So, I was reading WGA minimums from last year and I noticed that a script tends to fetch an average of roughly $40,000 more with a treatment than without one. That's a fairly lucrative deal if you ask me, but here's the problem: I've never written one before. Does anyone know how to write treatments? And if so, do you have any hints/tips/insider knowledge you could potentially give to me and the rest of the writing community? Please and thank you.
Screenwriting : Treatments by Tony Ray
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The treatments I've seen are all different. If there's a standard, I haven't found it yet. Mine sort of look like a cross between a long synopsis and an annotated outline.
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Tony: Treatments can be anything from a few pages to a scene-by-scene summary of a screenplay. I recently wrote a screenplay from a director's 43-page summary. I've put a link to examples of treatments for ET and The Shining. However, I think even if you want to go into extensive detail, I wouldn't write more than five pages. My usual logline and synopsis are two pages.
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-film-treatment-definition/
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Would you rather have a car with an engine or those "Flintstone-mobiles" you move with your bare foot?
Can't speak for U.S., but in Europe most places, having a treatment is mandatory...you cannot apply any workshop, fund, whatever without it, many times accompanied by synopsis...
...and as produced scripts, treatments of some of the most successful movies are all over the net...just browse, see, steal...
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I could be wrong but I think the $40K for a treatment is for assignment gigs. Wga Signatory companies pay for treatments first, followed by a screenplay draft. Many writers never cash the whole payment plan.
Lookup Tv writer Javier Grillo-Marxuach. He has a website where he posted actual tv treatments he submitted to networks.
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Here are some tips for writing a treatment, Tony Ray (and the writing community):
1) Make the treatment clear/easy to read.
2) Make the treatment match the genre (if it's a Comedy script, use funny fonts, funny pictures, etc. in the treatment).
3) Include important info in the treatment like logline, genre, budget (estimate), target market, rating, number of characters in the script, etc. I put this info on a page I sometimes title "The Rundown."
4) Make the treatment look professional.
5) Make a table of contents and page numbers so it's easy to navigate the treatment.
6) Make a contact page.
7) Pitch decks are meant to be short pitching tools, so you won't include everything about a script in a pitch deck. Whatever you don't put in a pitch deck, you can put in a treatment.
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I can email you a treatment sample, Tony Ray.
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What's the difference between a synopsis and a treatment?
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In my experience a treatment is approximately four pages long and simply put describes the characters, plot, and action of a film. A treatment can gain copyright protection as stand alone IP. I always advise writers to create a treatment and submit it for copyright. A treatment is more detailed than a synopsis, which cannot be put under copyright protection, in my understanding of copyright provisions.
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Jack, a synopsis is a summary of the story. A treatment has the synopsis in it. A treatment has other information like the character bios, setting, the logline, the genre(s), pictures, etc.
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Manuele, having a treatment can help you pitch your script.
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As I understand it, you would write and be paid $40,000 for a treatment if the buyer requests one.
You're welcome, Manuele.