Writing a video treatment is a critical step in the development of your film. A good treatment will give your movie a solid foundation and help you work with other filmmakers to make it happen. In this article, we’ll go over the basics of writing a treatment, including how long it should be, what goes into one, and more.
What Is a Treatment?
A treatment is a document that outlines what will be shown in a film or video. It helps to outline the story, characters, and plot. It also includes information on how each scene should look and feel. Treatments are important because they help filmmakers communicate their vision to others involved in the production of the film or video.
Why should you write one?
If you’ve written a script for your video, then writing a treatment is the next step. A treatment can help you sell your idea to potential investors and partners. If you’re trying to pitch a project to a distributor or studio, it can help them get on board with your vision for the project.
Why Do You Need a Film Treatment?
A film treatment is a short script that details the story, characters, and setting of your film. It’s also known as an outline, synopsis, or story bible.
This is your opportunity to explain to potential investors what your film is about, who will be in it and why they should care about it.
The goal of this document is not to give away all of the plot points or twists in your movie, but rather to give an overview of what happens in each scene, who the characters are and where the story takes place.
Here are some other reasons why you need a treatment:
You can use your treatment as a writing exercise before you start working on your screenplay or screenplay adaptation. You can also use it as a way to get feedback from others before writing your first draft.
If you want to pitch your project, having a treatment ready can help you sell yourself as someone who knows what she wants from her project and how she plans to achieve it.
How Long Should a Treatment Be?
Treatment can range anywhere from one page to several pages long, depending on what you’re writing about. A one-page treatment is sufficient if you’re pitching an idea or concept to investors or selling a script to agencies or studios. If you’re writing a longer screenplay or feature film, however, you might need more than just one page to describe your story and characters.
4 Elements of a Film Treatment
Treatments contain detailed descriptions of the setting, theme, character roles, and plot in order to show how the story will play out for the audience. A good treatment should include:
1. Title
The title should be short and catchy, but also descriptive of the story.
2. Logline
The logline is a one-sentence summary of your story that explains what happens in your movie without giving away any major plot points.
3. Plot summary
This should include everything that happens in your plot from beginning to end. You can use bullet points or write it out like a story. Your goal here is to give readers an overview of what happens in your script without giving away too much detail or spoiling the ending.
4. Key characters
Include any important characters that appear in your story. If there are multiple characters with similar roles, list them separately under their respective names.
6 Steps to Write a Video Treatment
Video treatments are a form of script that is usually written in either the third-person or first-person point of view. It’s an outline of what will occur in the video, including the major scenes, shots and sound.
Here are six steps to writing a treatment for your video:
Step 1: Create an outline
The first step in writing a treatment is to create an outline. You can start by using a standard three-act structure or use a more advanced approach, like Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet. The important thing is to make sure that your story has enough beats and characters so that it won’t feel too short, but not so many that it’s confusing for the audience.
Step 2: Write a video summary
A video treatment is a synopsis of your script. It’s important to write one before you begin shooting, because it will help you organize your thoughts and explain the story to others.
Step 3: Write an intro
Start by writing an intro for your treatment. This will be the first thing that your viewer sees when they open up their email or browser window.
Step 4: Create a storyboard
A storyboard is like an outline of the main scenes in your video, but it also includes details about how those scenes will look visually. This will help you plan out exactly what shots you need to tell your story effectively.
Step 5: Write a script
A script is a written outline of all the scenes in your video and what happens in each scene. It’s like writing a novel or screenplay, but much shorter. The length of your treatment will depend on how long you want your video to be, but most treatments are between two to five pages long.
Step 6: Make sure everything flows together well
Most producers will want to see how all the pieces fit together in one document, so it’s important that each scene flows smoothly into the next scene. This will help them visualize the story, and they’ll know what goes where in the final product.
