Garth, you've hit on one of the reasons I launched the daily Page One series 5 years ago: to drive…
In terms of what's the most important element of a first page: I'm tempted to say EVERYTHING because that's true in a way. But a more…
Garth, you've hit on one of the reasons I launched the daily Page One series 5 years ago: to drive home the importance of a script's first page.
In terms of what's the most important element of a first page: I'm tempted to say EVERYTHING because that's true in a way. But a more realistic answer is genre and story dependent.
Let's say you're writing a horror movie and you want to begin the script with a frightening incident which will be referenced later in the story. There your forcus would likely be (a) make sure it's scary and (b) plant the "seed" of whatever exposition the opening scene introduces which will be called back later, so the script reader makes the connection between the opening and the later event.
That's just one example. I would say as the writer, you must reflect on what you want to accomplish with the opening scene and how the first page can best facilitate that goal.
In terms "more in-depth analysis of the script beyond just the first page," here's a series hosted in my blog archives: Go Into The Story Script Reading & Analysis Series.
https://gointothestory.blcklst.com/go-into-the-story-script-reading-analysis-series-ced4b77fc285
At present, there are 121 movie scripts from the last decade analyzed per Plot, Characters, Themes, and Dialogue along with a Scene-By-Scene Breakdown for each script.
Enjoy!