A music video treatment is a creative document outlining a director’s creative vision and approach. Unlike director’s treatments for TVCs and film projects, music video pitch documents are by design punchy and straight-to-the-point. At least they should be! That is because the audience—the musicians and the label—are most interested in the overall ideas and the mood of the clip. Thus, it pays to be succinct.
In this article we show you 11 ways to write a winning treatment for your next music video pitch.
- 1. Get Straight to the Point
- 2. Carefully Structure Your Video Treatment
- 3. Don't Be Boring
- 4. Write to the Budget
- 5. Write to your References
- 6. Unpack Your Adjectives in your video treatment
- 7. Don't Get too Detailed in your Video Treatment
- 8. Work to the Waveform
- 9. Don't Slow Down the Story with the Technology
- 10. Dazzle them with the Design of your Video Treatment
- 11. Do your Research before you Conceptualize
1. Get Straight to the Point
The audience must understand quickly and clearly what you are trying to say. This is true for the writing equally as much as it is for the visuals. There have been many examples of successful music video treatments (some of which we have helped design) that have less than 10 words in the entire document. A strong and impactful concept sells itself, so spend as much time as you can making sure your idea is amazing. Then, get straight to the point. Write a punchy logline. Summarize the story and explain the style in the first few words.
If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it well enough.
–Albert Einstein
2. Carefully Structure Your Video Treatment
Writing is secretly a visual art, so think carefully about what your writing is going to look like on a page. Gigantic cliffs of text are not much fun to climb down. Be kind to your audience and keep your paragraphs short and concise. Likewise, don’t throw too many ideas into a single sentence. One or two are plenty. In a similar way, give each scene a new section and a punchy headline. You’d be surprised how often people skim read, so pack the headings with the most relevant details. If possible, skip any longwinded intro or pandering thank you at the start.
3. Don't Be Boring
The creative freedom that music videos offer is not to be squandered. Sure, the budgets aren’t usually as big as they are on films and TV commercials. But that just means you need to be cunning and creative. Try new things. Push the boundaries. Be playful. Shock your audience if you think it will make the video get noticed. Just don’t be boring. It’s particularly important not to be boring in your music video treatment writing.
The Only Rule Is Don’t Be Boring.
–Paris Hilton
4. Write to the Budget
A surefire way for your music video treatment to be rejected is to overpromise. Even if they do love your idea, if you can’t make it for the money, you’re gonna feel the pain down the road. Plus, half of the art of music video directing is finding clever ways to make the filmmaking machine run on the smell of an oily rag. Make sure you run your ideas past a producer you trust before you get too attached to them. Then, if they aren’t achievable on the budget, find a way to adapt. Necessity is the mother of invention. You’d be surprised how many amazing music videos came about because of severe limitations.
5. Write to your References
Inspired by a painting, a film, or unique style of dance. Be honest about where your ideas came from. Although, make sure you give it your own twist. Likewise, make sure that you have a strong vision of how the music video will look. Never underestimate how important it is to present a visually stunning pitch deck. Consider enlisting the help of a talented visual researcher and designer to help bring your concept to life.
It’s not where you take things from – it’s where you take them to…
–Jen-Luc Godard
6. Unpack your Adjectives in your video treatment
Why use longwinded sentences when one word would do just fine? Don’t be afraid to use adjectives on their own. Punchy one-word-per-page layouts can be amazingly effective. Likewise, if you are presenting an online treatment, consider creating a GIF that flicks through multiple adjectives over the top of reference images. If you can’t sum up the tone and mood of your clip in 5 or 6 adjectives, you may need to ask yourself if you have a truly vision for the music video yet.
7. Don't Get too Detailed in your Video Treatment
It’s understandable that you’ve fallen in love with your ideas and want to make the video treatment as detailed as possible. Be careful. Keep in mind that if you present a pitch that is incredibly precise, the musician and the label will expect to see all that stuff in the finished clip. Keeping a bit of creative flexibility is a good thing. A bit of vagueness can leave space for the creative ideas that your crew will bring to the process.
8. Work to the Waveform
Here is a crafty trick that helps you keep track of the structure of the song and in turn the music video. Take a screenshot of the song’s waveform. This gives you a visual indication of where things happen in the song. As you plan the narrative, keep this in front of you, constantly double-checking how much screen-time you need to fill. If it helps, print it out on paper a few times and get scribbling.
9. Don't Slow Down the Story with the Technique
The creative execution is a huge part of the job of a music video director. But, in your music video treatment, while you are telling a story, don’t break the spell by talking about irrelevant technical details or the tools you are itching to use. Keep all the technical details towards the end, except when they are crucial to understanding the idea. This is especially important if you are directing a highly complex or technically challenging music video. Focus on the story first, then show them how you’ll do it later.
10. Dazzle them with the Design of your Video Treatment
Never underestimate the power of a stunning pitch deck. Dazzling music video treatment design is a great way to visualize the clip. If the band can flip through the document without reading a single word and clearly understand the vibe of your idea, you’re already halfway there. Likewise, if you have an idea that is best explain with video references and GIFs, it’s worth investing in putting together an online treatment.
11. Do your Research before you Conceptualize
It’s your job to know what the musicians are into, and more importantly what they hate. If you’re pitching something that rubs them the wrong way you will have wasted your time. Spend some time at the start of the process getting to know about the artist(s).
Writing your next video treatment
There are no hard or fast rules when it comes to writing a music video treatment. And if there were, it’d be worth breaking them. The main thing to keep in mind is that you should be bold and never boring. The keys to success are mostly the same as writing a director’s treatment for commercials.
Get the Help You need
If you need help clarifying and communicating your ideas, we’d be more than happy to help. The Collective Pitch is a boutique creative agency. We have writers and researchers that are ready to help with any video treatment.