. Film Treatments How to write a film treatment Generally speaking, a film's treatment is similar to that of an overview or synopsis of the film idea. It usually ranges from 8 to 15 pages and includes all the important conceptual elements, structured in 3-5 acts, each with a beginning, middle and end. When you submit your script, your treatment will often be the first document to be glanced over. If the main concept is enjoyable and your treatment is well written, maybe just maybe your script will make it into the hands of the "professional script reader". This is an important element of screenwriting which you should know about. When you submit your script to producers, you will not be submitting your scripts to the major decision makers first. Your script will first have to pass through a filter that these large production companies have put in place. Large production companies hire professional readers who go through the many scripts the company receives on a daily basis and they weed the bad options out. Sometimes the professional reader will reject a script if it's not formatted or packaged properly. Or more often, they will reject poorly written scripts or scripts with little or no commercial value. They can often decide these factors within a few short minutes or sometimes even seconds after taking a quick browse through your treatment. If your treatment is well composed, interesting and has commercial potential, the professional reader may actually take a look through your script. If your script manages to capture their interest, they might then take a full read though it. After this point, if they still feel strongly towards it, they will forward your script to their manager or a producer who will then take another read through the script. How hard is it to get your script past the professional reader? Well, it's really not that hard. While professional readers say they usually reject 95% of the scripts that come across their desks, this doesn't provide us with any insight into how much pure unprofessional junk they read. Imagine you asked 10 of your friends to write you a short story which would be about 15 pages long. Most of these people would have limited or little writing experience. They may love the experience of writing and they may even love their little 15 page story. However, just because they love their work it doesn't mean that the general audience will. Image how many of your friends' short stories you would reject right away. Probably about 60%. If you were looking at publishing only 1 of them, you would probably find that some lacked proper structure, others were printed in fonts that were too small or too hard to read, others had stories which were simply not believable or too boring and personal. Out of the 40% that remain, even if the stories are good, you will be able to knock off many more because they do not have enough commercial potential, perhaps because they are not conflict-ridden enough or perhaps have too much violence or sexual content. The end result is 1 or 2 short stories which could make the grade. The purpose of this next section is to show you how to not be in the first 60% that get wiped out because of poor presentation, formatting, structure or obvious lack of commercial interest. Better yet, we can show you how to get your script past these professional readers and into the hands of executive producers. Your film treatment is going to consist of a cover page, a table of contents, author bio, cast of characters and lastly and most importantly your film treatment itself.   Continue Below... Film Ideas Film Treatments Film Outlines Using Index Cards The 3 Act Structure The Beginning The Middle & End How to create subplots   .

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