This one 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, 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.
The Three Act Structure
Any discussion of treatment writing should at least touch on basic screenplay structure. Although everyone reading this article is probably familiar with this information, revisiting the basics can be helpful.
In his seminal book of fragments, The Poetics, Aristotle suggested that all stories should have a beginning, middle, and an end. The writing method I have developed uses the expressions Setup, Conflict and Resolution as more evocative terms for describing the movements of a screenplay.
Breaking the movement of a story into three parts, gives us a 3- part or act structure. The word “act” means “the action of carrying something out.”
Many screenplays are organized into a 3-act structure. The tradition of writing in this form comes from the theater and was followed by filmmakers. Think of it as a foundation for building a house that others can easily identify, even if the details are new and original.
Act 1, called the Set-up, The situation and characters and conflict are introduced. This classically is 30 minutes long.
Act 2, called The Conflict, often an hour long, is where the conflict begins and expands until it reaches a crisis.
Act 3, called The Resolution, the conflict rises to one more crisis and then is resolved.
How To Write The Treatment
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.
A film I recently consulted on is called, And Then Came Love. This is a good title because it describes the story and the style or genre it’s written in – a light romantic comedy. The title does not determine whether or the screenplay is good but it can be a great marketing tool. There’s a famous quote that is helpful to keep in mind when naming screenplays: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. Romeo and Juliet (Quote Act II, Sc. II).
If you want a producer to read your script, pick a name that matches your story.
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.
Follow the example below when writing a logline:
And Then Came Love is a character-driven romantic comedy about a high-powered Manhattan single mom who opens Pandora’s box when she seeks out the anonymous sperm donor father of her young son.
Write a synopsis
The third step is to a synopsis. Begin by expanding the logline into a three-act story Start with the end. For example, Let’s work with The Silence Of The Lambs:
Act 3: Clarice Starling catches the killer and saves the intended victim.
Then break down into three acts. For example,
Act 1: While still a student at The FBI, Clarice is asked to help on a case. She’s eager to help and interviews Hannibal Lector who gives her a clue.
Act 2: With his help, she is able to overcome many obstacles, and finds the identity of the killer.
Act 3: She confronts the killer, saves his intended victim and atones for the death of the lamb. The scriptwriter should follow this break down for his or her story, and then expand this into a synopsis.
Follow the example below of And Then Came Love:
Julie (mid 40s), a successful Manhattan reporter-turned-columnist believes she has it all – a great job, a rent controlled apartment, a boyfriend and best of all, an adorable six-year-old son named Jake, whom she conceived via an anonymous sperm donor.
Her perfect world, however, is rocked when she’s called in for an emergency parent-teacher conference and learns that her son has been acting up, needs to be ‘tested’ and is on the brink of expulsion. Over-whelmed, Julie instinctively blames herself… it’s easy to do since her mother has made her feel inadequate for not being a stay-at-home mom.
Julie, however, will not concede that her mother could be right, so she places genetic blame on Jake’s anonymous father. Through a private investigator, Julie learns the identity of the donor and meets him – Paul, a struggling actor and law school dropout. Julie has neither intention nor desire to reveal her identity to him, she simply needs to check her sources, get the facts, and move on.
A child psychiatrist tells Julie that Jake does not appear to have ADHD, but could benefit from a “father figure” in his life. Julie’s boyfriend, a charismatic photo-journalist is up for the challenge and proposes. Julie believes her life is back on course until Paul, the donor, shows up, hoping she’ll promote the offoff Broadway show in which he’s performing.
Jake instantly bonds with Paul. No matter how hard Julie tries to keep Paul from complicating her life, the more he does as he begins to fall for her, and she finds she can not deny her feelings for him, and her boyfriend is pushing to set a date. ( written by Caytha Jentis, writer/producer)
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.
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