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Writing Treatments that Sell
by Julian Friedmann

The best way to sell something is to make it easy to buy. How can you increase the odds in your favour? How do you help producers to commission you or to buy your script? Can you help yourself to write it well?

One answer to all these questions is to be able to write a good treatment. This helps not only because you can sometimes secure a script commission on the basis of a good treatment, but you will possibly write better scripts if you have worked the story out before you start writing.

There isn't just one way to write a treatment. So how can you be sure that what you write will be the approach that is acceptable to the producer you are dealing with? You must talk to them, at length if possible. But in the meantime here is a proposal for a well-established approach to writing ‘selling' treatment (which usually need to be followed up by more detailed documents).

A treatment for a film, or a synopsis for a novel, should perform a number of functions. On one hand, the document is used to persuade a producer or a publisher to purchase rights in the work. A well-prepared presentation, which creates a sense of confidence in the reader, and a belief that the writer is in control of their characters and storyline, is more likely to result in a sale.

A second but equally important function is to help the writer organize their own thoughts. To achieve all this in a treatment it needs to be carefully structured. I would suggest that it is broken down into four sections. There is a reason for this, and the order of the sections has its own logic as well. However, there are no rules here. This method has worked well for many of our clients, but there are other ways of structuring treatments that also work well.

Section One: The Introduction

This should be a brief statement about the programme, film or book, written in the style of the jacket copy of a paperback. In other words, it does not attempt to tell the whole story, but picks on the most salient selling points and describes what kind of story or show it is. It may simply put the central character into the context of the genre.

While this short statement (anywhere between 5 and 20 lines) must grab the reader's attention, it is important to remember that there is a danger of overselling your work. The longer, descriptive synopsis or full treatment that the prospective purchaser will hopefully read later, must live up to the short 'hard sell' description. In other words, don't claim that what you are writing is the greatest love story since Gone With the Wind if there isn't very much about the love story.

A useful approach to writing this 'hard sell', is briefly to describe the premise, the central character and the key dramatic incident, this will hopefully pique the reader's curiosity, leaving the reader wanting to know what happens next. It is also possible to use a little inciting dialogue as a teaser. Look at existing book jackets or film posters for examples. Spend an hour in a big bookshop reading book jackets (especially in the best-seller section), or go to a multiplex and read every poster carefully. Ask yourself why they are 'pitching' the film in the way that they are.

The choice of title is also very important. If you can't come up with a really good one, put in the best you've got and if necessary put the words 'working title' in brackets after it. The title should create an immediate desire on the part of the reader to know more about the story. Your existing knowledge of the story can be a hindrance to your coming up with the title that will work for someone who knows nothing about the story. If the title only has significance once you know the story, it is not the best title.