PicoBlog

I was pulled into a conversation on Twitter about this today and figured I'd share my thoughts. While not horror-specific, the act of presenting a screenplay's story in different formats is a huge part of the job that is hated, but generally required at some point.

The first issue is, the term TREATMENT can be confusing because it has become conflated frequently with SUMMARY, BEAT SHEET, OUTLINE, and other industry terms like "one-pager" and the despised "A WRITE UP." Add in personal style, and it's hard to say there's a right way.

This is what I was taught, and I will give the caveat, that these could be considered "wrong" by some. So my first piece of advice is, if you're asked for a treatment, get clarity. Ask back: "Hey, what format do you like to see treatments in?" to save yourself some time.

A TREATMENT, in my book, is a prose document, around 10ish pages, that tells your script's story in a simple, clear, thorough way, beginning to end. It is NOT a pitch, so there's no hyperbole, minimal hooking, and no secrets. This is a doc for people who want to MAKE the movie NOT to try and hook people into the concept. That would have come BEFORE this. Don't write with an audience in mind, think of it as a brief for collaborators. You can add some flavor and fancy writing, but it should be minimal. Focus on the core story and character arcs.

If you are writing this pre-script, look at your story-breaking material. A treatment should cover your key beats and act breaks. If you're doing this post-script, find those moments and do the same. Don't write scene by scene, write by sequences. What's the hook, who's the lead, what's the quo, what's the catalyst-- write these broad points with a little detail on how they connect. It's okay to dip a little into your best scenes, but it shouldn't be beat by beat, (that's a beat sheet).

Stylistically, I've seen a few variations. Some people number the paragraphs, which is probably because it was adapted from a beat sheet or outline. Some people like to put in where the act breaks or big beats are to break things up. I've also seen people do this with clever lines like AND HERE'S WHERE IT GOES SOUTH. Robert Towne's Chinatown treatment was also a bit of a hybrid outline, but each bit was headline with a line of dialogue. It reads amazingly, but also-- Robert Towne.

And since I brought it up... a SUMMARY is this same info, but super abbreviated. They tend to be requested as one-pagers or three-pagers (ish). These should just be the broad strokes of the story, and the start, mid, and end of the character arcs. A BEAT SHEET is a bulleted/list form of your key plot points, character steps, and genre-specific sequences with a bit of description. An OUTLINE is a scene by scene breakdown. (Not to be confused with your personal writer's outline, which is whatever youy want it to be). Which brings me to the next point-- All of these have a specific purpose and audience.

If you're being asked for any of these, they are for people potentially producing and they should have already been pitched and know the story, or even have read the script. No need to try and sell or wow them. They just want information. While a summary might be sent outside the camp, the rest have a purpose for production. Treatments let producers know the story so they can hold it in their minds, pitch it, and have an overview. A beat sheet is an abbreviated way for departments like production design, camera, wardrobe, etc to be able to "see" the scope of things without needing a script. Outlines can be used as breakdowns or rough budget work. So again, it pays to ask ahead what is actually needed.

Bonus material! Here's how I think of it, which may or may not help you. Given that I don't trust my definition of these things always matches what people want (again, for the third time ASK) I think of this stuff as clothing sizes: XS, S, M, L, XL.

Once I have my story broken, I tend to write what I think of as the MEDIUM document. (This is when I am pitching on an OWA or going out with a TV pilot. For spec features I generally don't do these cause the script services most needs.) My MEDIUM document is a treatment as described above to cover the story, and a few more pages talking about themes, vibes, bigger ideas, etc. My medium doc with added hooky-ness and hyperbole becomes my pitch. I will commit it to memory and come up with a whole song and dance.

With that extra material, interpretive dance elements, and annoying OMG WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN bits cut out, I can shine the MED up to being a treatment of just the story easy. I can also cut it down to just the basics for a SMALL, which is what I give when asked for a summary. An Extra-Small is generally my log-line, or premise, which I usually already have before writing, but I still figure it into this paradigm for my own OCD and computer organization.

Generally speaking, the Medium document has everything, so I can also edit it into being a beat sheet or outline if I have to-- but I generally push back on these cause it's extra work. If the script is written, I just export some scene reports and jazz them up. A LARGE to me, is when I end up doing a pitch deck. It's all the medium material, plus pics and visual stuff and sexy layout. An XL is just for TV stuff, which is when I am asked to do a bible. Usually this means I am expanding greatly on the TV specific parts of the material.

So even though they are annoying to write, treatments come in handy. There's been times when breaking or scripting I've switched to writing a med/treatment because it helps find flow and for me gets me over humps... that said, no one really likes writing them.

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