I feel the treatment is basically a guideline for the script. A clear picture in the mind of the writer as how the script will be developed. well so the treatment will be based on the story as well as the writer. So it can be anywhere between 3 to 30 pages or best; no fixed length simply the script's whole story. my choice - no fix length

Until watching Peter Jackson's documentary on the extended edition of The Two Towers, I would have disagreed with you, but your answer is a correct one.  Peter Jackson used treatment writing as a method of pacing his adaptation.  His treatment for the trilogy was a whopping ninety pages, so roughly thirty pages per film was ten pages per hour!  But such a groundbreaking adaptation is probably a unique case.  Treatments are still primarily used (as I've read, but don't know as a fact) for the purpose of selling scripts.  And a beginning writer probably won't be able to sell a script with a ninety page treatment, and perhaps not with a thirty page treatment.  If you're using a treatment to help sell the script, perhaps six pages of all the important details of the plot, told in hopefully entertaining prose, might help to sell a script.  There's probably a few right answers, so keep voting on the poll, youz guyzes!

All,

I'd also agree that there is no fixed length.  You can also check out the Treatments section of the site and see the variety of lengths in treatments.

Don

I've never written a treatment in my life.

But I'd say that a treatment should be about six or over pages, but it depends so I'm
voting for no set length.

it cqant have a fixed length you never know how much of the story needs to be revealed

I think this is the right place for a general question about them. I'm not posting the treatment but I had a question nonetheless.

So, if once you've finished the treatment and you find that the first act may be way to long but if you take anything out it could hurt the script what can you do?

I think if act one flows well enough, and you don't notice its length you should be okay.

One thing you might do is try to move a scene into act two if that is possible.

You could also go ahead and write it out, and find that it didn't turn out as long as you thought it would.

It really depends on the story and how fast you need to get to act two.

Trust me it'll be too long, I started the script a few months back and it's 15 pages and the treatment has more to add.

I have a few scenes that could move without upsetting the flow, maybe, we'll see..

I guess too long is better than not enough.

I think it is far better to have it be a little long and get everyhting in that NEEDS to be there than cut out something vital just for length. If it is tight and there's nothing extraneous, you can make the first act long.

It's a delicate balance between not making the audience wait too long and not confusing the audience when something happens you should have explained better.

Also unless feedback tells you otherwise like on my first feature where this produced writer told me to cut off the last 5 pages i.e. my ending and it would work better... He was right; it works better without the happy ending(s)

Which may be why I wasn't outraged at you for killing... (I wont say her name but you know who I mean.) I like it when the good guys lose or take a beating, what is the use of writing something if your audience knows the outcome? The shock of that death has been burned into my mind because it wasn't predictable.

It was an ultimate necessity for the growth of the main character and his...well not arch nemesis, but at least large pain in the backside. It was also necessary for his actions in the coming installments. The original purpose of Part 2 was to kill that individual off. Other things surfaced, but it was primarily written to that end.

That's one type of screenplay I'd hate to write a treatment for ha-ha. In a treatment for this script here I was having trouble with, it's a martial arts drama, the treatment has everything and is only 2 pages.

My one for my superhero turned out 8 pages and I'm still working on my epic trilogy from 4 years ago, it's just not easy developing characters when you have to worry about the dialogue working and the action sequences being something special... It's not easy.

I think a treatment just has the essentials you need to write the script. It really depends on how much detail you want to go into. Do you want enough detail to be able to hand the treatment to someone else to be able to write, or do you just want the skeleton so you have some latitude while running through the writing process?

Part 1 of my series had a 16 page treatment, but I ended up hating most of it, so I scrapped it and ended up writing most of it off the top of my head. You can see how much weight I lend to treatments.

A treatment is kind of like a step of brainstorming your story. It's not required to write, and only one tool in a plethora of tools available to help you reach the end of your story. If you need a jump start in writing, a treatment might get you through. If you're flowing without it, don't waste you time, just write. The product is the goal, and you should do what it takes for YOU, the writer, to get there. You're the only one who knows what you need, and you're the only only one who will write your perfect story.

Yeah, you're right George. A treatment is not for everyone, though many in the industry do use it. It can be asked for by producers and directors, which is the only sticky point.

My treatments are usually in point form and probably wouldn't make much sense to an outside reader. There is usually a lot missing between the treatment and my first draft...but then there is also a big difference between the 1st and 2nd draft too.

Ah, all this talking is making feel the need to leave my darn work and go home and write...

I ma lucky in that at work I have enough timne between doing my job in taking inbound calls to write. Sometimes I have a lot of time... It's a sweet gig.