Creating Your Treatment
2.20.22
Treatments aren't made for length and vocabulary. It is simply a laying foundation for the script before more details are discussed.
Here is an example from my treatment for my Independent Project, Heartbroken.
"They face each other, and JJ speaks. He trembles in embarrassment and a gush of red warms his cheeks. CJ stands rigid as the rain starts to grow obnoxiously loud."
The writing is simple, short, and even a bit monotone. That's what you want in a treatment. Everything needs to be concise, and we are only reading what we see, hear, or experience. Not what we know or feel. That is the viewer's job.
There is a lot in this sequence that we can imply from action. For example, JJ's behavior. In this scene, JJ is about to confess to his best friend CJ. He is embarrassed, and visibly nervous. What we feel from him is the built up fear of finally letting go of feelings that have been held inside for years. On the other hand, CJ's reaction shows that she is in shock—setting the scene that things will not go so well.
This is all you need to know for writing a treatment. Even though it seems fairly easy, do make sure to put thought into the action. Just because it isn't a work of literature doesn't mean it tells a story any less well.
-Chloe
If you are ready to commit to this amazing idea for a film you have, it is time for the first step in writing the story. It took a lot to get here!
A treatment is basically a word-for-word page of action sequences that tells and visualizes what's going on in the film. Don't think too much about how intentions, meanings, backstories, etc. affect what is occurring. For example, a viewer will not automatically know the traumatizing past of character A without context—it is your job to show it through action.
