Can a treatment be written before a movie script is written?

Question

Writing my first script and I'm thinking I might have an easier time writing/finishing it if I wrote a treatment for it. Is this a good idea? Should I wait to write the treatment until after I've written the scritp? Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Absolutely a good idea. Having a treatment (or more correctly, an outline) will help you figure out the structure of your story and will eliminate questions of where you are going from one scene to the next. An outline always comes before the script, never after.

I'll give you another good tip. I'll write out my outline. Basically, it steps out what happens in which scene in a rough laundry list form and it'll go maybe five pages or so. Once I'm done with that, I'll write out the script, scene by scene, right over the outline! That way, if I get a good idea for a scene in the middle of the script, I can write it in the appropriate spot and know what comes before and after it.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

The treatment is supposed to be written first - for the very reason that it helps you focus on what you want to put in it and how you want it done when being filmed.