How to treat a treatment
I’ve been in advertising long enough to remember the days when treatments didn’t really exist.
You wrote ads, sent them to directors, had chats with the ones who said they were interested and chose the one you liked best.
There was no further stage where you then expected the possible choices to send you several pages of ‘reference’, along with a long, detailed explanation of how they intended to shoot your little effort in the same way Godard shot À Bout De Souffle.
But then someone, somewhere had the bright idea of giving that little extra and, as we’ve seen so many times in the recent past of the industry, when you give and inch, a yard is taken: do an ad in three days instead of a week and the client will then ask for the work in two days, then one; offer to cut your mark up ‘just this once’ and you’ll find yourself cutting it twice, then again and again until it becomes the norm and you are asked to cut it again; say fucking ‘ideation’ in a meeting and it’s a short slope to ‘brand synergy’ and ‘online conversations’.
When the person who came up with the idea of treatments did so he or she opened the doors to a right old Pandora’s Box. Of course, now every attempt to get a script includes a treatment, sometimes on really nice paper; sometimes on video. And often they’re not written by the actual directors (who may not list ‘writing about anamorphic lenses for the right to shoot a Persil ad’ in the things they learned at directing school), so you’re not getting a real indication of their exact thoughts anyway.
I’m all for going the extra distance to convince someone you’re the right person for a job, but that’s clearly not what treatments have become.
Do you enjoy them or believe them to be yet another pointless addition to the 21st Century?
it’s all a load of old wank. mostly. but you can always spot the ones who really mean it. hire them.
I used (when I did TV ads instead of multiple, disposable “routes”) to hte it when the director started the meeting with
“First of all I just like to say how much I really liked the script.”
My heart would sink. Just fucking get on with it.
All of the evidence that the director is right for the job is on the showreel not in the treatment. Given that I’m very happy to do a treatment if anyone’s got any spare scripts knocking about.
What was developed a device to gain a competitive edge (blame Tarsem and his pitch for Levi’s Swimmer) has become a ‘load of old wank’. Mostly.
Only the agencies can change the game.
“Your treatment should cover no more than three A4 pages”
That’ll do it.
Who’s brave enough to issue that directive?
Vinny would still get to spot the ones who really mean it.
It would just mean you don’t have to wade through 30+ pages to get there…
It’s become an incredibly arduous process. We use writers sometimes for directors for whom English is not their first language, and I think that’s fair enough. Our English speakers all write their own. I think it’s crucial, and as you say Vinny, it means they care – they’re not dialling it in.
I hate writing treatments, writing has never been my strong point, i’m dyslexic and struggle to express my thoughts/visions in words. They take ages and are so formulaic that render themselves pointless. If you do something out of the normal format its makes everyone uncomfortable. I do however write my own treatments because they become a stick to beat you with later in the process so you have to give it your full attention.
I feel that recently agencies have used them as pitch tools and the jobs i was pitching on evaporated along with the account.
They are time consuming and expensive to produce, i don’t think agencies realise or care about that they see production companies as service companies at their disposal 24/7
To do a good treatment it takes a few days, i use a picture researcher, she costs £300 per day and i will brief her as to what i want and see will come back with contact sheets and i’ll select and then she will layout, so in all probably £600-£900.
Other directors use treatment writers, some are really good Noam uses a woman called Mary Weeks, she’ll be given a recording of your call with Noam and write it up to sound witty and from his mouth. Most american directors use this method. More and more British directors are doing the same.
I don’t think they are a great reflection of the intent of the director on the whole they are a tool to try and win the job.
If you want to know who to hire look into their eyes and feel it and go with your gut.
Ace post.
A Director has just made me shudder a little. I used to be a sucker for a well-written treatment and actually believed they ‘loved the script’.
But, I am all for treatments, as somewhere in the ass-kissing, there is the nugget that you need to reassure you that the director isn’t just texting it in. About 5 minutes ago (not like, literally), I got a treatment back from a director who had totally re-written the script. Though he ‘loved it’, he managed to wring out every last drop of creativity, leaving it in a sorry puddle on the floor.
Frankly, if you are totally A-List, I wouldn’t ask for a treatment, I’d just play the reel. This actually works, even now.
Declared interest: when I retire, I would like to be a treatment writer to pay the rent. I know what pleases me, assume other CDs are no different, and have little shame.
I agree with Mr Denton.
Chris Palmer just sent 3 pages of pics and said if you’re interested let’s chat.
We also used a very good movie director a couple of years ago and he wouldn’t do one. However he did say if we wanted to go with him he’d come to the meeting and talk about his thoughts. He got the job in the meeting.
And there – in A Director’s comment – you have it.
The man acknowledges that writing isn’t his strong suite. So why not bring in someone who writes for a living to help him out (I’m not suggesting A Director does this by the way).
Does the director light the spots he shoots? No – he briefs a talented and experienced DoP.
Does the director cut the spot? No – he (sometimes…) sits next to an Editor. Someone whose job it is to cut film.
So what’s the problem if he ropes in a Treatment Writer to express his thoughts in the most interesting and engaging way possible?
You want a director who can direct – right? Or do you think that all great director’s should also be gifted writers?
@George I thought the expressions were ‘phoning it in’ and ‘dialling it up/down’.
I hate it when a Director starts the meeting with “so, tell us your thoughts on the script”.
Here’s an idea mate: you tell me YOUR fucking thoughts.
@AdamT – I did love your script. Don’t shudder, just being real.
@Oh God… – Yeah i know what you mean, i always have a very definitive point of view on a script before the 1st meeting, i have to have visualised it to decide whether to engage on it or not. But maybe the question they are trying to ask is how have you got here? Sometimes in understanding your brief and thinking thereafter we can help simplify the idea and amplify the execution which i believe is the role of the director.
Or maybe they’re lazy cunts who are just going to write your ideas up in a lovely treatment with pretty pictures and you’ll say – this guy’s nailed it.
@ A Director
Fancy a coffee and a chat…?
What? Oh come on. It’s part of my job goddamit..
To be honest, most ads simply don’t merit much beyond a writeup of “here’s how I would shoot this”.
But when I hear Eisenstein’s name evoked in a treatment for a :30 retail spot (and I have) the bullshit fumes overwhelm me. the best treatments IMO focus on solving problems I might not have considered. too often it’s just stuff I have already thought of.
I think directors do more than they need to.
The treatment IS important – after all, three different directors might propose three vastly different ways of shooting an ad, and it’s important that each director explains their approach.
They don’t need 500 pictures though, do they?
I’m a professional treatment writer – before the knives are thrown please read without prejudice…I’ve been a TVC director for 12 years as well as an ad agency CD.
Most US directors use treatment writers. Most other directors also do but the majority won’t admit it as though it’s in some way insulting to their creative egos.
As @Devil’s Advocate rightly points out in this thread, if directors use editors, dops, vfx people et al to deliver their vision, why wouldn’t you use a writer to deliver a treatment? Especially when that writer isn’t purely a stenographer, they are actively the 4th creative in the process with whom the director bounces ideas with. There’s massive value in that for the director.
It seems that professional treatment writers are getting a bad rap in this thread. Often we can assist directors who are flat out working or don’t have English as first language to deliver their vision and win jobs, and constructive long-term relationships are built. Without the cringey wank factor ever appearing.
@Vinny, yes it’s clearly ridiculous when Eisenstein is mentioned in a 30″ retail spot.
@ Adam T – regarding the A-list, you’d be surprised.
@A director you’re paying too much.
Most directors and production companies we work with as ghostwriters/ visual research/designers for pitches are really great people, and we love what we do, and have pride in doing it. And we work f*ing hard and we do it bloody well, confidentially.
That’s why when those directors are picking up their awards we shut the hell up and wake up next day sober to do it again. Better.
Alf you sound like a great bloke and someone I would want to work with (even though I wouldn’t know if I was working with you).
@Putney Nope – Hooray! A word of support at last- thank you!
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I view treatments as a sort of “contract” to win the job. Nobody would enter into a contract without reading the language of it first, right? Treatments are the same.
It’s an elaboration of the specification designed by the advertising agency that gets attached to the purchase order of the client. It ensures their intended goals are met by design in production. Similar to that of any physical product.
Advertising has gotten far more sophisticated with the rise of technology and its lending to more complex storytelling. It’s that simple.
However, nothing replaces your body of work and as a director, you’re always judged by your last spot.
These days, clients demand treatments. Budgets are more scrutinized. Three bid minimums are a requirement. No marketing director at any brand would walk into their bosses office empty-handed and say take my word, so-and-so is the best person for the job.
Additionally, I’ve seen some clients that miss the mark by a long shot. They simply didn’t understand the concept the advertising agency was exploring and they went way into left field. The written and visual treatment clearly showed the creatives that it wasn’t the most compatible vision for what they wanted.