I see and understand your point Rene. Thanks for sharing.

Gabe

I was considering writing a treatment and would be intersted in sending it out. I do not have an agent. First what is the procedure, if there is one for those of us without representation. And also Rene, I understand what you said about making the treatment bare minimum if I was concerned about someone stealing my idea. My idea for the treatment and ultimately the script is so sensitive that all I would have to do is mention the name of the individual in history the script is about and the cat would be out of the bag. Is there anyway to protect the idea in this case?  Marvin K. Perkins  

Quoted from ReneC If you're worried about someone taking the treatment and running with it on their own, put less into the treatment. Usually, a full treatment is your entire script in prose without the dialogue. It can be upwards of 25 pages, and there are cases where the treatment has been longer than the actual script. If you're submitting to someone outside of North America, keep it to 5 or 6 pages. You give them enough story detail to get the idea without giving away the farm, so to speak. Don't hold back on key elements, you still need to tell a complete story, but don't flesh out everything for them. I'm speaking from experience. I submitted a 5 page treatment to a European prodco and landed the job. If the story's right, 5 pages is plenty.

HOLLLLAAAA! BB

Quoted from marvink I was considering writing a treatment and would be intersted in sending it out. I do not have an agent. First what is the procedure, if there is one for those of us without representation. And also Rene, I understand what you said about making the treatment bare minimum if I was concerned about someone stealing my idea. My idea for the treatment and ultimately the script is so sensitive that all I would have to do is mention the name of the individual in history the script is about and the cat would be out of the bag. Is there anyway to protect the idea in this case?  Marvin K. Perkins

You should only send a treatment if you're asked for one. Never send a treatment unsolicited. It's like trying to sell a pitch, you need an audience first.

Some prodcos put out a call for scripts and will indicate they'll read treatments as well. This usually happens if they want something specific and want to work with the writer to have the script tailored to their needs. It's rare, but it does happen.

More likely, you'll have to query to get requests for your treatment, which means a good logline including your historical figure. So the cat's going to come out regardless, but that's okay.

Ideas can't be protected, especially not if you want to sell your scripts or pitch ideas. But don't worry about that. A script based on a 5 page treatment about a very specific event or person from history can be written a million different ways. It's about you, your story, your writing style. A treatment might open the door, from there you'll have to sell yourself as the only person who can write your vision.

Thanks Rene, that was very helpful. I appreciate it, Marvin.