Treatments

Like millions of other Americans out there, I have what my peers consider a few great movie ideas based on some recognizable cartoon characters. It’s a live action big budget concept with tons of special effects and an extremely clever twist. I can’t write the thing myself, but I can participate in its development. What course of action do you recommend? Is there a pool of capable screenwriters waiting for people with ideas to draw from? What can I do to sell my concept and have others develop the story?

–Paul Threatt

We don’t usually publish last names, but “Paul Threatt” seems so cosmically calculated for success, who could resist? If I were you, here’s what I would do.

1. Even though you’re not a writer, do the very best job you can writing down the ideas, just in prose form. Register these treatments with the Writer’s Guild. (Refer back to one of the upteen columns I’ve written about that.) Keep in mind that this is really very little protection, since you don’t own any of the copyrighted characters your idea is based upon. But this whole venture is a crazy longshot, so even a fraction of a percentage of prudence is worth something.
2. Move to Los Angeles.
3. Get a job working for one of the following places: a big agency, a major studio, a powerful management firm, or a successful filmmaker (producer, screenwriter or director). This isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. Start in the mailroom, or as an intern. Learn everything you can. Figure out who the best writers are.
4. Work very hard, so that you’re promoted a few rungs up from the bottom. This may involve switching companies several times.
5. At this moment, and not before, present the very best of your ideas to your boss, or another powerful person you’ve befriended along the way. Convince them that this is the movie that will make their careers. Then seek out the filmmaker who could get it made, and the studio that controls the rights.

If everything works perfectly, you could have a movie in production in less than five years. Which is a very long time, granted, but par for the course in movieland.

This whole scenario may sound far-fetched, but it’s essentially what’s been happening for decades. Pretty much everyone who comes to Hollywood has one or two great ideas that they’re convinced should be made. And fortunately, remarkably, they’re right. Good luck.

What’s the difference: spec script, treatment, pitch and
outline?

–Fabio Bueno

These terms deal with different forms or stages of a screenwriter’s work.
A "spec script" is a completed screenplay, probably about 120 pages
long, that a writer wrote on his own. That’s the "spec" part, meaning
that no one paid the writer in advance to write it, just like a house built
on spec doesn’t have a buyer until it’s finished. Most writers’ first screenplays would be considered specs, because it’s rare for someone to hire a writer without
reading his or her work first.

"Treatment" and "outline" mean different things to different
people, and one writer’s treatment might be another’s outline. Regardless,
treatments and outlines map out a movie story, often as a precursor to writing
the full screenplay. An outline might be one page or might be ten; a treatment
could be three pages or could be thirty. James Cameron is known for writing "scriptments" that
are 70 pages or more. Ultimately, the length is less important than the function:
hopefully, an outline or treatment will help a writer spot problems early on,
so that the finished script will be better. Treatments are usually written
in paragraph rather than screenplay form, but there are no hard and fast rules.
Outlines are often more rudimentary, with just sluglines to refer to sequences.

A "pitch" is the oral presentation of a movie idea, where screenwriters
explain to studio executives that their movie is "Ghostbusters meets Titanic." God
knows why screenwriters – who spend most of their days typing in dark rooms
– are supposed to be able to suddenly become eloquent and impassioned hucksters,
but such are the weird realities of Hollywood. Ideally, a pitch should feel
like how you describe a really good movie to a friend who hasn’t seen it yet.
Casual but excited. Truthfully, I usually write every word I’m going to say
ahead of time, then internalize it so it feels like I’m ad-libbing.
There might be situations when you give a "written pitch," but truthfully,
that document would probably be an outline or treatment.

I’ve been on panels dedicated to the topic of pitching, and I’ve come to the
conclusion that it’s not a skill that can really be taught. It’s like stand-up
comedy. You have to learn through practice in front of actual human beings.

Is it possible to sell a "story," "treatment," or "outline" instead
of the full script? I see separate story & screenplay credits on films
all the time. I’ve got some great ideas, but have no screenwriting skills and
I believe they would make great films. What can I do?

–Edward Brock

The "story" and "screenplay" credits you see on movies
are actually determined by the Writers Guild after the movie is finished, and
don’t necessarily mean that one person wrote a treatment and someone else wrote
the script. Often a person getting story credit did write a script, but a later
writer changed so much that only the essence of the story remained, thus reducing
the credit. (For the record, "Written by" means the writer receives
both "story" and "screenplay" credit. The rules are so
complicated and contentious I recommend you don’t even think about it unless
you’re lucky enough to get a studio movie produced.)

In Hollywood, a person with a great idea and no writing talent is called a
producer. Or a studio executive. Or a bag boy at Ralphs.

I’m being glib, but it’s true. Treatments or pitches from non-writers rarely
go anywhere. What can and does happen is that a person with a great idea pairs
up with a real writer and either (a) decides to work on it together, or (b)
somehow convinces a third party to pay the writer to write it. This is how
studios develop movies "in-house," and how a lot of producers function.

My advice? Find a writer. If there’s a known writer who’s perfect for it,
hunt her down through her agent. Or find someone who’s written a really good
script, maybe out of a screenwriting program, and convince them to do it. It
won’t be easy, but that’s how to do it.

I saw your
answer about "treatments" and did a search, as suggested, for "James
Cameron treatment," on Google. The first two results were links to a SPIDERMAN
treatment. The third: a link to the IMDB page where you suggested searching
for "James Cameron treatment." Stupid, but amusing.

–Patrick A. Bowman

I’m waiting for the day a Google search refers back to itself.