Do’s and don’ts of submitting to agents
Crime writer Dominique Hall has written to me for advice on sending a novel to an agent. She says: I am at the stage of approaching agents as I have written a crime novel, and…
Wants and Needs in writing
Wants and Needs in Writing A few weeks ago I wrote about my GOATS method for writing fiction and screenplays. Anna Mönnich wrote in response from Germany. Her email brings up an issue that often…
The GOATS method for writing and editing
How to write powerful stories using the GOATS method. Great stories possess great power. Whether fiction, movies, TV or theatre, they have the power to move, to change people’s lives (and even to earn their…
What book blurbs really mean
When the Man Booker shortlist was announced earlier this year, Andrew Holgate of the Sunday Times noted how the judges slagged off the while industry of creative book blurbs along with the celebrity quotes that…
How the gurus who teach “show don’t tell” could ruin your treatment
All screenwriting gurus teach “Show don’t tell” – it’s one of the few things they all agree on. How can it possibly be bad? And yet, what they don’t tell you is sticking to “show…
The biggest synopsis mistake that writers make
I see hundreds of treatments and synopses and most have clearly been slaved over by their writers, but there are still half a dozen major mistakes that sabotage them, no matter how good they are…
What writers can learn from Andy Murray
I wouldn’t have thought there was anything that writers could learn from Andy Murray, but today I read Barney Ronay in the Guardian on what he calls Murray’s “on-court savvy” – a “supremely un-British skill”.…
12 essentials for writing a film or TV treatment
Writing a treatment for a screen story is one of the most difficult forms of writing there is. I know, as a director and producer, as well as writer, I read hundreds, and most fall…
How to ask experts to help research your script
Whatever your story, it’s well worth spending a little time and effort speaking to the best experts in the area – from divorce to the side-effects of digitalis. Their knowledge can solve plot problems, enrich characters, generate dialogue and create unexpected twists. But how do you get them on your side?
Four simple steps for writing a gripping treatment
Do you find it difficult to structure a treatmentso that it grips the reader as strongly as the full script? Join the club. I don’t think any writer enjoys distilling their exquisitely crafted scripts down…
Treatment writing tip: It’s not how much, it’s how little!
OK, let’s face it, it can be tough writing a good treatment, cramming all the important events in a 99-120 page screenplay into a fraction of that length. But the point of a treatment is…
Six Things You Need To Know About Treatments
If you want to write for film or TV, then treatments, outlines, synopses (the terms are interchangeable in the industry) are something you have to get good at. And to write good treatments there are six things you’ll need to know.
Three Tips for Writing Treatments
Writing a good, compelling, readable treatment is tough. It’s difficult enough to write a script – but then to boil the whole thing down from 90+ pages to one or two…! However it’s a crucial part of a screenwriter’s job. Here are three of my top tips.
How to land a top star and the BBC with one treatment
Most people hate writing treatments. Not me, I love them. This is how I used a treatment to hook a top star comedian and the BBC in just five pages – and how you can too.
How long should your treatment be?
I’ve been running my Exciting Treatments workshop for over ten years now, and one of the first questions I’m asked is alway, How long is a treatment supposed to be?
Get it rite, not written
Most people understand if a few typos or stylistic solecisms slip through in an email or (perish the thought) in a blog post. These are informal media. But a treatment or script is different. Unlike other forms of writing, they can easily contain hidden traps.
Want to enjoy writing treatments – find your voice
It’s true screenplays don’t offer a great variety of style or voice – but that doesn’t apply to treatments, synopses and outlines. There are far fewer style rules for such outlines of your story.
Write treatments with style
I’ve written before that good screenwriters often get tangled up writing treatments. One major reason is that they are simply using the wrong style.