Write: Treatments To Sell: Create and Market Your Story Ideas to the Motion Picture and TV Industry

by Kenneth Atchity, Chi-Li Wong

This manual is a step by step guide to writing the perfect treatment, and to using it to perfect your dramatic art and market your work to entertainment buyers and gatekeepers. As Hollywood insiders know, the first step in selling your story idea for film or television is preparing a treatment, the brief pitch that sells the concept to a busy producer or agent. Now including updates on the latest trends in the industry, writers-producers Kenneth Atchity and Chi-Li Wong tell readers everything they need to know to create an effective and saleable treatment, one that incorporates such key elements as conflict, likeable characters, plot twists, a climax, and visual drama. Using dozens of examples from actual productions, Writing Treatments To Sell distinguishes between scripts designed for feature films, episodic television, and made-for-TV movies and shows step-by-step how to prepare a treatment for each. Also included is essential information on copyrighting original ideas for screenplays, as well as acquiring rights to adaptable books and true-life stories. With a comprehensive glossary of industry terms and an overview of the various entertainment markets, this book is perfect for students who want to learn how to write an effective script and essential for anyone hoping to get a foot in the door of the exciting scriptwriting business. From Library Journal Walter's name is synonymous with excellence in motion picture screenwriting. The guru of the completed script (he previously wrote The Art, Craft and Business of Film and Television Writing, LJ 11/15/88), he here offers a tour de force of information for everyone who has ever contemplated writing a movie. While most how-to titles dwell on the three-act structure, strong character development, and other technical skills, Walter urges writers to draw from their own experience. He cheers for films with substance rather than today's matinees that may be shiny and shapely but void of any real soul. Equally impressive is Writing Treatments To Sell, a debut by two Hollywood writer-producers. Though some of their basic information seems to be a rehash of material found in just about every screenwriting book, everything pertaining to the actual writing of the treatment is original and fresh. There is no better book specifically on treatments. Both titles are highly recommended for appropriate collections. Marty Dean Evensvold, Magnolia Branch Lib., Tex. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. "At last-someone wrote the book every screenwriter has needed for years. It can make the difference between success and failure in the industry."-Linda Seger, author of Making a Good Script Great and From Script to Screen "Essential material for the beginning screenwriter and the established writer, both."-Dale Pollack, producer of Blaze and Saturday Night Fever "With WRITING TREATMENTS TO SELL, Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong have written much more than a book on film treatments. It's an essential guide for handling structure, characterization, conflict, and all the other craft concepts that writers have to know, as well as an incredibly useful outline of what makes this crazy business tick. To top it all off, their energy and passion for writing and story-telling is infectious."--Steven Womack, author of CHAIN OF FOOLS. "Atchity and Wong have created a highly accessible and entertaining step-by-step guide through the creative minefields of motion picture and television development. Thus, they have delivered an indispensable handbook for all novice writers and producers who want to make a living in Hollywood.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction

312 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 29, 2013

About the author

Kenneth John Atchity is an American producer and author, who has worked variously in the world of letters as a literary manager, editor, speaker, writing coach, brand consultant, and professor of comparative literature.

At home among the many worlds of communications and storytelling, he was labeled a "story merchant" by a visiting ambassador to the United States.

Atchity was born 16 January 1944 in Eunice, Louisiana, son of Fred J. and Myrza (née Aguillard) Atchity; he grew up between Louisiana and Kansas City, Missouri. He and his companies, The Story Merchant, Atchity Entertainment International, Inc., The Writers Lifeline, Inc., and The Louisiana Wave Studio, LLC, in Shreveport, Louisiana produce films and develop books for publication; and books, screenplays, and films for television and cinema, and consult with writers about their career strategies and tactics.

Reviews

[T.N. Traynor · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is is a very thorough book, guiding you through the heartache of trying to write a treatment that will simply jump up and grab the reader.

Wanting to pitch to Hollywood myself, and in preparation for my meeting with Ken Atchity this June, I purchased two of Ken's books. This one, plus How to Pitch to Hollywood. Both books are good, but this one is definitely the most helpful.

Step by step guidance on what to do, and probably more importantly, what not to do, this book is invaluable. Maybe, slightly more geared to scriptwriters (if you are a scriptwriter I highly recommend this book), still extremely helpful to us budding authors.

One thing I didn't know was about submitting your book to the copyright office at the Library of Congress, this is definitely now on my to-do-soon list.

Besides helpful tips like that, the book gives a real, refreshing, definitely honest view on getting your book made into a movie. Unfortunately, Ken, I don't hob-nob with millionaires nor rub shoulders with high flyers in Hollywood, so the only things left for me is to a) wish for loads of luck, and b) work damn hard and hope that one day I am in the right place at the right time for my dream to come true.

Whenever I get down at all the hard work, I keep in mind my most favorite dream of all time. That is walking down the red-carpet in New York, with my husband and my four sons, to attend the premiere of Idi & the Oracle's Quest. It is this dream that drives me forward, keeps me working hard... and makes me purchase books like Treatments that sell.

To all you budding indie-authors with the same dream, I advise you get the book asap!

Please note, I have never met Ken Atchity, never spoken with him on the phone, never been in any correspondence whatsoever, I didn't get paid to leave this review and I didn't get asked to leave a review by anyone. I simply thought the book was great.

[Brendan O'Neill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good guide to writing treatments. I recommended it to my students at the time.

[Andy Schwartz · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are still probably some tidbits but some parts of the book are not really up to date with current industry trends.

[Jimmy Hager · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book

This one gets right down to the heart of the story. Fast.
You'll thank yourself for buying it. Do it.