should it be a character-driven drama, comedy, period piece, romantic comedy, etc.?
Your screenplay is a calling card for you as the writer. Therefore, you should write a script that illustrates your unique point of view and your voice in the best way possible.
Write a script that people will want to remember you by and that will stick in people's memory. Something that stands out from the crowd so much that it will make a busy manager, development executive or screen writing judge - and eventually a director and actor - not only remember you but, as a result of this screenplay, want to call you!

2. Homework, Oh Homework: Doing your research.

The first and most important thing writers can do to help their writing is to read any and every screenplay on which they can get their hands. The more you read, the more you know what is good, bad or just plain ugly. And you will get a sense of what works in a feature screenplay and what doesn't.

The second thing a writer must do is to really know his/her subject. Take the time to do your research and know everything there is to know about a character, a location, or an event. That way you can ensure that your screenplay feels authentic.

3. POV: Capturing your voice and unique point of view.

One of the most important and, at the same time, most difficult things for writers to learn is how to capture their voice and how to write in their unique point of view.

Capturing their voice means that writers should develop their voice to such an extent that a reader who has read a writer before should be able to pick up a script without a cover page and, after reading 10 pages, immediately know who the writer is.

It is your unique point of view that distinguishes you from everyone else in the world and makes someone want to listen to what you have to say.

4. Make or Break: The first 15 pages.

Most industry professionals only read the first 15 pages before deciding if something is worth reading or better used as kindling.

Your job as the writer is to enthrall the reader and keep the reader's attention so the reader doesn't put the script down. And how do you that you ask?

1) You must introduce your characters in an interesting and thought-provoking way that will get the reader's attention.

2) Never spend a long time on the set up; you want to get to the main story as quickly as possible.

3) If what you are writing is a comedy, make sure you have a lot of big laughs on the first couple of pages.

5. He Said, She Said: Creating great characters.

Writing great characters is key to having a great script for several reasons:

1) Great characters keep the reader engaged and help move your script on to production.

2) Great characters are what makes a director and actor want to sign on to your film (and without them, your script will never get produced).

3) Great characters get an audience to go to your film and then recommend it.

How do you write great characters that keep the reader engaged, make a director and actor want to sign on, and get an audience to go to your film and recommend it?

First, know your characters inside and out. Even if you don't write about every event that happens in their life, you should know them so intimately that - if someone asked you what your character got from her parents for her sixth birthday - you would know the answer.

Second, the more specific you are, the more universal you will actually be. Think MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING, which has the most specific characters ever - a loud Greek girl falling in love with a reserved English guy - and yet the story is incredibly universal.