I am playing around with a feature idea and trying to bring "many" ideas together.

Questions like, when to start the film, sub plots, secondary characters, timeframe etc are all running around in my head and beginning to annoy me as I try and organise them in a meaningful way. When I start writing notes the order doesn't seem right.

Clearly the world is not short of advice on writing screenplays,  however, in order to make sense of all this I  wonder if anyone has come across a decent, comprehensive checklist that you can use before starting.

Any suggestions welcome.

If not there does seem the need for one, well for me anyway!

The most appropriate and simultaneously useless piece of advice:

Trust your gut. Do what feels right.

almost answered my own question with a 100 question list at scriptlab. For those who wish to know the link  is;

http://thescriptlab.com/screenwriting/story/development/26-story-questionnaire

however, if anybody has something a little more organised it would be great to compare.

cheers

I like the beat sheet in Save The Cat...you can find them online. It just helps figure out a timeline ...sort of when to do what. I think having some structure has greatly helped me.
Here is a link that has a brief example of the beat sheet.

http://gideonsway.wordpress.com/2009/11/01/save-the-snyder-the-blake-snyder-beat-sheet/

Then this is another good one with examples of movies and how different things fit in at different times that I like:

http://www.storymastery.com/articles/30-screenplay-structure

Good luck on your feature I can't wait to read it.

The opening scene for me is always a slice of the entire film.
For instance, the opener of Zombie Playground:

Sure, it's a grabber/establishing scene with the origins of the Bite.
But we also see a family dynamic that's out of whack being the impetus.
If Figgis and Coach D got on better, I'm sure little sister could talk him out of it.
Which is a foreshadowing of the two dysfunctional families that drive the story.

And that's also using my supporting characters to support my theme of family.

Regards,
E.D.