You have an idea for a movie. A good idea. Maybe the best anyone's ever had. You've seen what's showing at the mall and, Lord knows, you can do better. Overwhelmed by your own glorious surge of creativity, you decide you'll ship it off to Spielberg when you're through. Yeah. He'll love it.
The storyline has been brewing for a long time now in your mind. The couple of friends bright enough to comprehend the significance of your idea have agreed that you've got a real winner. But they're gone now. They're home watching a game on TV or cuddling it up with their special cozy, while you, driven, misunderstood and lonely, sit and stare at your cold computer, willing something to happen after those magical first two words: FADE IN.
But nothing does.
Not to worry. Step #1 is so simple you'll feel embarrassed that you ever let it intimidate you:
Step #1: Talk Your Story Out On Paper
That's all there is to it. It's called A Treatment and all you have to do is simply talk your story out on paper the way you'd talk it out with your best friend, letting it flow onto your pc screen. Don't worry about how it sounds or about the words you're choosing and, for heaven sakes, don't worry that it doesn't look like a script. That comes later. The most important thing to remember in doing this simple exercise is that you aren't so much telling the story as you are talking about the story. If you were across the table from a buddy, telling them about a movie you saw last night, your treatment would sound much like that. You'd be hitting the highlights, telling them the juicy parts, in a way selling them on going to see the movie. That's the purpose of a treatment; to tell your story in such a juicy manner that whoever is reading it just has to read the entire script. You're selling them on that idea.
Important Tip
You wouldn't start assembling ingredients to cook a dish unless you knew what dish you were preparing. You wouldn't start out on a trip without knowing your destination. Don't start writing until you know how your story ends! Write the ending first. It may change later, but the important thing is to know your destination.
Questions, Questions, Questions (I'll just bet you're asking)
(1) What's so special about a treatment?
(2) How is it supposed to look when it's finished?
(3) Do I submit it along with a screenplay when I'm ready to market my work?
(4) Can I protect my treatment from theft?
Answers, Answers, Answers
(1) What's so special about your treatment is that it's the only chance you'll get to be truly creative in the writing of a screenplay. It's the meat of your script. It's where you'll work out story points and conflicts. It's where you'll find the holes in your story and fix them. It's your guide in writing your script because a screenplay is nothing more than a set of notes to a production crew, and those notes come from the interpretation of this original treatment. It's the place where your mind will cartwheel and nose-dive. It's where you are truly the creator.
(2) It will be no less than 3, nor more than 10 pages, long - with 8 being the ideal.
(3) Do you send a treatment along with your script when you're ready to begin marketing your work? Never. You only send a treatment when it's been asked for. The secret is to write a treatment before you start your screenplay, then edit it again when you've completed your screenplay, and you'll be absolutely prepared should a producer request one. You want to be a professional screenwriter? You want to hang out your shingle that tells the world you are Ready (with a capital "R") to take money for your good work? Then get your goods together. Write that treatment!
(4) To be honest, you can't really protect your treatment, your screenplay, or your idea, from theft. Not really. But you can make every effort to keep from being plagiarized by registering it with the Writers Guild of America, East or West.
"Dean had been an aspiring screenwriter. Why hadn't I done more to help him? Why did I do so much for strangers? How many times had he come through my office door, waving a stack of papers. 'Hey, Mom,' he'd say. 'I've got a great idea for a movie. These are some notes I've written on it. Why don't we-?' and I'd shoo him away with a merry little, 'Great. Toss it in that box under my desk. I'll get to it as soon as I have time.'
Time.
How could I know we had so little?"
(Excerpt: "Dear Dean...Love, Mom", Wisdom Trends, imprint of L&L Dreamspell Publishing)
Welcome!
This is the place we roll up our sleeves and stop talking like a wannabe screenwriter and start becoming a pro. I know you're trainable, it's a matter of determination. If you're determined to learn, I'm determined to teach you.
If you've gotten the ear of a Director of Development or someone in the film business in a position to buy your script, or at least to read it, you will probably first be asked to give them a One Page before they ask for an entire script.
That's not as daunting as it sounds ("How will I ever get 121 pages down to one page! Don't they know I had to cut 275 pages down to 121 in the first place!" I can hear you moaning). To write a one page you have to first write a screenplay. You can't boil down what hasn't been built up.
Now you take that script and you write what amounts to a review or, if you're academically inclined, a book report. You make that one little page sizzle and sing. You can only choose a few words, but by thunder they will be the best words in the universe!
No dialogue. No directions to the director. Just a quick peek at a dynamic story.
"SIMON'S SUMMER"
by
Esther Luttrell
GENRE: "Oliver!" Contemporary children's story with enough plot and character development to appeal to adults.
LOG LINE: The child that nobody wants, steals dogs that nobody wants - and becomes one of Arizona's Most Wanted.
SYNOPSIS: Nine year-old SIMON doesn't seem to fit in anywhere, especially not with the foster families who use him to benefit from government and county funds. Determined to strike out on his own, by the time the credits are over he's run away from the last family he ever intends to do him harm.
Somewhere between Phoenix and Sedona he meets up with DOG, a cowardly and abandoned canine of origin as undertermined as his own. Not that Simon wants a stupid, ugly dog; he surely doesn't! However, when Dog is captured by old, mean-spirited WENDELL WEBSTER, self-determined animal control authority, well...the kid doesn't much like that, either. He knows what it feels like to be pinned up where you don't want to be. So, he sets about to free Dog, only to end up working for Webster, against his will, in exchange for food and shelter. But he has a plan. Instead of putting dogs to sleep, as he's instructed to do, he spirits them to an abandoned shed in the woods, biding his time until they can all, himself included, break away to freedom.
The shed belongs to school board official DOLLY FARMER, sister of SHERIFF BOB, who gives a charity Turkey Bake twice a year to benefit the local church, and is considered by one and all to be an angel on earth. Simon doesn't buy it for a minute. What's her angle, he keeps asking himself...What's her gimmick?
MARK JEFFERSON, news photographer and fiance of pretty KATY MILLER, likes the kid so much he rescues him from Webster (after a skirmish that nearly sends Simon back to juvenile authorities!). Simon's never had a real friend before and takes to Mark the way Dog took to Simon. Nothing's ever made him so proud as when Mark takes him on photo shoots as a "junior assistant"! Katy, however, isn't as convinced that an orphaned African American child has a place in Sedona, let alone in their life. And she feels terrible for admitting it. Nonetheless, when Mark's away at a news convention, it falls her lot to babysit him. Still hung-up on trying to figure pious Dolly Farmer's "game", Simon stumbles onto a moonshine operation concealed by a false barn on Dolly's property! Webster is in on the illegal activities, along with Sheriff Bob. The coveted Turkey Bake turns out to be nothing more than a cover for stealing turkeys from the school lunch program and selling them to the adoring public under the guise of Charity - all the while running a lucrative moonshine business on her wooded property! With a bit of skillful sleuthing, Simon and Katy expose the ring, save the dogs, see that Webster gets his just dessert, and run good ol' Dolly Farmer out of town! It ends with Katy and Mark's wedding - and the great news that Simon's adoption has been approved! Husband/father, wife/mother, abandoned kid/adored son - all in one day! And, of course, they, and Dog, will live happily ever after. THE END.
For years Directors of Development and others have asked screenwriters to provide them with a treatment of the writer's story. For years we've complied. No more.
I've shown you how to properly write one, but there is a better way, if you have the courage to follow through.
Ask whoever asked you for a treatment to read ten pages of the actual screenplay. Ken Rotcop (google Ken for credentials) quotes a letter in his excellent book, "The Perfect Pitch", that he told me has proven to be 100% successful. The letter states reasons why you, the writer, are asking to submit ten pages rather than a treatment.
When I was in development at MGM, I was told repeatedly that the reason treatments were requested was that no one wanted to plow through an unknown writer's script.
Don't fall for the treatment routine. Let them see how well you write an actual script. Let them see how professional you are, how much homework you've done to become a professional script writer.
It will take them no longer to read your ten pages than it would have taken them to read your treatment, and they're going to have a much better idea of what your screenplay is about than if they'd read a condensed version of it in treatment form.
Don't thank me when you get that first offer (after submitting your ten pages, and then the entire screenplay). Thank Ken Rotcop. In fact, if you really think you're ready for the Hollywood marketplace, Ken's is the ONLY pitchmart our official site recommends.
When I wrote the book "Dear Dean...Love,Mom" I hoped writers who have taken my workshops, or who have come to me for guidance of any kind, would understand why their success is so
