| When you are preparing to write a screenplay or | | | | treatment, you definitely won't capture it in the |
| even preparing to do a major rewrite, it is very | | | | screenplay itself, because it already shows that |
| helpful to create a blueprint or treatment of what | | | | something is missing. |
| you are going to write prior to actually writing or | | | | Once you have the whole story fleshed out with |
| rewriting it. This is what a treatment is used for. | | | | the plot, character arc, and theme all working |
| It will help you layout the direction of the entire | | | | together, and emotionally you are moved deeply |
| screenplay and work out some of the kinks | | | | when you read it, then you are ready to write |
| before jumping into the whole thing. | | | | your screenplay. The only caveat about that is |
| A treatment can be anywhere from 3 to 10 | | | | that I recommend that you have a professional |
| pages. Think of it as being an in-depth synopsis of | | | | review the treatment before you go on and write |
| your story. As you can imagine, it is much easier | | | | it, simply because they may respond to it |
| to edit and make changes to a story that is | | | | differently. |
| under 10 pages than it is to make changes on a | | | | But for sure, you should work your story out in |
| 100+ page script. | | | | the treatment first. Oftentimes, when I critique a |
| If you work out all the story issues, character | | | | script and it needs a fair amount of work, I will |
| arc, and theme aspects in the treatment, it will | | | | recommend the writer go back to the treatment |
| save you an enormous amount of work when | | | | stage and rework it before rewriting the script |
| you write the screenplay itself. | | | | itself. This have proven to be very beneficial. |
| A treatment for a screenplay is simply a narrative | | | | The treatment is more of a mini-rendering of the |
| of all the major actions and characters from start | | | | story and must paint the mood of it. |
| to finish. It has no dialogue whatsoever. (Okay, | | | | If you likened the treatment to building a house, |
| you can put one or two great lines of dialogue in | | | | you could think of it as being like a full-color |
| if you must, but only to show the flavor of the | | | | sketch of the interior of the house. It would be a |
| character.) But don't spend much time on the | | | | sketch of the colors of the living room and the |
| dialogue in the treatment as you might end up | | | | curtains, the couches and pillows. It would have all |
| throwing out any given scene before you finalize | | | | the mood that the final one would have, but it |
| the treatment, and then you will have wasted | | | | would nevertheless be only a sketch of it. You |
| time on the dialogue. | | | | could also think of the treatment as a miniature |
| Your treatment should be compelling, just as the | | | | or scale model of the screenplay. |
| screenplay will be. When you read it, you should | | | | As mentioned previously, a treatment can be |
| connect with the story emotionally. If it doesn't | | | | 3-10 pages long. Single-spaced within the |
| affect you emotionally, then you should keep | | | | paragraphs with a double space between |
| working on capturing the emotion in the | | | | paragraphs. Use a 12-point font that is easy to |
| treatment before you go on to writing the | | | | read (Arial, Courier, Times New Roman). |
| screenplay. If you can't capture it in the | | | | |