Last month, I received a treatment written by a producer/director team. Typically, a feature screenplay treatment should not be more than twenty pages and not include much dialogue. At 48 pages and nearly 14000 words (with lots of dialogue), I knew it was going to be a challenge to script this material. I managed expectations by informing these folks this script would run over 120 pages but I would script all their plot points and let them decide what they wanted to keep or lose. I breathed life into the material and now I'm doing a final edit and grammar check before submitting the first draft. I already know what I'd chop out but since it's not my story concept, I'm going to let the filmmakers decide what they like. At 133 pages, it feels unnatural to me, but I spoke with the director yesterday and he said he's not worried about it and extra pages will give him more options. I have no problem doing more rewriting but I can't wait to see how this one shakes out.
Screenwriting : I Tried Something New. by Phillip E. Hardy, "The Pro From Dover"
Other topics in Screenwriting:
Check out Trending Discussions
Register / Log In
And, of course, you are receiving payment for all of your work so far... correct?
1 person likes this
Congrats on finishing the first draft, Phillip E. Hardy, "The Pro From Dover"! Aside from the edit and grammar. :) I agree that a treatment for a feature shouldn't be over 20 pages and shouldn't have much dialogue, but of course, whatever the client wants. Hope the producer and director like it!
1 person likes this
Maurice: Thanks! In my experience, filmmakers that supply the source material are much less flexible than when I supply a spec script.
4 people like this
I've experienced that as well, Phillip E. Hardy, "The Pro From Dover". And sometimes you have a great idea for a scene or something and the client rejects it. As writers, we have to understand that when we get hired, we're working on other people's projects (some of them are their "babies"), not our own, so we need to accept that some of our ideas won't get used. I'm sure you know this though. This is for anyone who doesn't know it.
2 people like this
It's an interesting way to work. Certainly has some benefits to it. I think Pulp Fiction was originally 300pp before being cut back. Good way to really develop the story, characters, and universe beyond what makes the final edit.
How come "Terminator" treatment got like 85 pages of treatment and like 120 pages of script? Phil, they say "write drunk, edit sober"...I guess it's for a reason :)
1 person likes this
Hardy, hope production pays you per page :) jk.
I've seen xerox copies of treatments over 30 to 50+ pages, features and pilots. Every scene written before script.
My friend worked on avatar sequels for three years. They had treatments on top of treatments (color labeled like script revisions), plus full blown pre-vis layouts over full blown pre-vis.
2 people like this
Kiril: I downloaded the T1 treatment, which is 42 pages and 16900 words. It’s a complete scene breakdown, well-written narrative, and minimal dialogue that can simply be transferred to a script. Unfortunately, my treatment was written by folks with some feature experience but way more knowledge of documentary films. This treatment is a detective story with lots of dialogue and half-page exposition dumps with characters relaying information to each other. This is done with no activity or visual narrative to break up the monotony of a long speech. If written this way, it would not make a watchable feature film. I have two choices to deliver this information. 1) show the action, which in many cases is impossible due to budget constraints, or 2) Have the characters deliver much smaller bites of information during their activities. This is the method I’ve chosen to use. Due to the cumbersome quality of the critical plots revealed in the treatment, I’ve changed several of them to be delivered far more economically and visually. This is precisely why non-writing filmmakers should respect what an experienced screenwriter brings to the table.
PS, I'm not a drinker so that option is out. LOL
3 people like this
Dan M:
Though that's an interesting story, there's a universe of difference between an indie filmmaker with a budget of less than 500,000 and the wildly successful James Cameron, who has had two movies gross more than a billion dollars. For that same reason, Quentin Tarantino can write a 170 page screenplay without batting an eye. However, I don't recommend that unproduced screenwriters try to solicit screenplays of that length. I'm merely stating my opinions and obviously creatives can do as they like. Even ones with no track record. However in doing so, they'll run the risk of never establishing a track record.
2 people like this
Dan:
Thanks for your insight. This one is definitely not a spec script. However, I may still try to trim 5 to 8 pages. I'm doing a electronic voice read through today. That always helps me with the editing process. I always hear things that I don't catch by just reading it through.
3 people like this
I don't understand why people apply rules to this stuff. If writing a 500pp treatment works for you/your team's development process and you can afford the time, have at it. All that matters is the end result. You'll always find outliers out there.