Screenwriting Basics

The site that I have linked to gives eleven expert tips for beginning screenwriters. The titles of these tips are:
1. The Screenplay as a Blueprint
2. A Script Is Not Literature
3. A Collaborative Art
4. Formatting
5. Read Other Scripts
6. Watch Movies Like A Screenwriter
7. Passion: Yes! Formula: No!
8. Show, Don't Tell
9. Complex, Not Complicated
10. Character Vs. Plot
11. The Old Lady In The Fifth Row
The tip that I thought to be most helpful is the first tip. Screenplays are compared to blueprints because they give a vision of a film as a architect gives a vision of a building structure. "A screenplay conveys the screenwriter's vision and helps the reader-and later the film crew-see what the writer sees". This link gives a very good outline of how a beginning screenwriter may go about putting together a screenplay.