writing a treatment

[juliesh]

I need to write a treatment for a script I'm working on. I plan to give this to an experienced producer, so I want it to look right. All I know about a treatment is that it tells the story in narrative form. Could I get some advice on format, length, etc? Thanks in advance.

[Ruthie]

Julie,

Treatments can be anywhere from one to five pages, depending on the project. I never go over a page and a half (generally people will be interested or not after the first paragraph). Writing a treatment should sound just as interesting as you describing your idea to your best friend.

Format can vary too. I do music videos and a little bit of television work. I use block paragraphs and simply put the title of the project (if you have one) and your name centered in bold at the top.

The first paragraph should describe the tone (comedy, drama...) and a BRIEF description of what your idea is. Always include why your project is different or unique from all the others. The next two paragraphs can give more descriptive details of characters and twists in plot. Next briefly describe your ideas for location, format and post production. One of the most important things to include is your target audience...who's going to want to watch your project.

These are just suggestions based on my experience and the format for the NTSC. Good luck!!

Ruthie

[juliesh]

Thanks Ruthie! That's exactly what I was looking for!

Julie