So basically you've got, in order from shortest to longest:

THE LOGLINE
THE SUMMARY
THE SYNOPSIS
THE TREATMENT

I certain on the definition and expectations of a LOGLINE but everyday I find more varying opinions on what a SUMMARY, SYNOPSIS, or TREATMENT should be.

Can anyone clarify?

Also, how important ARE these items in question: Some people say "not much", some people say "almost more important than the actual script"

UGH!

Brad

It depends on who you ask on importance. Each of those items has a different purpose when it comes to the writing versus marketing of the script. In the writing process, it depends on how you write and how complete your story is when you start writing. Hence, importance is an opinon based on experience and personal style, but in the end, you'll form your own opinion on their importance, though if you've never written a script befoe, it's not a bad process to follow, and you might check out the stickies on this board for some other tips.

A logline will give you the basic elements of your story and give you that jumping off point. Some loglines tell more than others, however. A good one will tell you everything about the main plot: A man risks it all to rescue his childhood teddy bear from the clutches of the evil three year old who bought it at his mother's yard sale. Some tell you nothing more than an idea: Lord of the Rings meets Toy Story.

The Summary is one to two paragraphs and gives little more than an elongated version of the logline detailing the basic plot and conflict info. As a writing tool, it gives you the next step of your central story. As a marketing tool it gives you (along with the logline, or hook) your "two minute pitch".

The synopsis is one to two pages going over your plot in a more complete way, now touching on actual characters and subplots, but not going into a huge amount of detail beyond the conflicts and relationships of everyone. It helps in writing because it allows to to flesh out the concept you came up with so far and add in some other elements to give yourself a more complete story.

A treatment is where you write your script without actually writing it. Some people do these on notecards to show each individual scene, an some go so far as to coloring the notecards to show character scenes, action scenes, etc so they can hang them all up and see the flow of the script from beginning to end and rearrange it as necessary before writing the whole thing out. The average treatment length is about 2 to 7 pages, though there's no rule to govern this from a writing perspective as the writing treatment is for you and no one else. If your ideas are flowing, you can write till your heart's content since all that detail will only help you when you write the screenplay.

The other side of the treatment coin when it comes to marketing is when someone wants a treatment because they don't want to read a 120 page script if they aren' sure they'll want to. In those cases, you'll get a specified treatment length, and you just go and do that same thing as a regular treatment. Summarize the scenes, but be cognizant of the length.

Wow! Thank you so much. That's probably the best advice I've gotten on those questions in a long time.

I've pretty much been on the track that you explained, I just wanted to see how my idea of what to do and how I'm doing it faired against what is expected.

I'm getting to the point, and by 'the point' I mean by mid to late '09, where I can see myself sending out a couple of my scripts. The confusion comes in when I read on one site that says "Have your treatment, synopsis, etc. on hand and ready when you are ready to pitch your script" and others that say "Pshaw... those things are only for you and they are not really needed when it comes to selling your script."

I know that to make a healthier, a.k.a. better, story, all these things are very helpful, if not necessary. I just wasn't sure, from a "Sellers" stand point, what of these things I need to have on hand and read to go.

I'm really new to this site, how and where do I go about posting some Synopsis' and/or partial/finished scripts for feedback purposes?

Thank you again
Brad

Work in Progress in the best place to do that. Synopsis works for a start, and not a lot of people read partial drafts unless you're really known around here. Sorry, just being honest.

Your best bet is to finish your first draft, do a rewrite and then post it for reading. By then, you should have read several scripts on the boards to make yourself and your own feedback to others known. There's an unofficial read for a read guidelines around here (sort of a I'll scratch your back and you scratch mine kind of thing), so it's useful to have built up a few reads before you post.

If you want to know where to start reading, there's an exchange board or you can check out the "Simply Recommended Scripts" thread for suggestions.