Believe it or not, it depends on the production company you talk too. In correspondences with different production companies, I've been requested to send over a treatments, outlines and synopses... unfortunately for me, it's been different each time. I've been asked for a 7-10 page treatment, 5 page outline, 1 page treatment, 1 paragraph or 1 page synopsis... it's mind boggling.

In film school, we wrote the following:

1 page synopsis (prose, tells the whole story, no dialogue, focuses on protagonist\antagonist, the conflict, the climax, the resolution)

5 page outline (double-spaced, prose, tells the story in 3 act breakdown which means, 1-2 pages for Act 1, 2-3 pages for Act 2, 1-1.5 pages for Act 3)

25 page treatment (double-spaced, includes scene headings, tells story in three acts and detailed, but staying focused on the main storyline)

You would then use your beat sheet and your treatment to complete your first draft.

Of course - the above is all hearsay, and many writers have different habits. I personally prefer not to write outlines, treatments for my work, but scribble down my main plot points in a small notepad when I think of them, then transfer them to a rough, point-form treatment that isn't polished (and for my eyes only). BUT, it's a good habit and a must that you atleast know how to write them.

Here in Canada, in order to get a production going, you have to work with a story editor and apply for development funding. This means, submitting many outlines and treatments to production companies, directors, fellowships, etc... etc...

Hope this helps!
Stew

Thanks. That is helpful. I'm worried because I have a 3.5 page treatment, but it is boring and dull. My script isn't boring or dull (I hope) so I think I'm doing something wrong. Does anyone mind taking a look and telling me what does and doesn't work about it?

"Rosebud"
by Isaac

Inside a dorm room we see posters for films: Comedies, action films, and classics including Citizen Kane. Into the room steps Scott, a tall, good-looking student aged 18. He introduces his 3 roomates, Tony--Lazy and funny, Jack--addicted to Tiger woods 2007, and Dave--a legacy at Lister College over numerous generations. Though it is only a few weeks into their first semester, they are all comfortable with each other. Presently, Jack plays Tiger Woods and Dave does school work; Tony heads out for work and Scott heads out for Frisbee practice.

Lister College Quad. Students do normal student things, and the frisbee team practices in the distance. Scott introduces 2 members of the team, the senior captain, Ian--a short, hobbit looking fellow--and a fellow freshman, Jessica--a blond bombshell with a rye sense of humor, and a disposition towards “Your mom...” Jokes. At the far end of the quad is the...

Lister College Library. Officer Fairbanks, a would-be-cop if he weren’t so stubborn, walks toward the library. Because he couldn’t make it as a cop he is bitter and on the power trip from hell. He  has trouble getting into the building--his I.D. card seems to be malfunctioning. When a student gets in with no problem, Fairbanks holds the door for him, and follows into the...

Library Coffee Shop. Tony works behind the counter. Fairbanks orders a Large Latte and, before he leave, lets us know through his action that he is a creep.

The Common Room. Tony gets back from work, and waits for Scott, who has promised an incredible surprise when he returns from frisbee practice. Scott walks in with a golf bag. Hidden withing th ebag, under a false bottom is Rosebud--a 2 foot hand-blown glass bong that was once smoked from by Snoop Dogg, who said, “This is the nicest bong I’ve ever seen.” It is Scott’s pride and joy, if you will. The roommates smoke, then Scott and Tony leave for class.

Lister College Classroom. Tony Scott and Jessica sit in on a screening for their film course. They are watching Citizen Kane. Scott makes a remark about the name Rosebud that sparks Jessica’s interest.

Lister College Campus. Scott and Tony walk Jessica home. Tony lets Jessica know about Scott’s bong, and Jessica agrees to “check it out” that weekend after the “Welcome Back Dance.”

Lister College Social Center. That weekend, Scott finds Jessica at the Welcome Back Dance. They, along with Scott’s roommates go to frat row, looking for beer.

Xi Nu Delta Frat house. Tony and Scott meet Trevor--a drug dealing frat brother. They buy a bag of weed, and as a token of Trevor’s good will, he includes a single Ruffy for free.

Downstairs, Tony meets Gina. After the party is broken up by Fairbanks, the four of them leave together.

Back in the dorm, the four of them smoke from Rosebud. Tony and Gina go to Tony’s room, and Jessica passes out drunk in Scott’s bed before they even kiss.

The Common Room. The next afternoon, after Scott and Tony finish working on a problem set, the four roommates get stoned. Fairbanks knocks on the door stating “I’m getting a contact high just standing in the hallway.” He barges into the room and confiscates Rosebud. Scott is absolutely devastated. He stops going to class, and stays in his room crying and looking at pictures of Rosebud until...

Scott’s Bedroom. Jessica busts in, and with much conviction convinces Scott to try and get Rosebud back from the seemingly impenetrable Campus Safety Building.

The Common Room. Scott leads a meeting with his roommates and Jessica. They look at blue prints of the Campus Safety building. They decide to break in tonight, and the head to the...

Campus Safety Building. The students find the evidence room, but quickly discover that there is no paraphernalia there--it must be housed some place else. When Fairbanks returns to the office, one thin door away from the roommates, they execute a daring escape through a window, grabbing as much alcohol as their pockets can hold on their way out.

The Dorm Room. The next afternoon, Scott and Jessica watch Harold and Kumar. scot reveals his lack of direction. He is good at math, but doesn’t want to crunch numbers for the rest of his life. He compares himself to Good Will Hunting, then the two discuss the believeablitiy of Harold and Kumar.

Ian’s Dorm Room. After a frisbee team victory, Ian throws a party. Gina, who live next door to Ian, finds Tony and lets him know that Corey, her now ex-boyfriend, is going to crush Tony if he gets the chance.

Tony, fearing for his life leaves the party and, just down the hall, bumps into Corey, who chases him out of the building and around campus shouting things like, “Get back here you home-wrecker,” and “When I get my hands on you.”

Meanwhile, back in Ian’s room, Fairbanks responds to a noise complaint. The team cleans up the party and everyone but Ian hides in the bedrooms as Ian convinces Fairbanks that the noise complaint was due to his television. Fairbnaks leaves and the party goes on.
The Dorm Room. The next day, Jack has come up with a plan to get Rosebud back. The plan is to install a tracking device on a “Decoy Bong” and get that confiscated. TO avoid getting written up again they plan to have it confiscated while in Corey’s possession. To pull this off they ask Gina to help by letting them into Corey’s room. She agrees, and her and Tony go to...

Corey’s Dorm. After placing the bong on Corey’s desk, Tony calls Campus safety, citing a noise complaint. Once off the phone, Gina declares that the sneaking around is getting her excited. She wants to have sex in Corey’s bed. “Tony looks around for a beat. He takes a look at his crotch as if to say, ‘what do you think little guy? Do we have time for a quicky?’ He hops into Corey's bed. They quickly begin to undress.”

Fairbanks arrives in response to the noise complaint. Again, he has trouble getting into the building because his I.D. card. As he waits outside for someone to let him in, Tony and Gina finish having sex, and quickly get dressed. Someone leaves the building, and Fairbanks walks in. Tony and Gina get into the elevator as Fairbanks appears from the stairwell. He goes into Corey’s room and finds the bong. He never sees the used condom left on Corey’s pillowcase.

The Coffee Shop. The next day, Fairbanks comes into get his Large Latte. Tony makes it for him, and drops in the Ruffy that Trevor gave them at the Frat house. Fairbanks takes his coffee and doesn’t suspect a thing. Tony clocks out and heads over to meet Jack.

The Quad. The frisbee team is practicing. Scott and Jessica are there, but not playing. Scott’s cellphone rings. It’s Jack. He is outside of a building next door to campus safety. He has tracked the bong down to that building. Also, Jack tells Scott that Fairbanks has pulled into the parking lot, and proceeded to pass out in his car.

When Scott gets this news, he gives Ian a nod, and the entire frisbee team takes off all their cloths. A campus safety officer sees them and calls for back up.

Outside Campus Safety. Jack watches as every officer on duty, except, of course for Fairbanks, runs out of the building towards the quad.

Tony shows up. Jack and him try to wake up Fairbanks to no avail.

A little later, Scott shows up with the golf bag. He sees Tony and Jack trying to wake Fairbanks and gets in to help, but they cannot until...

...Dave shows up. The four of them rouse Fairbanks, and get him to unlock the door. They take his keys, and head to the building where the bongs are housed.

In the building, they find a stock pile of pipes, bongs, grow lights, and other growing supplies. They find Rosebud and put her in the golf bag.

An extremely Drowsy Fairbanks throws the door open. He almost falls down from dizziness, but manages to threaten writing them up. Tony has an idea, and a backlight appears over his head. He grabs a pipe off a shelf and launches it at Fairbanks, who chases Scott around the room. After tossing more pipes, Tony grabs a bong and smashes it across Fairbanks’ face. He falls to the ground, out cold. The roommates grab the golf bag and run out of the building.

Outside, Jessica is waiting for them with her roommates car. As they drive down the street they see Corey packing all his belongings into his car.

Outside Campus Safety. Fairbanks is loaded into an ambulance. He is groggy, and mumbling: “I can’t unlock the doors. I’m sleeping,” and “They had exploding glass grenades. It was awful.” The paramedics think he’s delusional and quite possibly on some sort of narcotic.

Local Golf Course. The roommates and Jess arrive at their safe house: a golf course. They grab the golf bag and head to the driving range. Tony, Jack, and Dave take turns hitting golf balls, and boy do they suck. Scott and Jessica talk on the bench, and Scott divulges that he is going to ship Rosebud home. Also he has decided to major in Film Studies. Finally, he gives his roommates golf pointers (”elbow straight, head down, follow through”) but nothing he says can help their shots.

I think if you back off the apparent need to list the locations first and narrate as you would if you were actually telling someone the story. Consider how you would tell your story to someone sitting next to you. Would you tell it as it is written above? Probably not. You'd be more conversational and more lively with the tale. Write it like you'd say it and it'll sound a lot better immediately.

Quoted from MacDuff 5 page outline (double-spaced, prose, tells the story in 3 act breakdown which means, 1-2 pages for Act 1, 2-3 pages for Act 2, 1-1.5 pages for Act 3)

With the addition of logline and character descriptions, this is basically what I write. I always thought this was a treatment. I've never bothered with listing scene headings. Never even thought about it. Seems tedious and pointless, really. I mean, you're bound to mention your locations in your descriptions anyway. Otherwise, I think you're going to get confused. Oh well. I'll stick to my guns and keep doing what I do, treatment or no treatment. It's always worked for me.

Based on all this description, it appears the terms are generally interchangeable depending on who you talk to (although a synopsis is generally accepted as short and a treatment is long). Best way to handle all this is to stop worrying about semantics. Who cares what it's called?

If you're writing this for yourself, the length is whatever you need it to be and as detailed as you need it to be.

If it's for someone else (regardless of the term they use), they'll give you a length. Stay in the length and tell the story, and again, you'll be fine.

Semantics are a killer of progress. While we're on here arguing over whether this and that are an outline or treatment, you're losing time you could be writing whatever that breakdown of your story is. When someone says "give me (insert term here)", just say ok, and write it down. Sometimes, English has too many words for stuff.

Quoted Text English has too many words for stuff.

I agree.

Thanks for your response. This is all very helpful. I'll continue working on my treatment, and I'll post the script once I get it registered with WGA. Thanks again.

IkE