help with treatment

[scriptwriter74]

So I have an actress that loves my script and wants to send the script to a few producer friends of hers and to her agent, but now she wants a treatment. The problem is I have already completed the script and I didn't use a treatment to write it. It seems backward to write a treatment now, although I understand her friends might not want to have to read the whole script.

Any thought on best style of treatment and do you think this is a reasonable request?

[zagoraz]

It depends on what kind of treatment she wants. Was she any more specific as to what she is looking for in regards to length? Writing a treatment is no easy task, but at least you have a full script to work backwards from. You basically just want to tell the story of your script in prose form, broken down by the acts and plot points. Just pretend like you are explaning the complete script to one of your friends, and make it as conversational and engaging as possible. I would aim for 5-6 pages of double-spaced text.

[scriptwriter74]

She only asked for a 2-3 page treatment, I emailed back for some direction. At that length I am assuming Headers with prose synopsis, I'm concerned of losing the feel of the script.

[dpaterso]

Heh, I'd already have it written by now, and in her hands!

I'd single-space with blank lines between paragraphs for a maximum wordcount/easy-on-the-eye read. At the top of the first page, whether asked for or not, I'd include the catchy logline under the big font title. This is really a written pitch so I'd keep sentences and paragraphs short. And punchy! Assume you're writing for the hard of understanding.

Just my thoughts, not gospel.

-Derek

[icerose]

You're writing a summary for someone with a really short attention span. The actress wants to get your script in the hands of a busy producer who has a very small attention span and wants the story condensed in a couple of pages in a punchy and exciting way. Think of it as distilling it down to the essense. Yes it seems stupid, but a producer doesn't want to waste their time reading a whole script that wasn't fully thought out. If you can show in your treatment (yes it includes the full ending as well as all the spoilers and twists) that your script is solid and well thought out and doesn't go off on weird tangents and have a million loose ends, you're much more likely to get your full script read.

That being said, treatments are a pain to write. I hate them, but they are a forced evil.

[Steve Rotramel]

I'm concerned of losing the feel of the script.

A very fair feeling.

But....

Please be sure to keep your interactions upbeat and helpful in tone. This is a job interview. Don't let it get away from you.

I interviewed a girl to work for my business about a million years ago and the first thing she asked about was workman comp. Translate: "Are you going to have any money if I need to sue you." She didn't get the job.

Don't be difficult! Follow her requests to the letter and keep a positive attitude about your work AND her involvement. It shows through!!

[zeprosnepsid]

Producers likely don't care about the feel of the script, so I wouldn't worry about that so much. They just care about the concept, the genre, the scale (cost) and whether it fits into their current schedule. I understand that you're thinking about this creatively, but they don't think about this creatively -- it doesn't matter whether it's good or not. They're just thinking about whether they can market it and whether it fits in their slate.

[scriptwriter74]

Treatment 90% done as we talk. Thanks for the advice I am approaching as a written pitch.

[TheUnknownAuthor]

Good luck

[creativexec]

This is a synopsis rather than a treatment. I would suggest you break it up into three acts, since it's easier to read that way and gives the reader the sense of the script's structure.

:)

[nmstevens]

She only asked for a 2-3 page treatment, I emailed back for some direction. At that length I am assuming Headers with prose synopsis, I'm concerned of losing the feel of the script.


What she's asking for isn't really a treatment.

She wants you to write coverage of your own script, minus the comment page.

Treatments are, as a rule, much more detailed than two to three pages.

What she is asking you to write, in essence, is a summary of your story as a *selling tool* --

First paragaph on the first page should be a logline.

After that you want to devote maybe half to two-thirds of a page to Act One -- the premise -- setting up your story. Who is about, who are they? What do we need to know about them? What's the problem that's going to drive them through the script?

Then a page and half or so on Act Two -- hitting the major plot complications -- the interesting set pieces that drive the second act. Keep it simple and straight forward. Don't be afraid to simplify and summarize things. If you can't fit everything in -- gloss over it. It won't really matter.

Then a Half a Page to a Page (depending on your story) for Act three to wrap everything up and bring things to a neat close.

But remember -- this is designed to be a selling tool. It's as if you've got ten minutes to tell the story to somebody. You're not going to be able to hit every story point. You may jump over a lot of stuff. Leave a lot of stuff out. That's fine. But you ought to be able to instinctively understand the *key* points in your story -- those places where your characters start off, and where there are *critical turning points* in your story which, if you don't explain them, the whole thing doesn't make sense.

So if you have to just jump over stuff to get from one critical turning point to another, you can do that. But hit those points, make them sound exciting. And they should be exciting. They should have excited you when you wrote them. The *drama* that they contain should be inherent in the situation that you describe.

Understandably, no story that's written at a hundred pages is going to be as effective at two or three, so you need to focus on those moments that, when people read them, they ought to be able to *get* what your story is about. From the small description, they get a sense of the larger, more fleshed-out final project.

The trick is, rather than devoting a single sentence each to ten scenes -- you can summarize most of those scenes and focus on those key scenes and spent three or four sentences describing *those* crucial scenes that are going to more fully convey a sense of what your story is about.

NMS

[scriptwriter74]

Stephanie likes the look of the "treatment/synopsis" and is passing it along. I'll keep you updated.

[Grandmaster]

Please do.
Note also that it's proven - smaller sentences are easiler to absorb.
Many go on about "writing for simpletons" or something of the ilk, but you have to think realistically: this is a person who'll maybe only be half-interested, thus only half-reading your treatment/script, so you're going to have to be direct. Think: concise and you'll get there.

Good luck with this; I know I didn't really offer any advice, however, I did want to try to set the idea right in the minds of future readers.