This Week's Milestone

THE STORY TREATMENT

This week's Milestone includes a project treatment, a type of document which you might not be familiar with.  While there are some guidelines for it in the 4th Year Handbook, I have found this quick guide to be helpful.

As you can see, it's not really that complicated. The first few items require only very brief answers. Your main effort should go into items seven, eight and nine, the Three Act Story Summary.

If you want more information go to Marilyn Horowitz's blog at the address below.

some of the information below is adapted from www.movieoutline.com/articles/how-to-write-a-treatment.html

How To Write a  Treatment

This one to two page document should read like a short story and be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story including the ending, and use some key scenes and dialogue from the script it is based on.

What Should Be in the Treatment?
1. Working Title
2. Your name and contact information
3. A logline. (one or two sentences MAX. see example below)
4. What makes this a good project? (Its "hook" or rationale.)
        5.     Genre, target audience, style, length.
6. Introduction to key characters
                
                THREE ACT STORY SUMMARY 
7. Act 1 in one paragraph. Setup the scene, characters and main conflict.
8. Act 2 in one paragraph. Dramatize how the conflict leads to a crisis.
9. Act 3 in one paragraph. Dramatize the final conflict and resolution.



Example Logline: The Ramen Girl (2008):
An aimless American woman, abandoned by her boyfriend in Tokyo, impulsively decides to train as a ramen chef under a master who is impossible to please.