Are you Writing A Screenplay Treatment?

Are you Writing A Screenplay Treatment?

So, you’ve written a great book.

Excellent!

Now you’re ready to shop it as a screenplay and you’re not sure where to start. Glad you decided to stop by. The opportunity to slide your story under the nose of a Hollywood exec is remote at best, yet many writers sabotage themselves before they even start.

How so?

They write substandard treatments. A treatment is a summary of the story. Treatments are one of the most effective marketing tools in the film industry. If you know how to write one, you’re half way there.

Writing A Screenplay

Writer to Writer

When marketing a movie idea, there are three main components:

1)Your Pitch

2)Your Treatment

3) Your Full Draft Manuscript.

A typical treatment is 10-40 pages long. In some cases, the fewer well-rounded pages, the better. In others, a longer workup is preferred. Most treatments begin with one or two descriptive sentences called a Log Line. Both protagonist and antagonist are introduced. Hint at the plot without revealing the end. You can write in outline form or bullets, listing chronological events, major characters, and key locations.

The most important thing you need to remember is to ask what form the exec you’re targeting wants the treatment delivered in and follow it to the letter.

Google Screenplay treatments. You’ll find a lot of tips. There are hundreds of thousands of stories written every year. Rise above the fog with an excellent treatment and you just may have your day at the movies.

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Judith Cassis

Judith Cassis is a New York Times Best Selling ghostwriter and book coach. She has been leading writers workshops, retreats and events since 1999. Her company, Success Made Simple, provides guidance and resources for writers planning to publish books, blogs and articles.
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