The Treatment Exercise

Screenwriting month on Writing Forward comes to a close today, and this final exercise looks at a basic component of screenwriting: the treatment.

There are two types of film treatments that screenwriters deal with. One is mandatory, the other is optional. The optional one is called an original draft treatment, and is written before or during the screenwriting process, usually between putting together an outline or creating scene cards (similar to storyboarding) and writing the first draft. It’s mostly used by the writer as a reference point while writing the screenplay itself.

The mandatory treatment is called a presentation draft treatment, and this is the one that will be presented to potential buyers (producers, directors, studio execs) when the screenplay is complete and ready to be sold. It will also be used by producers, directors, agents, and actors who working on preproduction.

If you’ve already finished your screenplay, go right ahead and write that presentation treatment. Everyone else, let’s take a closer look at the original treatment.

This is not at all unlike a short story. Treatments can be up to 40 pages, but this is creative writing, so you bet they can run a lot shorter or longer, depending on the writer and the screenplay itself. No, I’m not going to ask you to write a 40 page treatment, though you’re welcome to write one if you’d like. We’re just going to dip our toes in the water.

From what I gather, a treatment is written in prose style (similar to a short story) and includes the following elements:

• Author bio
• Cast of characters with descriptions
• Locations
• Title of screenplay
• A one-paragraph summary/synopsis/hook

After that, the treatment goes into a detailed summary of script itself, detailing the entire story line. For today’s exercise, try writing a mini-treatment. Include the elements listed above, and a brief summary of the plot.

I realize this exercise could double for novelists. That’s o.k. Many halfway decent screenplays came from novels, so the two are closely related. If you’d rather try this one with a novel in mind, go right ahead. And as always, feel free to post your exercises in the comments, or send them to me.

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