Thanks for your feedback, guys. I’m approaching this very loosely at the moment; but like others have said, it’s hard to solidify any plans before seeing Ep9.

I don’t want to cut too much of TFA, but may have to chop a significant chunk of it in order to avoid depicting Rey as being on her own and without training. I’ve been replaying TFA’s plotline in my head, just mentally experimenting with what I could cut if I begin with Rey already on Ahch-To rather than on Jakku.

Prologue: a montage (using particularly good fan-film and some video-game clips) giving viewers a sense of key developments (continuing fight against the Imperial Remnant; new Jedi-in-training; Jedi students going to the dark side and forming the Knights of Ren)
The crawl would establish the basic facts of the First Order, Luke’s Jedi school, and the formation of the Knights of Ren
The crawl would also mention the First Order’s intent to track down Force-users and either eliminate or destroy them

From TFA:

Poe on Jakku (searching for potential Jedi students, NOT a “map to Luke”)
Finn’s crisis of conscience; the two of them meet up as in the original, BUT…
…when they escape the Star Destroyer, they don’t get shot down over Jakku; Poe mentions returning to get BB8, and we cut there; it’s assumed they did rescue the droid

Question: Why/how can I get Han, Chewie, Rey and Finn to Takodana, to meet with Maz Kanata, so as to get Rey her “special moment” with Luke’s lightsaber . . . OR . . . should I skip that entire sequence and simply jump to the Resistance planning session for attacking Starkiller Base???