Task 2: Treatment

Pre-production: Writing a Treatment

You should already have a set of initial ideas.  You will have identified constraints in terms of time, budget and health and safety, and your resources (equipment, people).  The next stage is to “pitch” (sell) these ideas to a potential funder / client.  This client might be a TV / film production company, or a commissioner for a TV channel.  To do this effectively, you need to prepare a treatment or proposal which suggests your ideas.  This will include an outline and an argument as to why your ideas would be successful with a specific target audience identified.  

Remember, the purpose of a treatment is to sell your idea, so be clear about what makes your idea different and distinctive!  

In the media industry this treatment will probably be altered slightly by the commissioning editor to suit their purpose.  

A treatment will include the following:

• Classification / genre
• Duration
• Summary of programme idea including content, narrative, location(s) and what makes it different
• Audience
• Similar / comparable programme examples
• Price / budget
• Equipment
• Actors and production team required
• Any ethical issues

Your treatment should be no longer than a couple of sides of A4 paper.

GENRE: Comedy, we chose this genre because we thought that choosing this genre would bring a huge audience as it is one of the most successful genres in the film industry.

DURATION: 3 minutes

SUMMARY: Romaine is frustrated and annoyed in detention, whilst everyone is out at lunch. Romaine is alone thinking whether to leave the detention without permission, he does so and leaves rapidly towards the ‘Street’. Romaine will enter the canteen feeling relief as he is collecting his food, Ricardo is also in a rush and steals Romaine’s food and quickly runs for the canteen doors.

AUDIENCE: 13+ because people younger would not be able to understand.

SIMILAR PROGRAMMES: The Inbetweeners without dialogue

BUDGET: £2.50

EQUIPMENT: Camera, Adobe Premiere Pro, Mac.

ACTORS: Romaine,

PRODUCTION TEAM: Stacy, Ricardo, Kimberley, Donelle, Romaine

ETHICAL ISSUES: N/A