Writing Script Treatments
Posted: April 24, 2007 at 2:31 am, by Isaac

I’ve been getting some mail from readers who plan to enter the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival’s Treatment Competition, and since there aren’t many resources on treatment writing, I figured I should just put up an article. For this contest you need to show that you understand your story well enough to fit it into three pages and still make it clear and lively to the judges. But what is a treatment?

“A true treatment is something that you would never show anyone! It’s an elaborate plan which describes scene by scene what the characters say and do, and what they’re thinking and feeling. It should be about 80-100 pages long. It’s a tool that the writer uses to build toward the screenplay.”
      –Robert McKee

Pitch treatments, on the other hand, are used to sell a film. The industry standard length is anywhere from two sentences to 90 pages, and the are usually follow a “Concept (or Premise), Theme, Characters, Synopsis” structure, since it’s the logical way to explain a film: “What is the story?” “What’s the story really about?” “Who’s in the story?” and finally, “What exactly happens in the story?” One of the things that’s hotly debated among script and treatment writers is whether to submit a full treatment or just a story synopsis, since studio execs get bored reading through all the nuts and bolts of a treatment and just want a short story.

Now, the trouble with most screenwriting books and screenwriting websites is that they spend most of their time talking about how to deal with studio scriptreaders, how to pitch to studio execs, and work within the studio system. It’s interesting, but not really applicable to the independent filmmaker, or those writing a treatment for this contest. Terry Rossio has written the best article I’ve seen on the subject, and includes three treatments for completed films that he worked on.

The rules of the contest only give you three pages, but they also require a lot of info on the cover page, which is good. If you decide to stick to a concept, theme, characters, synopsis structure, you’ll be adding the first two on the cover page. Since I mentioned The Verdict in my article on theme, I’ll use it as an example.

Working Title: The Verdict Author: David Mamet Copyright Holder: 20th Century Fox Genre: Courtroom Drama Setting: Boston, 1980s Target Audience: Professionals Adults 18-60, particularly Lawyers, Catholics, Doctors Predicted Rating: PG Estimated Production Budget: $4m Premise: A washed-up, deceitful, ambulance-chasing lawyer is the last hope of the down-trodden relatives of a victim of medical malpractice. As he feebly represents them against the invincible trinity of the hospital, the Catholic church, and the city’s top legal firm, he finds new respect for truth and justice, resists the temptation to compromise, and ultimately redeems himself as he rises to powerfully fulfill his responsibilities. Commercial and theological significance of the project: The theme of this film communicates the importance of honesty and responsibility. In a sea of corruption and lies, a flawed man will be forced to overcome his shortcoming and stand up for the truth. The antagonists are represented by people and frustrations that audiences are familiar with, and they will empathize with our hero as he faces these impossible odds and then cheer as he overcomes them through personal character in order to see justice done. How the film will be distinct, fresh, unique, and superior: Careful writing will preserve and reinforce the overarching theme of truth vs. lies, making every villain, challenge, setback, and sin a product of deceit, and every victory the result of the truth being made known. The film will very carefully point out specific corruption within the modern medical infrastructure, Roman Catholic church, and legal system, without slandering all doctors, Christians, and magistrates. The worldview communicated will be one of uncompromising truth and personal responsibility that will not only encourage but inspire those who see it.

And now that you’ve communicated the details of your premise and theme, you’ve still got three whole pages for characters and plot. You may not need to give the characters their own section if it’s clear from your story synopsis who they are, but if you have to cut some character exposition from your Act I to fit in all the story points, the reader would probably find it helpful to read brief introductions to the main characters before you dive into the action.

As Mr. Rossio points out, it can be very dangerous to give studio executives a pitch script for many reasons, mainly because most studio guys don’t know how to read a treatment. Nevertheless, they are a vital tool for the writer, and it can even be helpful to condense a script to a short pitch treatment because it will force you to evaluate the priority elements in your story. With a treatment you need to be very economical since, in this contest anyway, you only have three pages. You need to be brief in order to fit everything in and keep the reader from being bored - not because he’s a studio exec, but because he’s a judge who’s read fifty treatments already.

Screenwriting: Theme
Posted: April 23, 2007 at 6:49 pm, by Isaac

In February I posted about story structure. The structure of a film is important because it is the foundation of the story and the framework upon which plot can be built and characters can work. Strong plots and good characters can be weakened by poor structure. They can also be fragmented by a poor theme.

Theme is the real heart of good screenwriting, in the same way that structure is it’s skeleton. The theme of a film is what it is really about. It’s the main message and purpose of the story. The Hustler is a movie about pool players, but it’s theme is one of personal character. In the film, Jackie Gleason plays an aging pool champ. The young Paul Newman is a better player, but he still can’t defeat Gleason because Newman lacks the character, discipline, and self-mastery of the older man. When he obtains it later in the film, Gleason recognizes the fact that now Newman is unbeatable. It’s a clear illustration of the importance of character.

The film City Hall is on the surface a pretty basic political drama, but it shows how mayor Al Pacino loses everything because of small compromises made early in his political career. Its theme is based on integrity, and shows how small sins, no matter how carefully concealed, will lead to large-scale ruin. This theme of integrity is also crucial to Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, but in a different way, as Jimmy Stewart’s battle against corruption more specifically shows how our hero’s good name and personal integrity are his greatest strengths.

Scripts can have multiple themes, or characters who are not related to the ultimate theme, but this will weaken your film. Two excellent examples of scripts with strong, unified, over-arching themes are those for Rain Man and The Verdict. Neither of their structures are perfect, but both are good examples of careful handling of character arc, plot, and theme.

Rain Man’s theme is familial or brotherly love. Charlie Babbitt childishly kidnaps Raymond, his severely autistic brother, in a desperate bid to contest the father’s will and extort some payments for himself from the executor. Charlie’s girlfriend leaves him in disgust, partly a plot device to force Charlie and Raymond to be alone together, but mostly to prevent a romantic love plotline from distracting from the theme of brotherly love. Raymond loves Charlie, but his autism prevents him from showing it. Charlie loves his brother, but his immaturity prevents him from even realizing it. Nevertheless, when constantly torn between his own needs and those of his brother, Charlie repeatedly dies to himself to serve Raymond.

He does so begrudgingly at first, but gradually he becomes aware of the film’s theme. When he does so, he experiences true character growth. He matures, and becomes more of a hero than an anti-hero. In fact, he grows so much that his desires change. His want (money) and his need (loving his brother) are different, and his new, Act III want is to live with his brother. This type of inconsistency could be a weakness to the story, but the script handles it well.

Charlie still requires the money in order to keep his business running, but now he does not greedily desire it. Because of this understanding, the audience still wants him to get the money, thus fulfilling his first, main goal without compromising his newfound character. He then realizes his brother is better off in a clinic, and his love for him is so great that he lets him go back. The audience applauds his selflessness. This is a strong, universal theme, which easily supports a complicated script because it is the primary emotion that drives the characters. There are no other competing messages to dilute the power of the film. Even the initial kidnapping is motivated more by Charlie’s need for fatherly recognition than by greed.

A better example of this is in The Verdict, where the theme is truth; namely that the truth is important, even all-important, and worthy of professional and personal sacrifice to preserve. Everything in the script­–every action and reaction–­has to do with truth. Every obstacle in the film is the result of a lie, and every mystery revolves around finding out if a person is honest or if a statement is correct. Even the backstories of the main characters revolve around proofs and perjuries. In the end, the hero abandons the love interest because he knows she is dishonest. This is a tough ending to sell to an audience, but it works, partly on the strength of the characters themselves, but mostly because the theme is so powerful. If the audience understands the point of the film, they know our hero can’t compromise anywhere. Associating with liars is just not an option after he has grown.

In fact, the hero’s own character growth is very simple; he just comes to realize what the theme of the film is, and in The Verdict, its simplicity is its strength. At the beginning of the film, our hero is a disreputable, opportunistic, pragmatic lawyer with no clients and a serious drinking problem (which is incidental to his character­–the film doesn’t distract from the theme by adding a temperance sermon). His journey is the ongoing discovery that truth is important. His redemption comes when this truth comes out and sets him free. He also follows the want/need dichotomy that makes up solid cinema character; he wants to win a court case; he needs to tell the truth.

The strong theme infuses the entire film, from top to bottom, and makes the plot deeper and the characters more vibrant. What could have been a boring made-for-tv movie about a routine medical malpractice suit becomes a powerful morality tale with stakes far higher than a mere cash settlement. A film that could have been divided between multiple messages about alcoholism, medical responsibility, or judicial bribery remains laser-focused on a single theme that saturates all aspects of the film and makes it a more powerful whole. Good films are true to their themes.

This post is largely an except from Chapter 7 of Outside Hollywood.

The DV Rebel’s Guide: Book Review
Posted: April 23, 2007 at 4:40 pm, by Isaac

Check out what just turned up in my mailbox the other day! It’s hard not to be excited about a book that tells you how to find cheap armaments, orchestrate helicopter gunship attacks, and blow up buildings and cars! The DV Rebel’s Guide is “an all-digital approach to making killer action movies on the cheap,” written by Stu Maschwitz. It’s such an expansive book that it’s difficult to classify, packing detailed descriptions of almost every production process in filmmaking into just over 300 pages (and no, those bullet holes don’t go all the way through).

Stu Maschwitz is a name you should know. Formerly an ILM effects artist, then co-founder of The Orphanage, and creator of Magic Bullet and Colorista, Stu is a master of post-production technique.

The first half of the book covers the basics of directing, storyboarding, how to make some of your own camera gear, lighting equipment types, and editing. It’s not incredibly in-depth when it comes to writing and logistical pre-production, but it’s very helpful stuff, and he also breaks down several large Hollywood movies to describe exactly how certain things are accomplished. Then he dives into effects basics and book really gets going.

The second half of the book is packed with post-production info ranging from cinema’s technical history to detailed how-tos of cutting-edge techniques. Everything from where to get guns to how to shoot guns shooting things is covered precisely, as well as digital stunts, bluescreen compositing, and crowd replication. However, its greatest strength is in describing how to clean up and color-correct your final footage into something that look more like Hollywood cinematography.

The digital grading tutorials revolve around onlining your film in After Effects, starting with cleaning the video and then grading it for maximum effect. This is what I’ve always done with my projects, and thanks to Stu, I’m now doing a better job. Advanced color theory is explained and demonstrated, and he shows how to build scene-specific palettes using DeGraeve’s image-based tools or the wellstyled.com color picker (personally, I prefer Adobe’s superb kuler system).

The book also includes a DVD, which contains several image control presets and scripts that will turn your copy of After Effects into a tool to rival any expensive dedicated color grading system. These plugins were written by Jeff Almasol and the author, and can de-artifact, optimize, relight, and grade your footage, as well as add gradients, diffusion, vignettes and other lens effects using After Effect’s native power. These alone are worth the price of the book.

The DVD also includes versions of Stu’s short film “The Last Birthday Card” in various stages of production, treated and untreated DV files from an edited chase scene in an After Effects project for you to dissect and then regrade yourself, and several squib clips you can add to your own films. There are also several neat After Effects tools for adding muzzle flashes, sniper scope effects, and other fun action movie staples to your film.

In short, this book is the perfect introduction for beginners wanting an introduction to all areas of modern filmmaking, but it is also a must-read for pros wanting to learn more about digital color space or advanced color correction, and the included tools and video clips make it a required purchase for anyone involved in film or video production. Buy it now.