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Treatments

Every episode covering Treatments.

"What I’m constantly trying to do is just tell the story in a bunch of different ways as it slowly gets more and more embellished. [...] A prose version of the story, particularly with a feature, can give you an idea of, is this flowing as a narrative?"

— Stu Willis  |  DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?

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DZ-71: Treatments & Loglines - Development Tools 1

How can I develop my plot before writing the screenplay?
AI✦The episode positions the treatment as a key document for developing plot, acknowledging it as ’the dreaded Treatment’ while examining how to use it effectively in development.✦
⏱ 1h 26m
1 SEP 2020
Listen to understand why a treatment isn't something to dread, but the plot-development tool that saves you months of writing.
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Stu and Chas are joined by fan-favourite, Stephen Cleary, to NOT look at what makes great screenplays work -- but what makes great “short documents” work. We draw on Stephen Cleary’s wealth of experience in developing work with writers, as a producer, as a script editor and as a former head of development… →

DZ-73: Selling documents - Development Tools 3

How do I write selling documents differently to development documents?
AI✦The episode centers on treatments as selling documents, examining how their language, structure, and emphasis should shift from a development tool into a persuasive pitch instrument.✦
⏱ 39m
21 OCT 2020
Listen if you're preparing treatments, loglines, or outlines to pitch to producers or agencies.
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In developing our stories and scripts, we have probably written some combination of treatments and loglines and outlines. Some of us have probably even sent these development materials out to producers or agencies when “selling” a project — as a step towards getting someone to read or gulp produce your material. If so... have you written them differently? Should you have? You probably should have… →

KEY IDEAS

Development Through Multiple Story Tellings

"What I'm constantly trying to do is just tell the story in a bunch of different ways as it slowly gets more and more embellished. [...] A prose version of the story, particularly with a feature, can give you an idea of, is this flowing as a narrative?"

— Stu Willis (01:08:36) · DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?

Even More

DZ-106: How do you know if you have enough story?

How do you know if you have enough narrative fuel to write a script?
AI✦Mel, Chas, and Stu weigh treatments against other pre-writing methods, debating their usefulness as a development checkpoint between concept and first draft.✦
⏱ 1h 36m
31 DEC 2023
Listen you're not sure whether your idea has enough fuel for 90 pages.
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In this episode, Chas, Stu and Mel attempt to answer a listener question: “In your own pre-writing process, how do you know you have enough for a feature? And do you have a specific pre-writing method you’re going to?”… →

DZ-64: Backmatter - Controlling your Work, Treatments, and Writing Styles

What can and should you do next?
AI✦Stu and Chas distinguish between treatments written for pitching versus treatments written for development, showing how the same tool serves different purposes.✦
⏱ 1h 42m
30 JAN 2020
Listen to understand what you can control in your career--and what you absolutely cannot.
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In our annual Backmatter-only episode, Stu and Chas indulge themselves by offering personal opinions on the life and work of emerging screenwriters based on their own personal experience… →