Got a fabulous screenplay script idea? Know that a treatment
Got a fabulous screenplay script idea? Know that a treatment comes before the script!
So you’ve got what you think is a superior screenplay script idea. A future Academy Award winner. Here we’ve got the skinny on what precedes your writing that screenplay the treatment. The treatment is what sells your idea. Then comes the screenplay script.
A screenplay does not start out as an idea that is transformed into a screenplay script. Before the script is written, the idea must be written in what is called a treatment. A treatment is written in a manner similar to a short story of about two to three pages long. Treatments often summarize best selling novels, but they also represent a true, creative act of fiction writing. The treatment may be considered both a work of fiction and a proposal. As a proposal, it must sell the story to the producer or potential director. This means using all the power of language and storytelling to engage that reader. It also means presenting timely subjects, in which the movie-going public will have an interest.
For example, after the Vietnam War, many writers produced provocative, intelligent, meaningful treatments about the war, yet these were consistently shunned by movie producers and studios because the public had grown sick and weary of the war and wanted to forget. There might have been some masterpieces among the many Vietnam War treatments created then, but without public interest, they were left to gather dust.
It makes no sense to begin writing a script until somebody or some organization has agreed to produce the movie, based on the treatment. Getting the treatment out to potential producers is the job of a creative writer’s agent. Most screenplay writer agents are located where most movies are made, in Hollywood, New York, or, in rising numbers, in Toronto. A screenplay writer can find agents advertised in writers’ journals and writer market resource books. Rather than send the agent a screenplay script, you send the agent your treatment. You may find an agent who rejects your treatment, but likes your work. Experienced agents recognize talent when they see it. They may reject your treatment yet request that you send other treatments. It’s also advisable to write several treatments before you submit your first.
A screenplay script is not written until some producer, director, studio or company accepts the treatment for production. Aspiring screenplay writers are often dismayed to find their treatment is accepted, but writing the screenplay script is assigned to someone else, or even to a team of writers. You may work closely with that writer or writers, like an apprentice. Ask your agent to make your participation a condition. Don’t be in a rush to write screenplays right away. Working with seasoned writers will give you exposure to tried and proven professional writers. They may treat you condescendingly, but the knowledge and experience you acquire will, in the end, finally qualify you to write screenplays instead of treatments alone.
