Now, if you're a Novelist you're thinking, 'Man, I've got this!' Yeah, you do but just like any good martial arts movie training exercise, there's a 'catch to it'. The catch is; unlike novel writing or standard short-story writing, the Treatment has to be written 'visually' without being too 'wordy'. You'll have to convey strong visual imagery without drawn out descriptions. A typical Novel description of a scene would look something like this:
On a rain-slick cobblestone road, the long black limousine pulled around the corner from out of the darkened alley.
For a Treatment the scene description would look something like this;
Out of the rain drenched dark alley came a black limousine.
Both lines say the exact same thing; 'what came out of an alley at night during or after it rained'. In the Novel style line the details are filled in; 'rain-slick cobblestone road', 'long black limo', the corner and darkened alley. The Treatment line however, says the same thing with 'less details'. The job of a Treatment is to 'cut to the chase' so to speak when telling your story. When you write the script, you won't have the luxury of long languid description permitted in Novel Writing. So by filtering down the scene descriptions to the basis of just 'what is' in the scene, you free up yourself and other reader's minds to 'fill in' the details themselves. Also, by doing so you can tell the exact same story without bogging it down with unnecessary detail.
The next and toughest part of the Treatment is writing Mono/Dialogue. When writing words which will be spoken, just like with scene description you'll have to filter out 'what you want to say' from 'what the character is saying'. You're probably thinking 'What the hell does that mean?' I'll spare you the part of where the Master in the movies looks at you like you're stupid and gives a cryptic answer that only ticks you off! What it means is this; in Novel Writing you can have your characters give long 'soliloquies' even when engaged in conversation. In the real-world, nobody talks in long running sentences. When you are out among people, take some time to just listen to what people say. Humans speak in 'economically' short sentences. Anyone who starts 'Monologueing' will quickly be interrupted or lose the interest of the listener. Not to mention, it is necessary to breathe as the air is expended during speech.
So you may want your character to speak at length in detail, but that's not how the character will speak when on camera. Actors constantly request rewrites to cut down dialogue or have it flow more naturally. Getting your mono/dialogue into actual 'spoken voice' mode will make your characters pop off the page in your treatment and will ease the transition for writing them into the script.
The last and heaviest lift involving the Treatment is; telling your story in a short space. Even though you may be writing for a feature-length film, your Treatment still has to be a short story. I've seen treatments short as a page, but the average is 3 - 7. Some studios will ask for up to 10. However, if you can't nail down a solid treatment of your story in 3 - 7 pages you may need to rethink your story. Your story must include all of your main / supporting characters, plot points, with a solid beginning, middle and end with a believable conclusion all written in a visual manner. When you have completed this lift, move onto 'Jar #3'.
Note* If you wrote a solid outline during the Premise phase, it will serve as steady base by which you can build your Treatment on. If you don't have an outline, be prepared for one seriously painful and long attempt to lift 'Jar #2'!
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