You can take writing a treatment as a chore or enjoy the writing process. The treatment is essential to establish yourself as a serious writer who has a script worth writing and producing. In all probability, the producer, director, or executive-in-charge will want a written proof of the sales talk (pitch) that you have just delivered. A good treatment is a succinct attestation of your caliber as a writer of screenplays. Treatments are sales, guiding as well as diagnostic tools. Consider the following writing treatment tips:
– Write a suitable title and logline.
– Provide complete contact details.
– Register the work with Writers Guild of America and mention the registration number
– Treatments call for a special knack. While including every aspect of the story, be brief and to the point.
– Write in prose form, using present tense.
– Include dialogues only where absolutely essential.
– Selection of appropriate words is very important.
– Try to recount the whole story in such a way that the reader feels as if he is viewing it.
– Avoid filler sentences. The ideal length of the treatment should be one page for every ten pages of the actual script.
Sales tools — The idea for a script can be given a formal shape for the prospective customer to examine, evaluate and purchase and to be converted into a screenplay later on. It is possible for the client to hire someone else to elaborate upon the treatment writing. Therefore, writing a treatment should be so comprehensive that anybody is able to work along its guidelines and produce a completed version. The executive may ask you to perform the task if he views your potentialities favorably. Treatments can set you on the path to a career in creative writing.
Guiding Tools for Writing — Treatment writing acts as a guideline from which the screenwriter can create the final screenplay. It is a map or plan for the writer. Writing a treatment will never be a time waster since the script writer follows the condensed version of the story. In case the treatment does not seem to have bright prospects, revise it before spending time writing the full-length screenplay.
Diagnostic tools – An idea may appeal to you so much that you fail to see the obvious flaws or kinks in it. The viability of the idea for a story can be tested by translating it into a treatment. When an author embarks on a journey of writing a treatment, the pieces may not fit in as envisaged by him initially. The flow may not be rhythmic, pace too slow or any other technical deficiencies that obstruct the writing of the full version of the script. In the event of any such eventuality, the writer can make suitable changes and correct the errors.
There are certain tenets to be followed while writing a treatment for the entertainment industry. Although these are few in number and not too stringent, a writer will have better chances of success by keeping to the industry norms and writing to suit the client’s individual needs.