Thanks for this, Dan. It raises a point: A biographer or novelist has a kind of obligation to go into more detail about character appearance and locations than a screenwriter. The screenwriting mantra -- "Minimum words. Maximum impact." -- reflects that reality. Since character parts are going to go through a process with casting directors and the film's director, a screenwriter has no control over how a character looks. What we do control is the construction of a character's psychological nature.

Thus, I advise writers to focus more on the psychology and personality of a character, when introducing them, rather than their physical nature ... unless the latter is a reflection of their persona.

Beware the temptation to write "she's beautiful, but doesn't know it" which has become such a screenwriting trope, it immediately causes eyes to roll on the part of a script reader. Yet another reason to focus on a character's psychological makeup rather than appearance, ensuring the writer avoids that physical description trap altogether.