Hello, how much should I pay a first time writer to write a film treatment? Seriously, this is coming from my own pocket and I want to pay them something. But no one is expecting to pay or earn thousands from it.
I think a 3-4 page treatment could be just a few hundred dollars or even up to $500.
Once a project gets funded, I understand its a whole new set of headaches and rates and lawyers get involved. But I'm not paying my entertainment attorney to write up an agreement for someone who is being asked to write a film treatment, that we may not even use at all.
I do want to pay them 'something' for their time.
Thank you
What is the source? The treatment is the final document. The source will dictate the effort needed.
I'm not sure what you mean by source, but it is a first time writer being asked to write out a 3-4 page treatment.
Is he reading a 1000 page novel and generating a treatment? Is she reverse engineering a script into treatment? Are they taking a story from a newspaper and creating a treatment?
A treatment is a telling of the story. Who is generating the story? What is the source of the story?
For me the treatment is the story. Converting it into a script format is more like Admin.
They will be basically looking at an old version of a script that is no longer valid and coming up with a fresh idea of how we should be looking at this - it could be a synopsis I'm asking for, rather than an in depth treatment.
Any reason you can’t do this? I mean, offering to pay for a treatment alone is like paying the guy at Benihana to bring you the food then not cook it.
You are asking for what amounts to a new draft. Reimagining a script is huge.
I agree with Stephen Floyd Why aren't you writing it? Or why isn't the writer of the "old version" doing it? If you're the producer, you have the new vision of the story and it's unnecessarily complicating things to add another person to the "reimagining" process.
$500 to write a 3-4pp treatment is a very fair deal for a first time writer working with a well credited producer. I'm surprised people aren't jumping at the opportunity here.
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CJ Walley You're right! Elizabeth Reams let''s talk!
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You are very honest for taking the writer's worth into consideration. if you haven't already selected a screenwriter to write the treatment, I'd be happy to apply for the job.
It does occur to me that unless you're planning to pitch the treatment, perhaps development of a beat outline might be a more logical path to creating the next draft.
Hmmm- - focussing on cost/quality ratio; talk to David H. Full screenplays on his Stage32 page.
Looking at your IMDB page, it would not hurt to fly over to L.A. and have a cofee with the queen of horror, Debie Brubaker