Treatment
The first thing you need to create a video is a good idea. The next thing you need is a treatment.Your treatment will solidify and elaborate your idea and should describe various aspects of your project.
Treatments vary in length and can range from 1/2 as long as a script (1 page of treatment for 2 pages of script) to 15-30 pages for a whole screenplay (Screenplays for feature films generally run 90-120 pages).
Treaments include
- a narrative of the story
- some very limited examples of dialog
- descriptions of settings and scenes
Generally pitch documents are shorter and are written to interest other people (producers, backers). Pitches include a brief synopsis of the production and the "hook," or a one sentence description of the "essense" of the project. (Benedetti, 2002, p. 17-18)
Treatments should be as long as they need to be to convey your concept and provide a clear narrative of the story.
Scripting Screenplay Style
Several screenplay rules of thumb: (adapted from Harmon, 1993, pps. 9-20)
- Your story should have a main question driving it and the characters to some sort of resolution. For example, in the film Fargo, by Joel and Ethan Cohen, the question might be "How far will someone go to get what he or she wants and is it worth it?"
- Most scripts work from the "3 act" principle that all stories have a beginning, middle, and end.
- The beginning ( about 15-20%) of your script should establish the
where and who of the story. The beginning should also establish a mood
and begin the trajectory for your main action and plot. You'll want to
get to the what (as in what's happening) and why, but not too early. The
end of the beginning should include some kind of twist or event based on
the characters motives and goals. It should raise the question "Will
______ achieve this or that?"
By the end of the first act of Fargo, we know who Jerry is, who the bad guys are, and what Jerry's planning to do (have his own wife kidnapped for ransom). The question is will he pull it off?
If you have a subplot, it is also introduced in the beginning. Subplots are part of the story, but not the main storyline. The subplots involve relationships between people and follows the trajectory of the main plot. The main and subplots will eventually resolve together in some way.
For example, one subplot in Fargo is the story of Marge's (the sheriff's) investigation into the murder of two police officers and her not-too-exciting relationship with her husband. - The middle (about 65-70% of your script) is where everything plays
out. To keep the story (and both the plot and subplots) moving, you need
to create
obstacles for your characters to overcome, conflicts between your characters
and between your characters and circumstances. You also need to maintain
suspense about the outcome, keep your main question in play, and develop
momentum.
In Fargo, Jerry's wife is indeed kidnapped. But Jerry's financial problems are closing in on him. He's got to deal with his father-in-law, who is his business partner, and his son while he's busy pretending that he knows nothing about his wife's kidnapping. Initially it looks like Dad's going to do a deal with Jerry that will actually solve his problems (twist), so Jerry tries to call off the kidnapping plan (twist). However, neither of those things happen (twist). Because his father-in-law is a control freak, the ransom payoff that Jerry ends up counting on goes terribly wrong (twist). The father-in-law and the wife are both killed by the bad guys (twists), one of whom then finds out that Jerry's getting way more ransom than he let on to them (twist).
In the meantime, while Marge is investigating the murder of the troopers, she appears on TV and and old friend (male) contacts her out of the blue. Though she's six months pregnant, she meets him for lunch during a trip required by her investigation. The lunch is awkward—the guy's a semi-psycho—(subplot twist)—which makes Marge's unexciting husband at least seem OK. Marge's investigation then leads her to a car from Jerry's car dealership (major twist and plot/subplot intersection). When Marge is questioning Jerry, he takes off (big twist). Marge begins to focus on Jerry, though she still doesn't know about his wife's kidnapping.
As act II reaches a conclusion, Marge receives clues to the whereabouts of the bad guys and she's closing in. - The end, Act III, (about 10-15% of the script) should take up from where a big plot twist ends Act II. (In Fargo, this shift might be best signaled when one of the kidnappers kills the other and tries to get rid of the body by putting him in a wood-chipper.) The end must answer the main question and tie up loose ends.
- In our Fargo example, Act
III brings the demise of all the bad guys. Marge catches the
second kidnapper after a short chase; state troopers
catch Jerry in a cheap hotel; and Marge realizes that
her husband is a nice, normal guy--especially compared
to other men we've met throughout the story.
The main question, "How far will someone go to
get what he or she wants and is it worth
it," is
answered—some people go real far
and no, it wasn't worth it. (One irony
of the story
is
that the wood-chippered
kidnapper had hidden the ransom fortune
in the snow and he was the only one who
knew where.
We
are left
to imagine that the money is sitting along
a fence row somewhere out in the middle
of North Dakota.)
A few don'ts for act three: - Don't bring in any new characters.
- Don't introduce any new events or circumstances.
- Don't let the conclusion drag--wrap it up quickly.
Scripts for full-length films generally run between 90 and 120 pages. The screenplay for FARGO, for example, is 96 pages. Depending on the purpose of your script, it may be considerable shorter but you can still use the percentages (20, 70, 10) to guide the length of your beginning, middle, and end.
If your project is an interview or documentary, you should still deal with a significant question that will be answered by your project. Also consider your structure in terms of
- beginning (introduce the topic, people, situation, background),
- middle (the interview, significant documentary elements), and
- end (conclusion, recap, "lessons learned," commentary)
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The Mechanics of Scripting
Scripts contain certain types of elements. Although the specifics vary across types (stage play, screenplay, television segment, documentary, others), your script should include
- Information about scenes (slug lines)
- Information about characters/speakers
- Information about action
- Dialog
- Transitions
- Notes (about dialog, camera work)
Proper formatting can assist you in ensuring that these elements are covered. Below are links to some samples and templates.
Example (The Other Carla, one scene)
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