You’ve got your tag line and your elevator pitch skills down to an exact science. Likewise, your story arcs are in place and your characters are both likable and flawed. Also, all of your plot holes have been filled. Lastly, it reads well. The film treatment sells itself, right?
WRONG!
In this article, we’ll provide you 10 ways to make your treatment stand out:
Why Your Film Treatment Must Stand Out
Firstly, you need to sell it. It’s literally that simple. Without a doubt, there are a sh*t-load of talented people competing in too saturated of a market. The cream must rise to the top. After all, nobody has the time to read 120 pages of every script that lands on their desk. It’s a fact.
So what do you do? Hustle it. Sell yourself. Make yourself stand out from the crowd.
How?
Spell it out for them. Draw them a picture. Mimic a Stephen King novel about it like the Duffer Brothers did for “Stranger Things”. Get creative.
Bear in mind, after the 2007-2008 writers strike, movie studios became very risk adverse. That’s right about the time with the idea of a show bible or movie treatment took off. Ultimately, it gave a way for executives to be able to envision the end product in a neat and tidy fashion.
In this article, we’re going to give you a 10 helpful tips on how to make your next director’s treatment or TV show bible stand out from the crowd. We’ll also provide you with a few helpful resources and links!
1. Know Your Audience
Before writing your treatment, make sure you understand who you’re sending it to. You need to know what kind of folks they are, what type of projects they’re currently looking to fund, and what kinds of films they’ve funded in the past. Do your research.
Specifically, the trick becomes having a strong director’s treatment base from which you can adapt and tailor your pitch to specific audiences. It takes a lot of time and energy to start over each time, so having a strong foundation is particularly key.
Still, knowing your audience is but one thing. Knowing how to speak to them is another. Sometimes treatments are created to speak specifically to an actor or their agent. In these instances, the writing (and likewise the design) will reflect this. Much like a great screenplay, a strong treatment isn’t trying to be everything simultaneously to everyone all at once.
2. Tell a Story About the Story
Writing a compelling pitch deck or director’s treatment, much like crafting an unforgettable screenplay, isn’t just about selling yourself or the core idea; it’s also about telling a compelling story. Overall, start by thinking about what makes your project unique. What sets this story or idea apart from other projects in particular? How does it stand out? Why?
Next, think about why people should care about your project. Why would they want to see it? What do you hope to achieve with your project specifically? Regardless of the genre, try to infuse the answers to all of these questions into every aspect of your pitch. But… and herein lies the rub…make sure the writing flows in an enjoyable way. Surely, if your pitch deck is a slog to get through, what does that say about your storytelling skills?
3. Make Your Film Treatment Flow
Basically, once you’ve answered these questions, start writing. Chiefly, you need to tell a compelling story that will make potential backers interested enough to read more. Subsequently, keep your pitch short and sweet. Don’t try to sell them on everything at once.
Instead, focus on one key point per paragraph. Unquestionably, a great pitch deck is as much about intrigue as it is explanation. Make sure you aren’t burdening the reader with perilous cliffs of text that they need to clamber down. Instead, keep it punchy. Don’t be tempted to use long fancy words in your film or treatment. Also, don’t be afraid to sprinkle in a generous amount of paragraph breaks. Don’t make your sections too long.
Your goal is to get them excited about the script and the project. Generally, less is more.
4. Be Specific About the Team
First, include details about who you are, why your team is uniquely suited to do craft this story, and what you’ll deliver. You want the target audience to be excited about the potential of the story as well as the team who are planning to bring it to life. But again, don’t be long-winded about it either. A few sentences should be ample. We don’t need to see an entire resume for each team member. Most film and TV treatments keep this section towards the end of the document.
5. Tell The Story Visually
Think of it as creating a document that would still communicate MOST of the elements of mood, character, and story, even if the reader skipped the words entirely. Great treatment design can go a long way in terms of evoking the look and feel of the story-world you are looking to build. Likewise, if possible, hire a specialized director’s treatment designer who can help bring that vision to life with a well-researched and beautifully designed layout.
Sometimes, the most engaging treatments pivot around a poster or key visual that sums it all up. Other treatments use stills and moving GIFs to create a look book-like feel to the deck. The trick becomes allowing the story itself to inspire the design. Unlike TVC treatments, often film pitch decks are more focused on mood and tone, rather than going into granular detail about technical details.
Moreover, knowing where to find great visuals is an art unto itself. Sites like ShotDeck are a great place to start, although it can be helpful to collaborate with an experienced visualist who can bring a wealth of reference and design skills to your film treatment too.
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6. Don't Overtell The Story
While your first instinct might be to explain the entire plot in glorious detail, director’s treatments work best when they pull the audience through the text quickly. Accordingly, don’t delve into details that don’t advance the story. Likewise, don’t go into excruciating detail about backstory that won’t end up on the screen. Unless of course if your treatment is tailored specifically to an actor who could make or break a financing detail.
In that case, it can pay to add depth into the character sections. But, as always, remember that brevity is a virtue.
7. Don't Forget About Subtext
Great writers know how to bury subtext beautifully. But here, you need to dig it back up and make sure the reader gets a good shovelful. Allowing the reader to understand why the subtext of your story is uniquely relevant or timely is generally a good idea, but you don’t need to overdo it. Besides, a few sentences should be plenty. But, if this is an integral part of the strength of the script or the concept, keep this writing at the start of the film treatment.
8. Respect Your Audience
Basically, don’t expect them to read 10,000 words. Furthermore, don’t burden them with every meticulously researched detail and nuance. Don’t bother writing 600 words of backstory for each character. Not only will the writing flow much more smoothly, it’ll be much more likely to be read also.
In a similar way, keep in mind that producers, agents, and development executives are tasked with reading an ungodly amount of words, day in day out. Be kind to them and respect their time. Also, remember that this part of the process is the business part, not just the creative part, and also not the actual film.
Plus, if you’re not able to get to the point quickly and tell a compelling story in this format, it doesn’t bode well for your skills at scriptwriting. Accordingly, don’t make your treatment look or feel daunting to digest, lest it gets shuffled all the way to the bottom of the pile.
9. Know Your Hook
What makes your story stand out and what makes it particularly intriguing and timely? Simply put, how would someone who loved the film summarize it to their friend. Lead with this earlier, or ideally right up-front. Don’t shy away from extolling the uniqueness and strength of the concept. Hence, if your reader is having to struggle through ten pages of the treatment before they know what the story is about, you might think about getting a ghostwriter to give the writing a punch up.
10. Make IT Memorable
Perhaps that means breaking the rules in terms of structure. Maybe it means being radically terse with the writing. Or going for an exquisitely designed pitch deck. First impressions last, so make sure you give your treatment the best chance of your reader getting excited. Sometimes that means enlisting the help of an expert. Honestly, there’s no shame in getting a little help from people who specialize in making pitch decks stand out from the crowd.
Need Help with your Film Treatment?
Firstly, we hope you found this article helpful. If so, feel free to drop your comments down below and let us know what you’re interested in reading about.
Or, perhaps you’re currently on the lookout for some ghostwriting? The Collective Pitch is a boutique creative agency. We specialize in director’s treatments and work with production companies and filmmakers from all over the world. Get in touch with us for your next film treatment or pitch deck: