How to Write a Plot Treatment Screenplay Project

How to Write a Plot Treatment Screenplay Project: Part ONE

What should be in a plot treatment? �A Working title �A short logline � Introduction � Who, to key characters what, when, why and where

3 -Act Structure � Act I = Setup � Act II = Conflict � Act III = Resolution

Pouring water into a thimble… the LOGLINE � The logline is a ONE sentence statement that encompasses what your film is about. � It reads like a teaser, or marketing tool, to promote the film. � The higher the concept, the easier it is to write the logline. � The logline is the LITMUS for good ideas and bad ideas BEFORE you invest time in the entire screenplay.

Example Logline And Then Came Love is a character-driven romantic comedy about a high-powered Manhattan single mom who opens Pandora's box when she seeks out the anonymous sperm donor father of her young son.

How to Develop a Logline � Start with a list of all the important elements of the script. � Who are the main characters? � What happens to them? � What is the most important moment in the script? � What do the main characters do to overcome adversity? � How does the story end? � What psychological change(s) takes place by the end?

Name that Movie An intergalactic saga which begins as a simple tale of one boy’s destiny, an ancient religion and infuriating computer generated sidekicks. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Name that Movie An unassuming US Navy chef and a band of vicious mercenaries. Essentially, Die Hard on a boat. Under Siege

Name that Movie One man’s compelling struggle against poverty, poorly tended public toilets and India’s answer to Chris Tarrant. Slumdog Millionaire

Name that Movie On an infamous doomed vessel, a streetwise hustler crosses paths with a stifled aristocratic dreamer to create an unsinkable love story. And a suspiciously accurate erotic drawing. Titanic

Name that Movie A band of miss-matched laborers are called up to board a space shuttle, fly it into space, land it on a moving rock (roughly the size of Texas), drill a hole on the moving rock and blow it up before it collides with Earth, all to a soft-rock soundtrack. The title will be something end-of-the-world based. Armageddon

Name that Movie A high-octane action adventure that offers a dizzying glimpse into the thrills, adrenalinefuelled battles and elongated volleyball montages that characterise the world of elite Naval aviators. Top Gun

Name that Movie In the distant future a desperate war is ripping apart an endangered alien planet until a battle-hardened hero fights to preserve the twinkling beauty of the rainforest and the lucrative future of stereoscopic 3 D glasses. Avatar

Name that Movie Vietnam, Sixties counterculture, Watergate. A Southern simpleton has a bumbling hand in some of the 20 th century’s biggest events in this touching story of love, courage over adversity and snappily-named shrimp chains. Forrest Gump

Name that Movie An archeologist is hired by the U. S. government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. Raiders of the Lost Ark

Name that Movie A comedic portrayal of a young and broke Shakespeare who falls in love with a woman, inspiring him to write Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare in Love

Name that Movie A 17 th Century tale of adventure on the Caribbean Sea where the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow joins forces with a young blacksmith in a gallant attempt to rescue the Governor of England's daughter and reclaim his ship. Pirates of the Caribbean

Name that Movie When a Roman general is betrayed and his family murdered by an insane and corrupt prince, he comes to Rome as a gladiator to seek revenge. Gladiator

Name that Movie In a future where criminals are arrested before the crime occurs, a cop struggles on the lam to prove his innocence for a murder he has not yet committed. Minority Report