Film treatment

The original draft treatment is created during the writing process and is generally long and detailed. It consists of full-scene outlines put together. Usually there are between 30 and 80 standard letter size or A4 pages (Courier New 12 point), with an average of about 40 pages.^{[citation needed]} For example, the draft treatment of The Terminator is 48 pages long.

More elaborate forms of the draft treatment are the step outline and the scriptment.

The presentation treatment is created as presentation material. Scene descriptions are written out on index cards (or a digital equivalent) and only have the essential and important story events that make up the scenes. The scene cards are arranged and rearranged until the optimum structure is worked out.^[2] It is the full story in its simplest form, moving from the concept, to the theme, to the character, to the detailed synopsis of about four to eight pages of master scenes.

Presentation treatments are used to show how the production notes have been incorporated into the screenplay for the director and production executives to look over, or to leave behind as a presentation note after a sales pitch.^[3]

The presentation treatment is the appropriate treatment to submit if a script submission requires one. They are usually at least three, but fewer than thirty, pages in length, with most being of seven to twelve pages.

Treatments are widely used within the motion picture industry as selling documents to outline story and character aspects of a planned screenplay, whereas outlines are generally produced as part of the development process. Screenwriters may use a treatment to initially pitch a screenplay, but may also use a treatment to sell a concept they are pitching without a completed screenplay.