A director's treatment - sometimes called director's notes or TVC treatment -  is a marketing tool used to convey a director's vision for the story or script to agencies, creatives, clients, and production department heads. Most often a treatment combines both persuasive writing and visual storytelling to translate the director's ideas and approaches of how to achieve their desired result and audience response in an easy-to-understand way.

It depends. Some directors prefer to write for themselves. However, many directors actually prefer the help and expertise of a ghostwriter because it frees them up to conceptualize and hone their ideas, as well as provide them a partner that may actually add to the idea itself. Even the best filmmakers and storytellers often prefer using ghostwriters.

The biggest advantage anyone gets hiring a visual researcher for your project is access to their library. Researchers spend a lot of non-booked hours compiling and organizing thousands of media clips and images - something most people and companies don't have the resources to do. In addition to this, you're hiring an expert with thousands of hours of experience in visual storytelling and graphic design.

The cost for ghostwriting ranges widely depending on geography, experience, and agency fees (if applicable). More or less the cost  of writing for a director's treatment is between $500 - $850 per day.

The cost for visual research ranges widely depending on geography, experience, and agency fees (if applicable). More or less the cost  of researching and design layout for a director's treatment is between $475 - $775 per day.

We write for many internationally recognized and award-winning directors but as a professional courtesy and the nature of our work, we cannot divulge that information. You can see the many brand clients we have performed work for here.

Most treatments have tight deadlines and therefore we commit ourselves to 24 hour turn-around of any writing or visual research. Typically a layout can be completed in under three days from beginning-to-end for writing, visuals, and layout.

Choosing a ghostwriter for your next director's treatment is an important decision and shouldn't be taken lightly.

The first thing to look for is whether they write treatments full-time; Both of your livelihoods should depend on the success of the treatment execution. Next most important are the past examples and a collaborative attitude. Also, always make sure the writer you choose has the ability and know-how to adopt and adapt to the director's own voice.

If you do all of these things, you should find success and be pleased with the end result.

Choosing a visual researcher for your treatment is more subjective, but is almost as equally important to the writing. Often creatives want an equally pleasing show along with the tell.

The most important quality of a visualist is the size of their library. Without this, often they cannot solve the complex problems that come up with the agency's demand to create scenes that have never been shot before.

Secondly, is the variety of their portfolio. It's always important that the visual researcher has a wide range and can adapt to the project's demands.

If you find a graphic designer and researcher that possess these qualities, chances are you'll be pleased with the end result.

We help you win more work. Period.

It's literally our job.

Our track record is measured in the loyalty of our clients and  satisfaction with our work.  We'd like to think of ourselves as the best treatment ghostwriters and visual researchers in the world.  However, we let our work speak for ourselves and remain guilty by association  working with some of the most celebrated filmmakers on Earth.

See for yourself!

Yes! We do both film and TV treatments.

The reason we do not post our film or TV treatments is due to client and project confidentiality.

Feel free to reach out to us for samples at info@thecollectivepitch.com.

Drop us a line at info@thecollectivepitch.com.

Writing a treatment is an exercise in persuasive writing and clear communication to convey a director's vision clearly and concisely. Although treatment writing is an art form where skills are developed over time through practice, it does tend to follow a formula similar to a news writing.

Although treatment are custom-tailored to each project, they typically,  have a standard structure consisting of:

Introduction

Approach

Tone

Look and Feel

Story

Editing / Post-Production

Sound / Music

Outro

To learn more about how to write your own treatment, sign up our blog about treatment writing techniques here.