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A synopsis is usually between two and thirty pages long. A summary is a shorter version of a synopsis, about one to three pages.
Hmm. This page is in regards to a book. I don’t know how helpful it is for a screenplay. I’ve never heard of a synopsis for a screenplay that was 30 pages long.
Most synopses for a script are one page. They don’t usually tell everything that happens in the script. They tell the story in very broad terms.
A lot of these terms are hard to understand because there’s virtually no standard in Hollywood. A classic example is the treatment. 2 page treatments have sold in Hollywood. One person may ask for a 2 to 4 page treatment, another may ask for an 8 to 20 page treatment, and still another may ask for even longer. Some people’s idea of a treatment is a virtually complete screenplay with no dialogue. Others allow dialogue in a treatment.
A plot summary, in my mind, is clearly more detailed than a synopsis. I’ve never seen a synopsis that covered the entire plot.
If someone requests something from me and doesn’t clarify their expectations, I ask them to clarify.
Synopsis, Treatments, summaries... I think the terms are often used interchangeably; so clarify what is being requested.
Also, if someone is requesting any of the above, it will be a very telling factor of your abilities. Treatments are just as important, if not more important than the work itself. If someone is requesting a treatment and not the work itself, I have to wonder. It's just as easy to do a five and dime read of a hundred pages as it is to to skim a shoddy summary no matter what fancy name you want to give to it.
I think there's a very good nugget of truth here. And that's this:
If you can produce a really solid treatment, then you've probably been working on the script for sometime already or have clearly fashioned it and have all the wrinkles pressed out.
A solid treatment, isn't necessarily meant to be read I don't think. It's created by the writer for the writer. BUT if someone asks for it, you won't be looking around dazed and wondering how you're going to come up with a good one in short order.
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Plot summary vs. Synopsis
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