Treatments, Pitches, Outlines - What are they?

Philip Shelley is a Script Consultant and Producer and runs Channel 4's Screenwriting Course. He explains all the writing which a working screenwriter needs to do (and embrace) outside of writing the actual script.

Philip Shelley

Philip Shelley

Script Editor, Consultant and Producer
Published: 3 July 2017

Treatments, Pitches, Outlines, Beat-sheets etc etc

All of these documents are points on the journey to writing a script 鈥� and are guaranteed to make even the steeliest writer鈥檚 heart sink a little. But as writers, you need to learn to embrace them, even if you can鈥檛 quite get to love them! If you can enjoy writing these documents, and the process of creating them, it will be an enormous help to your success (and creative enjoyment) as a screenwriter.

One issue is definition. There are so many variations of these documents 鈥� both in what they get called 鈥� and in their function. And the various names seem to mean different things to different people.

It is really important that you know why you鈥檙e writing these documents, and who you鈥檙e writing them for. Every single drama producing indie will have a different brief, a different agenda, often a slightly different approach. Make sure you know what you鈥檙e being asked for. Once you鈥檝e convinced a producer or script editor that your idea is worth pursuing, you need to know what they鈥檙e looking for in every draft you write.

You need to distinguish between:

Selling documents (written pitches, treatments), written to convince potential employers of the power of an idea; and

Development documents (outlines, beat-sheets, etc) ie documents that you write, once a producer has committed to an idea, developing it on the path towards first draft script commission. These are mainly for your benefit as a writer, in planning the story, structure, tone and content of your script; but they鈥檙e also for your producer / script editor to track how the story is developing, and help you with their input and suggestions.

They're Important!

Once, as a screenwriter, you鈥檝e written one or more cracking that have started to get you noticed, and potential employers and literary agents have read the scripts and want to meet you, these shorthand documents (everything that isn鈥檛 a script) are of vital importance to you building and sustaining a career.

Working with so many writers on the , I have grown to appreciate the value of these documents. From a professional point of view, it鈥檚 really important for the writers on the course to get their heads round the idea that they need to nail the skill of writing these pre-script documents 鈥� they are the gateway to script commissions and an income!

And from my point of view as a script editor, and for producers and development executives working with writers on new ideas, they serve to provide evidence that very limited development bucks are going to be well-spent on a script commission. Paying for a script is often a big financial shot-in-the-dark for small, cash-strapped indies. So as writers you need to be able to provide your producer with as much evidence as possible that the story will be brilliant before you鈥檙e given the go-ahead on a first draft script.

I have come to realise over the last few years 鈥� working with so many wonderful writers - how good these documents can be at their best. There have been several outlines that 4screenwriting writers have written that I have enjoyed almost as much as a brilliant script. At their best, outlines can be gripping, exciting, emotive pieces of visual story-telling that give a clear indication that the script that follows is going to be equally wonderful. I haven鈥檛 yet read an exciting, excellent outline that doesn鈥檛 become an exciting, excellent script.

Written pitches, on the other hand, aren鈥檛 pieces of structured story-telling in the same way as outlines and scene-by-scenes are. And one of the issues is that writing a pitch is a very different skill to writing a screenplay. There are some wonderful screenwriters who are not good at writing pitches. And vice versa.

Treatments / Pitches

1. Brevity

The bottom line is that producers and script editors want from you the shortest document possible to convince them of the strength and viability of your idea. Initially, if you can distill your brilliant idea down into a single page that is going to excite producers, your idea is much more likely to get read and taken seriously than a speculative 20 page document.

These are hard because you have to leave so much out while at the same time including everything that is important and integral to the idea.

2. The Writer's Agenda / Theme

With one page pitches and treatments, it鈥檚 really important to start off with some sort of overview that expresses the idea as succinctly and persuasively as possible, and that states your agenda as a writer for pursuing this project, and something about the story鈥檚 themes 鈥� what it鈥檚 about.

The hardest pitches to read are those that are pure plot with no sense of tone, context or writer鈥檚 approach. The plot and characters 鈥� the meat of the story 鈥� will be far more accessible if we read them knowing why you as a writer are telling this story, what you bring to it, and why it鈥檚 a story you NEED to write. It鈥檚 all about context. And remember 鈥� you鈥檙e not just pitching an idea, you鈥檙e also pitching yourself as a writer to some extent 鈥� justify why you are THE writer to tell this story.

3. Content

It鈥檚 always important to really deliver on the story front 鈥� to demonstrate through story events and character action just how exciting, moving, emotive etc this is going to be (rather than just writing, 鈥榯his is going to be the ultimate emotional rollercoaster 鈥� exciting, moving and emotive...鈥�). Deliver - don鈥檛 tease. And if your story has the most wonderful narrative twist / reveal 鈥� tell us what it is. This isn鈥檛 the place to hold back.

The less good pitches deal in empty promises. It鈥檚 a good idea to convey your sense of excitement as a writer in a project 鈥� but it needs to be backed up by hard evidence.

So, if you鈥檙e pitching a comedy, your one-page has to be funny 鈥� and that鈥檚 tough.

Outlines / Story Documents

1. Visual Story-telling

For me, the most important principles of writing effective outlines are to write visually and explain nothing. The outline has to work in the same way as the script will do. It needs to dramatise the story, and leave interpretation of the story action up to the reader 鈥� in the same way as the best scripts / films. 

2. Don't Explain

When writers fill outlines with explanations of character motive, it gets in the way of the story action, and defeats the purpose of the document 鈥� which is to show how the story is going to be dramatised.

Learning from the best....

...is a problem because really great examples of these documents are very hard to come by. Unlike screenplays they don鈥檛 seem to very often make their way onto the internet for public consumption.

I鈥檓 not exactly sure why this is 鈥� except for the fact they鈥檙e so very hard to get right! And because, even more than screenplays, they鈥檙e just seen as a step towards something else 鈥� (script, film). Not being an art form in their own right, there don鈥檛 seem to be many examples in the public domain of how to write these documents.

And they鈥檙e so damned hard to get right. Condensing an idea to its shortest possible form while also trying to do it full justice is almost asking the impossible.

On the whole writers hate writing these sorts of documents. Because they鈥檙e so hard to write. Because they鈥檙e considered not creative in the same way as writing the screenplay. And because often you don鈥檛 get paid for them. And even when you do, the money you receive is often an inadequate reflection of the work you have to put in to get them right.

Particularly when you get onto the advanced structure stage of these documents (detailed outlines, beat-sheets, scene-by-scenes) often writers are doing 75% of the writing / creation process for only 10% of their script fee.

But here are some examples of these documents, and how they can work at their best 鈥�

  • In this case, (in a one page pitch) in expressing the themes, the writer鈥檚 agenda

鈥�SPOILED is about generational responsibility - should we leave the world a little better than we found it, should we do everything we can to ensure our children have a better future than we had? Should parents give up their savings, or even their dreams, to help their kids succeed? But what if they then, in turn, do the same for their children?鈥�

A clear, economical expression of something that seems to be quite zeitgeisty 鈥� but also universal. And the story itself 鈥� about a father trying to protect his son, after the son has been responsible for killing a pedestrian in a road accident 鈥� clearly dramatises those themes.

  • A writer articulating her agenda for telling a story -

鈥�THE CONTRACT is about the takeover of the British state by multinationals such as G4S and Serco. Although entirely fictional, it is inspired by real stories and the result of intensive research.

Between them, G4S and Serco not only provide a vast swathe of the UK鈥檚 security services (running prisons, immigration, Olympics security etc) they are also increasingly involved in health and care provision. As the state is slowly run down, the government will become increasingly subservient to the corporations.  Quite simply, one day soon, the country will not be able to run without them.

These multinationals have tentacles that stretch into all of our lives. Who are they accountable to? If things go wrong, where does that leave us, the users of these services?  It鈥檚 certainly in the interest of these global providers to keep any 鈥榖lunders鈥� under wraps. Running old people鈥檚 homes and hospitals is big business; providers seem to be willing to go to almost any length to keep their contracts.  Are these companies, like the banks, now simply too big to fail? Will they 鈥� with the government鈥檚 help 鈥� do anything to continue to serve us?鈥�

I think the writer passionately and articulately expresses her reasons for writing this thriller. There is a strong political agenda and a clear sense of moral indignation 鈥� which instantly made me buy into this story. 

  • And finally, an excerpt from a story outline, a project at a more advanced stage. This is from a 6 page outline for the first 1 hour (46mins) of a Channel 4 3-part serial, ie the final story document by the writer before she wrote the 1st draft script -

鈥�Laurie and George sit in the headmistress鈥檚 office. They have three black eyes in a row. Laurie looks totally numb. They listen to a recording George made of a group of boys shouting ferocious abuse at him. The headmistress shifts uncomfortably in her seat.  She tries to turn the recording off but can鈥檛.  The abuse escalates. She pushes at the buttons trying to turn it off. The volume increases. George turns it off.

The flustered headmistress says it鈥檚 not acceptable to record other pupils without their knowledge. She talks about procedures, protocols and counselling. She says that she thought Laurie was 鈥榦n the same page鈥� as the school on this matter and is frankly surprised that they would jeopardise the mediation process in this way. 

As they leave, Raymond Raisin, who is the size of a man, is sitting outside the headmistress鈥檚 office. He makes a gun gesture at George鈥檚 head as they pass and mouths 鈥榮nitch鈥�.

Laurie and George drive home in silence.鈥�

I like many things about this outline 鈥� it is a shining example of how these story documents can work at their best. When I first read this, I was hooked 鈥� I was immediately engaged by the two lead characters, Laurie and George, and I wanted to know what would happen next. Even this short section gives a clear example of the slightly heightened tone 鈥� drama with a hint of dark comedy, but all rooted in a recognisable reality.

This section shows how the story will cut from scene to scene 鈥� and these cuts energise the story-telling effectively eg the cut from Raymond Raisin鈥檚 threat, to the silent car journey.

The headmistress鈥檚 office scene shows a strong sense of original, comic, visual story-telling (the three black eyes in a row) and an appreciation of character dynamics within a scene (the headmistress 鈥榮hifts uncomfortably in her seat鈥�, can鈥檛 turn off the tape recorder). There鈥檚 a pleasing irony to the way the child George has the status, controls this scene. And the characters鈥� emotional states are dramatised rather than explained

A big thank you to writers , and for allowing me to share their work.

by Doctor Who writer Jamie Mathieson

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