How Writing a TV Show Works by Winifred Fordham Metz

Print Cite Feedback Share Recommend Inside this Article 1. How Writing a TV Show Works 2. Television Show Characters and Treatments 3. Television Show Loglines 4. Lots More Information 5. See all TV Shows articles Television Show Characters and Treatments Great concepts transform into great shows when the story is engaging and unique. Often, what makes the story engaging and unique are its characters. Typically, most stories have four central characters: thehero, the anti-hero, the love interest and the buddy. Think of "Scooby-Doo," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Will & Grace," "Heroes," "My Name is Earl" and even "The Price is Right." They all have these four central characters or at least build on this template. In some cases, the peripheral characters are so well drawn that they end up becoming central characters. Some examples are: the Fonz ("Happy Days"), my brother Darryl and my other brother Darryl ("Newhart") and Mr. Big ("Sex and the City"). In short, well written, quirky, lovable and ultimately believable characters keep people watching a show. In addition to these four main characters, most stories follow a basic scenario -- usually something is desired or needed, obstacle prevents it, hero prevails and gains insight. Because it is extremely important to immediately capture the reader's (and potential viewers') attention, you'll want to present the conflict right away. And remember -- the story should be well structured, with a clearly defined beginning, middle and end. After you've identified the central characters, you'll need to assign some type of plotline. A plotline is essentially the main action of the story -- why the characters exist and NBC Photo/Chris Haston why folks would want to watch them. A good example can Earl, Randy and Joy on be found in "My Name is Earl." In the very first episode, "My Name is Earl" -- a the plotline was presented as a teaser, a short, funny bit winning combo shown just before the theme song and title of the show. The audience was introduced to Earl, a petty thief who gets run over by a car and becomes convinced that karma is at play in his life. So he makes a list of his wrongdoings and sets out to reverse his karma by making things right, one person at a time. All of this was effectively conveyed to the audience in a scant few minutes before the show's opening credits.

To push the concept forward, you'll need to put it together in a readable or tellable version. You can do this in several ways. One such way is by writing a script. A script is a fully fleshed-out narrative that includes detailed character development, descriptions of the environment and physical direction for the characters. It is written in a specific format to include scenes, movement and dialogue. While a script is a detailed account of the story, including character development and dialogue, a treatment is a descriptive outline of the show's concept. A treatment is usually very brief, often fewer than five pages for a 30-minute sitcom or hour-long drama. It highlights an interesting hook (something that grabs attention), a great plot twist (an unexpected turn in the story line) and a big payoff at the end (a cliffhanger or "aha" moment that makes viewers want to watch the next episode). Many networks prefer a treatment to a script because it might give the network an opportunity to have more control over the idea. A big part of a successful treatment is a great title. It should catch your attention, make you wonder what the show is about and make you want to watch it. Think "Pushing Daisies," "Desperate Housewives" and "Sex and the City." Next, you're going to need to condense the concept even more, into a logline. Television Show Loglines Now that the concept is on paper, you'll need a logline to make it ready to present to a network. A logline is a one- or two-line synopsis of the concept. It is an essential part of presenting or marketing your idea to the networks and is typically used in tandem with the treatment or script.

NBC Television/Fotos International/Getty Images The original core cast of "Cheers," one of the longest-running sitcoms in TV history The act of composing a logline forces you to condense your thoughts to the bare essentials of what the show is about and why folks will want to watch it. It also allows you to focus on the hook or plot twist. Successful loglines immediately provoke interest

and make the network executives envision the show's potential. If they see potential, odds are they will consider it for development. Many TV execs consider the logline to be the most important element of the development process, and the network often uses some version of it for marketing. In that respect, loglines are considered to be similar to the description of a show you would find in TV Guide. The TV Writers Vault offers these examples of possible loglines for "The Bachelor" and "American Idol": "Twenty women will court and compete to win the affections of one man who will narrow the selection until he must decide on his one true love." "Aspiring singers will compete in a nationwide talent search on live television where they will face the often unfair scrutiny and sarcasm of a panel of judges before one is finally branded the 'American Idol,' receiving a recording contract." Once you have put all of this together (after many rewrites and read-throughs), you'll need to protect your concept, script or treatment. Most people register it with the Writer's Guild of America, West Registry. When you're sure everything is pitch-perfect, it's time to try to sell your idea to a network. We'll learn all about that process in an upcoming article. For more information about writing a TV show, check out the links on the next page. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/tv-writing3.htm

WHAT IS A TREATMENT? A treatment is essentially a breakdown of your movie that runs anywhere from a page or two to twenty pages (or even more, depending on the density of the script). A treatment is a blueprint for a screenplay. In essences a treatment is a Short Story. The story is told in detail stage-by-stage as it unfolds. This does everything that a synopsis and an outline do and a lot more. It reveals the full story and its structure, and shows the main and secondary characters their personalities, relationships, and how they change and develop. Treatments have different functions: a writer may compose a highly detailed treatment in preparation for the first draft, but this will have to be scaled down to meet requirements of busy producers and development execs... ideal length: 6 to 12 pages.

HOW DO I WRITE A TREATMENT?

Recommended fonts: Courier 12-point OR Times New Roman 12point. Title: Centred and emboldened. Log line (if appropriate): Centred beneath title. Tense: Always present tense. Dialogue: None, except if you wish to give key phrases to characters to bring them alive and highlight their philosophy so as to take on life and/or to use sparingly to break up dense prose. Style: Concise, vivid, evocative; active verbs; avoid adverbs where possible; keep the text simple and visual. AVOID: strings of adjectives, reported speech, flowery metaphors, abstract language, heavy chunks of exposition, camera directions. Length: Treatments vary enormously in length 6 to 12 pages is normal, but writers may develop a much more detailed treatment up to 40 to 50 pages for their own benefits. For the industry shorter is preferred certainly as an initial selling document. Ratio: If your script is 100 pages and your treatment is 10 pages, then 1 page of treatment = 10 pages/minutes of script. Keep to this proportion as a guide. Rewrite-Rewrite-Rewrite: As with your script, you need to do a number of drafts of your treatment. With each draft concentrate on cutting away all unnecessary detail and making the story as vivid and engaging as possible. LESS is MORE!

WHY DO I NEED A TREATMENT?

Initially, as a device for the writer to organize their thoughts and develop the texture of a script. Later, as a selling document used to sell your story to a producer and/or agent, which is a treatments major function.

How To: Write an oversimplified Treatment May 25, 2008 Print This Article Step One: Create an outline of your story, highlighting the most crucial elements. Introduce the main characters, plot, climax and conclusion. Do not leave out the ending, as the reader will need to know the entire story. Step Two: Write a your first draft of the treatment from this outline in first or thirdperson. Worry more about explaining the story at this point rather than word count or length. You can whittle it down later. However, do try to keep it at a manageable level. Step Three: Edit the first draft by removing any unnecessary sentences, flowery language, adjectives, adverbs, etc. If it isnt pertinent to the progress of explaining the story to the reader, remove it. The editor or producer is pressed for time, and are more likely to read shorter treatments than longer ones. Step Four: Set the treatment down for a day and then read it with fresh eyes. Again, remove any unnecessary flowery language, adjectives, adverbs and so on. Get to the meat of the story. Step Five: Research a market for your story using online resources or writers magazines and books. Send them the treatment in a 9 x 12 manila envelop e so as not to fold the treatment. Also include a cover letter and a self-addressed stamped envelope for the reply. Step Six: Register your treatment with the Writers Guild of America. It costs $20 and will protect your story from being unlawfully copied or otherwise stolen.

Writing for Television The first and most common way to get your pitch heard is to get into the business. Direct experience is a good teacher and will help prove to television executives that you know what you are talking about. After all, would you want to have surgery done by a doctor who has only watched one or by a doctor who has years of experience? Here are a couple of examples of TV and film writers going on to create their own shows: 2. Lost was created by J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber and Damon Lindelof. Abrams started out as ascreenwriter in 1990 and has since moved on to produce and direct several movies and television shows.2 3. Heroes was created by Tom Kring, who had been writing for television since 1982 and created the show Crossing Jordan.3 Other Paths o It is possible, although rare, to sell a TV show without experience in television.4 However, you will need some experience in some another field or be willing to do your own leg work. A few examples on how this has happened: 1. Larry Brody used his own money to make a pilot.4 If you were to follow in his footsteps, you would then need to hit up syndication houses and networks or set up

a booth at a NATPE conference.5 However, this could backfire and end up costing you a lot of money with nothing to show for it.6 2. In a similar case, Mark Burnett bargained with a film crew and local television station to get his first show created. He then took the show to ESPN with the caveat that they could air it as long as he got 50 percent of the money from the commercials.7 3. Marta Kaufman and David Crane, the creators of Friends, were playwrights with an excellent agent who helped them land the right meetings, which got their first show, Dream On, on the air.8 4. Andy Milonakis used a webcam to create his own shows, which he posted on the Internet.9 Although it took several years, he eventually got his own TV show. 5. W. Bruce Cameron wrote the bestselling book 8 Simple Rules...for Dating My Teenage Daughter, which was eventually optioned by ABC and made into the television show by the same name.8 Step 2: Get a Great Idea o Chances are you probably came to this page with an idea already formed in your head. However, this section is not about having an idea. It is about finding that great idea. Here are some tips on how to make your idea better. 1. According to Larry Brody, one of the biggest mistakes aspiring writers can make is to write something which they do not believe in, but think will sell well.10 2. Check to see if your idea has been done before.11 3. Check to see if your idea is currently being done.12 4. Research the climates and trends by reading trade publications and connecting with other industry sources.11 Some of the various trade publications include: o o Fade In Magazine o Production Weekly o TV Tracker.com o Written By o The Hollywood o Script Magazine o Variety Magazine o The Futon Critic Reporter

Step 3: Write a Pitch Bible Once you have your unique and creative idea, it is time to write a pitch bible. A pitch bible combines various elements that help define your television show. Often it is what you will use to sell the idea to agents or television producers, so it needs to be done well. It is also a great way to organize and develop your concept.13 You will sometimes see a pitch bible called a "pitch book" or a "treatment." o There are various things you can include in a pitch bible. Most of them will depend on what type of show you are pitching (animated, drama, sitcom, reality, etc.). However all pitches will include three very important elements: the logline, synopsis and treatment. Logline o A logline is a one-sentence description of your idea. If someone asked you what the show was about, what would be your quick answer? 2. Examples of loglines can be found in fall preview guides or online.

3. Television executives usually consider the logline to be the most important element since it is often used later during marketing.14 4. It is a good idea to write a dozen loglines and read them to other people to get their reactions.15 5. Do not include details of your script in the logline.15 Put them in the synopsis and treatment. Synopsis A synopsis is a brief summary of show in a few paragraphs. 1. It should introduce the major characters and major elements of the show (theme, tone etc.).16 2. It can be any where from one-half to two pages and should contain little or no dialogue.17 Treatment The treatment is more inclusive than the synopsis. It should describe all the major elements of the script including key scenes, major characters, overall storyline, plot, themes and genre of the show.18 1. A treatment is similar in form and style to a synopsis, but more detailed.17 2. A treatment is usually only about five pages long or less for an hour-long show.14 3. Although you want to be brief, you need to give enough information that the reader is interested in the show.19 4. Treatments are often done in short story format.20 5. Expect to do several revisions of your treatment.13 Each time make it more condensed and add more vivid language. 6. A series treatment should focus on selling the characters, relationships and the format of the stories that will be playing each week. It is not about telling or selling a story.21 Other Elements Here are some other elements you may want to include in your pitch bible. You should include anything that will help sell the show.16 If it won't help sell the show, don't include it. 1. Character Descriptions: A description of major and reoccurring characters. It should include such information as their physical characteristics, personalities and how they interact with other characters.18 2. Concept Art or Images: Any drawings, illustrations or images that will help bring the story's characters and environment to life.18 3. Episode Synopsis or Story Springboards: A description of the plots of individual episodes that come from the original concept.18 Each synopsis should have a beginning, middle and an end. 4. Premise or High Concept: The premise is the foundation that explores the establishment, conflict and resolution of the story while supporting the story and the characters.18 Pitch Bible Tips 0. Register your treatment with the Writers Guild of America.22 This will cost you about twenty dollars.23 1. Do not include your resume or a sample script in your pitch bible.16 2. Place your trademark or WGA number on every page.18

3. Have your pitch book bound.18 4. Don't forget to include your contact information.18 Examples The following are locations you can find examples of some of the elements listed above: 1. Done Deal Pro: Treatment | Coverage and Synopsis 2. johnaugust.com: Library 3. InkTip.com Successful Loglines and Synopses 4. Stormforce Pictures: Writing a Treatment for Script / Screenplay 5. Writer's Digest: Does Your Screenplay Need a Treatment or a Synopsis? (June 30, 2008) Step 4: Setting up the Meeting Now that you have created the perfect pitch for your show, all you need is someone to pitch it to. Sounds simple, but in truth it is probably the hardest step. Luckily, there are a few different methods that you can try. Here are the most popular: 1. Write a query letter and send it to producers and managers.24 1. This can be done by post or through email.25 2. You will be most likely be required to sign a submission agreement before they will read your material.26 3. For address of major production houses, check out: 1. New York 411. 2. LA 411. 3. Hollywood Creative Directory. 2. Get an agent.27 1. Some people advise against this method if you're a newcomer to the industry.28 2. For a list of agents, check out: Writers Guild of America, West: Agency List. Writers Guild of America, East: Agency List. 3. Attend a pitchfest. Some of the most popular pitchfests include: Great American PitchFest. American Screenwriters Association: International Screenwriters Conference. Final Draft: Take A Meeting. Fade In Online: Hollywood Pitch Festival. Step 5: Preparing and Delivering Your Pitch Your pitch is your oral presentation that you give to people you want to read your pitch bible. It is where you become a living, breathing commercial for your TV showand it can make or break your chances. Here are some tips to ensure you pitch is perfect: 1. Know your material.29 You should know your characters better than you know your friends. Plus, youdon't want to read it to them.30 You want to present it. 2. Dress and act professionally.30 Arrive at least 15 minutes before the meeting.26 3. Bring extra copies of your treatment and other materials.26 You never know who will be in the meeting with you.

4. Be upbeat, positive and passionate about your idea.26 29 If you are not enthusiastic about the show, they won't be either.31 5. Use creative props, but only if they help illustrate your idea.26 6. Rehearse your material so it is concise and clear.29 Use vivid imagery whenever possible.32 7. Be polite and don't forget to thank them for their time.33 Be receptive to comments and take criticismgracefully.29 8. Create a "beat sheet" (or crib sheet) that touches on the main points of your pitch to help you get things down before presenting your pitch.34 9. Try to get your audience involved in your presentation.35 Know who you are pitching to and try to connect them to the show you are selling.29 35 10. Don't oversell.36 This is not an infomercial, and you don't want to appear desperate. Conclusion Creating your own TV show and seeing it get on the air might seem like an impossible task, but making the impossible come to life seems to be the living definition of Hollywoodthat and making dreams come true. While it can be a difficult and frustrating at times, with a little skill, a lot of luck and perseverance anything can happen (just remember to thank Mahalo when you win your Emmy). How to Create an Animated TV Series By tedpedersen, eHow Contributor

Create an Animated TV Series The creation and development of an animated TV series is almost the same as for a live action series, with a few differences. Many cartoon shows are targeted at children, although increasingly they also appeal to those who read comic books or graphic novels. Keep all this in mind when preparing a package to sell a new animated series. Difficulty: Moderate Instructions 1. 1

Identify the concept, theme and premise of your proposed series. Decide if you're going to propose a comedy, action heroes saga, fantasy or some other genre. Determine if it takes place today, in the future, in a real or in an imaginary cartoon world. 2. 2

These were the heroes of Skysurfer Strike Force Outline your main characters. Describe them in enough detail so that readers can visualize them. Include elements that will make your characters distinctive and appealing to your audience. See them as if they were in a comic book. Then add thumbnails that decribe potential auxillary characters. If you're going to introduce a group of aliens in your narrative, describe what they look like, where they come from and what they want. 3 Include section that describes the show's narrative arc. In short, describe what your show is about. Set it's tone by describing the environment and important events with some detail. This section can be anywhere from a few paragraphs to a few pages. Define the environment in which you series will take place. Is it a futuristic city or a fantasy world of the distant past? 4 Introduce six to ten plot ideas with a paragraph or two for each. They don't need to be fully worked out from beginning to end. Just outline your plot idea and explain how your characters will be involved. The producers need to know that the characters and situation you've set up can sustain many different stories. 5 Explain how this show will appeal to your intended audience. Note any potential spin-offs, toys, comic books, games and other marketing opportunities based on the program. This is very important to producers and networks. 6 Put everything down on paper in a way that's interesting and entertaining. Don't write flat prose. You must get people excited enough to invest millions of dollars to turn your ideas into a television series.

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Tips & Warnings Finding an artist to do sample drawings can be a great help, but you can also find sample images from other sources that can create feeling you want your show and proposal to evoke. In today's market your show might be on the Internet as well as network or cable TV. Keep this in mind when pitching the show.

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Samples of the little documents that can determine if your television or movie project lives or dies. Often the first written form a movie or television screen story takes is not a script but a log line, screenplay treatment or outline. These deceptively brief collections of words, which can be among the greatest writing challenges a screenwriter will ever tackle, can determine if an idea lives or dies. Learning how to make these often-misunderstood sales and development tools work for you will help you sharpen your ideas, shortcut the development process, recruit allies and sell your stories. Examples of professionally written loglines, treatments and outlines are hard to find. Here are samples of each available for you to download. Log lines A log line is a dynamic one or two-sentence statement of an idea for a movie or television show. Producer Lynda Obst, in her insightful and entertaining bookHello He Lied, uses the wonderful term, "the miniaturization of the idea." Thats what a log line is. Its job is to give a rapid sense of the story and make us want more. Writing the log line forces the writer to think clearly and succinctly about the idea. The exercise of writing one can provide important focus for the screenwriter. Click here to see a collection of sample loglines.

Treatments A film or television treatment is basically a written pitch, usually one to five pages long. Its a sales tool. Because writers cant make movies and television shows all by themselves, they need to communicate to lots and lots of people what their great idea is and attract some of those people to help them. A dynamite script, of course, is a great way to do that. A screenplay treatment is another way. Its also a useful way for a writer to test an idea before writing a screenplay, to focus the idea, and to communicate to an agent, producer or potential buyer what the idea is all about. Like a log line, it should leave the reader wanting more. BLY is a screenplay treatment based on the life of pioneering journalist Nellie Bly, written to help a producer attract talent, and hopefully development money, to the project. To download the treatment for BLY in Adobe Acrobat format click here. A WHITE MALE OF SLIGHT TO MEDIUM BUILD is a treatment for a made-for-television movie about the badly flawed hunt for the Louisiana serial killer. To download the treatment for A WHITE MALE OF SLIGHT TO MEDIUM BUILD in Adobe Acrobat format click here. Outlines An outline is a working document rather than a sales tool. It is longer and more complete than a treatment and serves as a blueprint for the script that will subsequently be written. Before a script is written, an outline can serve as a communication tool between the writer and others involved in the process of developing the script: producers, director, executives.

ACTUAL INNOCENCE is an outline for a madefor-television movie script written for the Fox Television Network and Mandalay Television Films. It is based on the nonfiction book by attorneys Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jim Dwyer. To download the outline for ACTUAL INNOCENCE in Adobe Acrobat format click here. To download the complete teleplay for ACTUAL INNOCENCE in Adobe Acrobat format click here. Expert Script Consulting Get help writing a script that grabs Hollywood's attention -- from writers who've done it. "The Rileys constantly made me dig deeper into the characters and go for the emotional truth. Thanks to their input, I now have a fellowship at Disney and a script that gets managers and agents to call me." Amy Snow Winner, 2004 Disney Screenwriting Fellowship

ARTICLE PUBLISHED IN SCRIPTWRITER MAGAZINE ISSUE 7 NOVEMBER 2002 TREATMENTS By Lucy Scher

The Script Factory tries to respond to perceived gaps in industry training and develops events, training and services around them. There seems to be a need in the reading and development industry for some clarity about treatments. There is no definitive industry standard about what a treatment is for, how long it should be or what is

essential within it, which makes it harder to develop an approach and methodology to the writing or assessment of treatments. Lucy Scher attempts to identify answers to these questions. The first question is, of course, what are treatments for? There are three main purposes:

A sales document for a script already written; An idea for a script not yet written; A tool for developing a script.

The second question is: how does one arrive on my desk for assessment? It could be that:

asked for it with a view to reading a script or commissioning a script; asked for it to clarify development for the next draft; its an application for a programme or for a report; its unsolicited.

If you ask for a treatment for either reason, or if it is an application for a programme, the more information you supply about what you want from it, the simpler the process of assessment is because you have created the criteria against which it is to be assessed. By the end of this article you will hopefully have enough information about what you should be looking for in a treatment to write your own meaningful guidelines. If we go back to the beginning, treatments tell a story which is intended to be rendered on screen so it is essential that we understand what a screen story is. My own summary is that it means something, it is entertaining and, importantly, it has emotional resonance (all of this has been discussed in the genre articles in previous issues of ScriptWriter). With these three fundamentals in place, the story should find an audience. In addition, I want to be convinced that its best place is on screen, which means that the story must be told in a concise and dramatic way. At The Script Factory we assume that the story comes from a place within the writer and a feeling that compels him or her to write it, usually without payment. The assessment is as much to do with the potential of the story as with what is actually written, and it can be, or should be, a creative process for the assessor as well as the writer. Writers often do not know what is expected of them in writing a treatment and there are some very common problems that can prejudice the assessor against their work. But the basis of this article is to try leaving those assumptions behind and apply a way of thinking that enables a writer to assess their work in its best light. Common problems with treatments are:

The treatment is a review of the script: it talks around the story rather than tells the story. The treatment is presented as a teaser so that it doesnt tell the reader the ending or it describes the set up and then has a list of questions about the outcome. The treatment gives too much detail, including too many random characters and names. It is more helpful to identify a character initially by some feature a middle aged bank clerk, rather than John. The treatment doesnt give enough detail: the writer knows their story so well that they are unable to distinguish the essential information for a reader. The treatment may not clarify whose story it is in terms of point of view. The treatment doesnt maintain the storytelling technique throughout. (Just as newspaper articles grip us for the opening paragraph, we soon trail off not wanting the detail.) There is a tendency for the writer to tell the reader about the characters.

For example: John is in an unhappy marriage. Apart from this not being mind-numbing in the first place, it doesnt indicate any drama. Think instead: John gets up and goes to the bathroom. The door is locked. He pauses, considers knocking, but then walks back to the bedroom and goes back to bed. After what seems like an interminable time, he hears the bathroom door open, so he gets out of bed and as he passes his wife in the hall, there is no acknowledgement between them.

Treatments sometimes include a descriptive list of characters, which is often detrimental to the writer. The reader needs the characters to come alive in the story and a list is no substitute And finally, detailed description of characters may be used to provide bulk in a treatment and are insidiously detrimental. Consider for example: John is a goodlooking bloke in his thirties with short-cropped hair, a pierced eyebrow and light blue eyes. He is wearing stripy pyjamas and little round glasses. Or:John is good looking.

In example one, as a reader I may be thinking, I hate blue eyes and pyjamas, which means that I am already at odds with the writer and bristling. None of the description has any impact on the story, except perhaps that he is handsome. In the second example I fill the gap with my own idea of good looking or, in other words, I have invested myself in the story by unconsciously doing some of the work. In terms of assessment, if the writer enables the reader to invest in the story by leaving this kind of space, it demonstrates true storytelling craft skill, which should be noted. The good thing about treatments is that they are unencumbered by script constraints such as the basic quality of the screenwriting, the skill in dialogue or visual grammar. They are also naked in terms of what can be achieved on screen: witty dialogue and spectacular effects can disguise an average script because the treatment should allow for the focus to be on the story.

The ability to tell stories is not dispensed fairly. Some people are much better at it than others and if you listen analytically to good storytellers, you can learn a great deal about how to do it effectively. I believe that storytellers know at the start where the story is going and how to end it. They know where to start the story in order to catch your attention and they know how to heighten the drama at the right moment. Storytelling is a craft and if you do it well, you will command an audience; if not, you wont. So in the broadest sense, the function of the treatment is to tell a story and the process of assessment is to decide whether it is a good story, well told, and/or whether it can be made into a better story. As a reader, if you are able to say yes or no on the basis of a quick read, then the assessment is primarily about whether or not the story hooked you, kept you interested and delivered a satisfying ending. I repeat the caution that if the assessment is negative, then because of the lamentable lack of clarity given to writers about the treatment format, you may miss a potentially good story and that it may be worthwhile looking a little more closely. If, however, a treatment has grabbed you then your thoughts are about how it can be made even better: the treatment has become a development tool. When reading a treatment and assessing it in detail, either for its author or for someone else, I would suggest that the process of assessment should begin with what is expected. This enables the assessment to establish what is missing and from this, to decide whether there is a format problem or a story problem and in either case, whether it can be rectified. My objective here is to create a format for a document (a little like the format for script reports which includes synopsis, premise, structure etc) that gives details of the assessment and I think it is a good idea to start at the end. What should the readerknow at the end of a treatment? The reader should know:

what the story is about and be able to define it thematically; the protagonists and antagonists; the shape of the story; where and when it takes place; the key dramatic moments; the hook or the reason why we would want to watch this story; and finally, some idea of the intended market. In creating a systematic approach to assessing treatments these questions can form the basis for the response.

What is the story about and can it be defined thematically?

This is distinct from what happens which is what it is about, such as this is a story about a shark terrorising a seaside resort and the communitys efforts to catch it. Thematically it is about the fragility of life. This is harder than it seems but if there is any semblance of a story in the treatment, it should be possible to state what the story is about and the larger issue it explores. The protagonists and antagonists As the reader, are you interested in their situation? Are they characters we can relate to? What are they trying to achieve and why cant they succeed: what is the main conflict in the story? Are their goals and motivations comprehensible? Do you understand the steps they intend to take in order to achieve their goals? How will this change them? From whose point of view is the story told? A film is someones story so a treatment should make it clear whose story the film intends to tell. Point of view gives meaning to the theme; for example, what is the writer trying to say about the fragility of life? The shape of the story Does it start in the best place? Could you explain to someone else why this story starts here? Does it end once the journey is completed? Drama has a beginning, a middle and an end. Is this basic journey explicit? Where and when it takes place Is it contemporary or of a period? Is it consistent in this? Is it set in a specific location for a specific reason? Could it be moved? The setting of the story is important. It frames a film and contributes to the story in that the setting works for or against (or both) the main character in their quest. Again, there should be a rationale about why the story is set where it is. The key dramatic moments Can the crucial scenes that heighten the story be defined? What happens to upset the plan? Why do we have to keep watching? Dramatic moments are about the management of information between the characters as well as between the audience and the characters. We know something is about to happen, or all is not what it seems, or are we are shocked, humoured, enlightened at the same time as the character/s? The hook Why? Why are we expected to engage in this story? Does something happen that we would like to know more about? Has something happened that needs a resolution? This annoying Americanism is actually quite critical. It is all very well to create good characters and put them in an interesting place, but something has to happen to generate a story. Otherwise it is simply observation and that is not the same as a story.

The intended market This matter is slightly beyond the scope of this article. Film is a global industry with established markets so although there is some room for manoeuvre in business terms, part of the assessment must be about its potential to find an audience. The question that helps illuminate this is what type of story is it? Is it a love story, a romantic comedy, a thriller or a horror etc? Basically, you are asking whether there is already a market. This is fundamental to deciding the development potential of the story for the screen. Each type of story contains a set of expectations that relate to our understanding of the emotional range it covers and the inherent questions and themes it explores. As a method, the process is simply to read the treatment and then try to answer the questions. You shouldnt have to go back to the treatment to do this; they are general questions about story and the point is to be able to answer them quickly and easily. As you work through these questions you are necessarily responding in a way that highlights the weaknesses and strengths in the story, as well as areas for potential development. Depending on your brief, this could be the time to abandon a treatment if you have given it reasonable consideration, it has failed to cut the mustard in one or more of the crucial areas and you can explain this to the writer if required. However, if you are assessing a treatment in order to develop it into a screenplay or towards another draft of a script on which you are working, the answers to these questions are the beginning of a useful development document. Once you have done this basic thinking, it is worth spending more time on the themes that the film explores. Themes are suggested by the resolution of the conflict and can be described in pithy phrases that suggest a universal truth in our time such as:

Life is fragile. Love is the most important thing. Justice is right. Greed is wrong. Identity is important.

Theme is what the film is about and it is important that you believe it to be a worthy meaning in that you think it is interesting and universal. You should also assess the writers interpretation of their theme because this is the ultimate meaning of the film. The importance of defining the theme is that the writer may not have done it. Theme requires schematic thinking one of the roles of development and the definition of theme/s is an incredibly useful development tool. Stories that clearly manifest their theme usually very character-driven, ensemble pieces such as Lantana, The Ice Storm or Lawless Heart still have to say something

about their theme/s. For example, Lantana explores relationships under duress and ultimately champions the importance of trust. This is not everyones idea of what is important in a relationship. It is the interpretation of the theme that the writer is offering. The beginning and end of the treatment are simpler in many respects; the beginning sets up the story and the end resolves it. The middle section is often the territory of the antagonists and obstacles and these need to be made as compelling as possible. The more purposeful, intended and driven the obstacles, the easier it is to engage an audience. As with all story development, the bulk of the work is in the characters because what they do and say and how they change is the way in which we understand the story of the film. Characters can be distracting in an assessment process because they are so much more tangible and simpler to chart in the story. As with scripts, in assessing a treatment, the focus should be on the two or three main characters. Successful and favourite films are governed by our investment in a character within them. That character becomes a person to us and we care about them. To become such a person, the writer has to make that character believable in that there is a consistency of action, speech and re-action which we recognise. To do this the writer must invest an enormous amount of thought in any character, most of which will not be written in either the treatment or the eventual script but the thinking must still be done. The only way to assess character is to examine whether or not you believe in them. The key way in which this is done is by examining motivation. We instinctively want to know why someone behaves or acts or speaks in a certain way. We are uncomfortable with not knowing why people do things. If at any point in the assessment you wonder why a character is doing or saying something, it is worth noting. It is difficult to produce a sequence of events or a plot and fit characters into it in a convincing way. It is much easier, and obviously much more convincing, to create characters and allow them to act as a guide through the events. The impact that those events have on characters and by extension on the audience is what makes the events interesting. The order in which events unfold and the rate of information release are the tools by which writers engage and interest the audience. Understanding this allows us to understand the importance of character and how fundamental it is to make them convincing. In assessing the characters in a treatment you are looking for the kind of traits they exhibit which may enable an audience to recognise them and engage with them. These are subtle and so all the help you are given by the writer, in allowing you the space to create them in your mind, is valuable. Whichever way a character is presented, it is essential that the character grows. There is no story without growth and the way a character develops depends on with what conflicts and crises he or she is tested throughout the story. Conflict is the essential

point of the story and it is manifested and made convincing through the characters. Most conflicts need to be personalised to be sustaining, so it is important how conflicts with things are turned into conflicts with people. When conflict involves someone else, that person has his own response to the action that, importantly, requires the need for a resolution. This is drama and how to assess whether the story has been dramatised in the treatment. As a general rule, two opposing characters make stories simpler. The strongest conflicts are when a person wants something and another person doesnt want them to have it, or wants something that makes it impossible for the other to have it. It is very common for early treatments to lack an antagonist but in most genres, the introduction of a character who is pitted against the main character, makes the dramatisation of the conflict much easier and stronger. A good treatment should indicate the action that a character takes so that the audience can understand what kind of person they are and what situation they are in. A treatment which tells rather than shows deserves rejection but if it should be in development, this can be a good place to start thinking about what could happen to reveal character and situation. Should a treatment be requested, it should be as clear as possible about what is expected in the following areas:

whos story it is; the point of view; the setting and the time; the reason we are expected to watch this story unfold; the scenes of dramatic tension that move the story; the resolution; character description through action rather than narrative; and in addition, there should be some stipulation about the length.

It may assist with clarity if it also states what is not wanted, such as:

no character descriptions; no detailed back story for characters; no excessive details of subplots unless they are essential to the main story.

The time spent on writing a treatment, particularly if that treatment is a really good one, will always benefit the script that follows. Lucy Scher works at The Script Factory that runs a range of courses about script developing, script reading and assessment and screenwriting. To receive current information on courses available, please email your postal address [email protected] or www.scriptfactory.co.uk .

http://www.writingtreatments.com/ScriptMag.html

How To Pitch An Animated TV Series

BY MICHAEL VOGEL Long before I was an animation executive, I was just an animation dork with a ton of ideas and a vague idea of the types of shows I would like to create one day. Like most people who make their way out to the West Coast, I started putting the ideas together and planning my eventual takeover of the whole animation industry. Recently, I went back through some boxes and found some of my old pitches and was truly horrified. NOT because the concepts were silly, NOT because the art was bad and NOT because nobody in a million years would ever go for a project like the ones in the box marked Ideas.

illustration by Greg Franklin No, I was horrified because I clearly had NO IDEA what I was doing or how to put together a solid pitch. After sitting on the other side of the desk for a few years and hearing A LOT of pitches, Ive gotten pretty good at figuring out what makes a solid pitch and what makes a pitch well, NOT so solid. Now lets be clear here: Im not talking about what makes a great idea. We could all argue for hours about character, story structure and what we classify as good, (I spent a few hours recently arguing with a friend about why Goonies is a modern day classic how is that even a debate?!!?) But outside of the subjective world of taste, there are certain things that you can do to hone your

pitching skills so that, regardless of the perceived quality of your concept, you have done everything in your power to make your pitch show off all the best aspects of your idea while making YOU look like a total animation badass who is on top of his or her game. So without further ado, here we go. A list of concrete things you should definitely be aware of when prepping an animated pitch: CHARACTER! CHARACTER! CHARACTER! This is probably the single BIGGEST thing that everyone claims to get but very rarely gets expressed when pitching. The focal point of your entire pitch should be built around your main character. Who he or she is, how do they see the world, what do they want/need. There seems to be a tendency, ESPECIALLY in the no boundaries world of animation, to lay out the entire universe right off the bat. But the truth is, that it doesnt matter how many galactic armies there are, or what the history of the royal family is, or how the zombies managed to become the dominant species on the p lanet if there isnt a main character to latch on to first. Start your pitch with the character, introduce them, talk about the way they see the world, and let the world naturally be explained from there. ARTWORK One of the questions I regularly field is Do I need to have artwork? The simple answer is this: if the artwork is world-class, then go for it, if not, PLEASE dont. The bottom line is that a great story is a great story. You dont NEED artwork to sell it. But if you happen to be a great character designer, or know a great artist then its definitely going to help you. Conversely, artwork that doesnt look professional, or artwork that isnt exactly what you want the show to look like, can actually hurt a great pitch. Heres a way to test your artwork looking at potential designs, can you see those, exactly as they are, on television? If so, theyre probably good enough. If not, I would consider losing them. What IS a good idea is to be able to articulate how you see the show. Is it traditional animation? CG? Flash? What shows out there have a look and style that fit what you are envisioning? If you, as the creator, can articulate the art of your show, thats the thing that will really help you. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT Its usually a good sign when an executive asks how you see your role on the show. It means they like the idea enough to start entertaining the possibility of working with you and want to get a sense of what theyre in for. The worst thing you can say is that you want to do a little of everything. That job doesnt exist. So know your strengths, and know how you fit into the production hierarchy. Are you an artist? Do you want to design the characters? Are you a writer? Do you want to story edit? Or are you just an idea factory? Maybe youre a producer who wants to be teamed with a kick ass writer and a director? Do the homework, know the positions that fit your personal skill set and be ready to say exactly where you see yourself on the show. LENGTH OF THE PITCH/WHAT TO COVER

I had a teacher in middle school who, whenever asked how long a paper should be, would respond, As long as a dress. It just needs to cover all the important parts. That pretty much sums it up. There is no standard rule for what you need to cover, and depending on how big your idea is, there may be lots of stuff to discuss. But I would work hard on honing your pitch and knowing exactly what needs to be told and when. Practice it. Pitch it to your friends. Get their thoughts. It can be painful or feel weird, but it works. You dont want to be stumbling over stuff and then bust out with the dreaded Oh! One thing I forgot to say earlier was You are the storyteller and the executives are your captive audience. You want to make sure that your performance is a winner. As I said before, you want to start with the main character, but then its up to you. Does that lead into the other characters and then a description of the world? Or do you go into the world and meet the rest of your cast along the way? Is there a pilot or premise story that needs to be covered? Or is it a new and random adventure each week? Regardless, the thing you want to end with is EPISODE IDEAS Every TV executive wants a show that is going to run 100 episodes or more, so its up to you to explain what the characters are gonna do each week. I personally recommend having two fairly fleshed out stories. With this plan we get to see all of the main characters in action and how they react to certain situations. In the end, the executive across the table will get a general sense of the world. But make sure you pick story ideas that really underscore everything you just said about your characters. If the main character wants to be famous, then thats what he or she should be trying to do. That said, Id also come equipped with maybe six back-up stories episodes that arent as fleshed out but illustrate all of the different ideas the show can explore. These shouldnt be more than a few sentences and each should give just a taste of what can happen. BE AN EXPERT I have a friend who is a successful working actress. But there was a time when should couldnt book a single job. Then she started watching all the shows she wanted to be on and studied how the characters were dressed. She started wearing similar outfits to auditions and BAM shes all over TV. Same goes for animation. If you are pitching the NEXT big animated show you had better know what the CURRENT big animated shows are. Know what is working and what isnt, but more importantly know what you like and what you dont and be ready to talk about it. You would be amazed at how an intelligent and informed discussion about the current state of animation can wow an audience into thinking you are the next big thing in the biz. CONFIDENCE IS KEY This may sound like the cheesy, rah-rah you can do it part, but it is actually one of the most essential parts of your pitch if you walk into an office looking like you dont absolutely know that you belong there, youve already started to lose the room. If you are giving off the vibe that you are wasting everyones time and that you arent sure if your idea is any good, every other person in the room is going to pick up on that.

However, if you walk in knowing that you LOVE your idea, regardless of what anyone else thinks, people will be more than willing to listen. Here are the two big secrets to remember: A) Every executive WANTS every pitch to rock and we WANT to be amazed, and B) none of us have any special ability that makes us any more of an expert on story than you. So if someone doesnt like your idea so what. If you love it, then sell the hell out of it and find someone who agrees! Michael Vogel is currently the Director of Animated Programming for Sony Pictures Television, but has been a geek all of his life. He grew up watching cartoons and reading comic books and just never really stopped. Now he gets to do it for a living and couldnt be happier. http://lineboil.com/2009/03/how-to-pitch-an-animated-tv-series/