All About Treatments Danny Fleet. Guide & Recording
Danny Fleet is founder of Presence Films, with many years of top-notch industry experience.
In the interview he covers:
What you need to check first if someone asks you write a treatment
How real is the job? How to find out
How to write the treatment
How much time should I spend on a treatment
Is it a good idea to get external help on the brief - such as other creatives and producers?
How long should I be spending thinking about an idea and then working on it?
Is it important to keep in mind how many other directors are being asked to pitch?
PLUS
Danny has generously shared his extensive and excellent advice in written form too:
Treatments take a huge amount of time and energy. If you are serious about winning jobs then you need to really think about what you can offer against the competition.
Before you even think about treating, you need to assess the project in hand on a number of levels (this is where having a production company back you up is useful as they can ask the tricky questions so you don't have to.)
• What is the opportunity for you as a director?
• How will winning this job advance my career?
• Is it one for the bank or the reel?
• Is there the budget to make the film I want to make? If not will the film be compromised massively and work against me?
Once you have made an assessment (and sometimes getting someone else like a producer to look at this with you honestly will help you).
Then if you do decide to treat, ask yourself this:
• Will the clients be paying me for treatments? (Even a small amount of money really helps a director).
• Can I get on a briefing call with the creatives? Can I have someone else external help me and take notes (ie a prod co producer who is separate from the agency)?
• Who else are they talking to?
• Think about what kind of treatments they will be receiving from other directors - the competition.
• How many directors are being asked to pitch? As a rule of thumb the client (or agency) should ask no more than three directors to pitch. Often they ask 4 or 5 directors to get a range of ideas.
• What do they actually want from me as a director?
• Why did they come to me?
• How long can you give me to deliver the treatment?
At this stage, if you are supported by a production company, an EP is carefully managing the process for you - consider the logistics, aiming to make the best opportunity for you as a director and to help you make the best film possible. At a production company, we are going all out for making you the 'recommend' to client. This can be muddied by the case that these days, there are increasing requests for treatments by agencies with internal production companies - If this is the case for you, the challenge in discerning who you are up against and whether you really are the 'recommend' for the job can be trickier. And so you might find yourself unsure as to how much to put into your treatment.
However, assuming you are going all out with your treatment: You will be considering....
• What the client's needs carefully...
• What film am I going to make and how best to convey this through treatment form - text, and still and moving images? Your treatment should break down into many areas that support your execution of the idea. Not just locations / casting and look. Think about modelmaking, special props, cinematography, product and so on. Talk about them in detail to show that you really care about winning this job.
• Where will I look for images that are not just standard?
• Don't use an image researcher that everyone else is using on this job.
Then the pain really starts!
• Write and write and write, then edit massively.
• Less is more.
• Use amazing photography. Use good film references.
• Think about layout and type. Get your graphic designer mates on board. Anyone who knows good visuals.
• Don't just repeat what you have said in other treatments. It's super obvious.
• Don't use another treatments layout. Its super obvious.
• Your audience are looking at high quality visual work every day of their lives- you need to match their high expectations in quality of presentation.
Run your treatments by us at Presence. We know what the clients will be looking out for in every treatment.
At this point we are carefully balancing whether our director is in with a chance or just the third bid. Never be the third bid!
Good luck!
Danny Fleet. Presence Team Ltd
www.presence.team