How To Write a Treatment
This two to five page document should read like a short story and be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story including the ending, and use some key scenes and dialogue from the screenplay it is based on.
What Should Be in the Treatment?
A Working title
The writer's name and contact information
WGA Registration number
A short logline
Introduction to key characters
Who, what, when, why and where.
Act 1 in one to three paragraphs. Set the scene and dramatize the main conflicts.
Act 2 in two to six paragraphs. Should dramatize how the conflicts introduced in Act 1 lead to a crisis.
Act 3 in one to three paragraphs. Dramatize the final conflict and resolution.
Find A Title:
Whether the screenwriter is creating a new story or writing a treatment based on an existing script, the first step is to make sure that the screenplay has a good title. The first contact a prospective producer has with a script is the title. Pick a title that gives a clear idea of what genre the screenplay is written in. (See my 2-part article that appeared in this magazine for more detail on genre. A good title can predispose a producer or reader to like a screenplay because it suggests the kind of experience that is in store and arouses curiosity. Great classic film titles include It Happened One Night, Psycho and Die Hard.
Write a logline:
The second step is to write a logline. Preparing a log line for your screenplay is a basic marketing tool that I have repurposed for developing treatments. It is similar to the summary given in TV Guide. It is a technique for boiling down a plotline to its essence that has been described as trying to vomit into a thimble.
Write a synopsis:
The third step is to a synopsis. Begin by expanding the logline into a three-act story Start with the end
Writing Treatment:
Once the synopsis is written, the preparation is complete and the screenwriter can take the synopsis and expand it into a treatment by correcting structure and adding detail. Now write your treatment following this sample movie treatment.
YOU ARE READING
ScriptWriting
Non-FictionAnything and everything I found useful from my Scriptwriting class. From learning how to analyze movies and how they and how they are set up, to learning how to write an actual script
