The document provides guidance on writing a treatment or proposal to pitch ideas for a TV or film project to potential funders. An effective treatment should outline the ideas, argue why they will appeal to a specific target audience, and include key details like genre, duration, summary, audience, budget, and production team. It should be no longer than a couple pages and convince the funder that the idea is distinctive and worth supporting.

1. Writing a treatment Portfolio: Media / VC 13/09/2016
Pre-production: Writing a Treatment
You should already have a set of initial ideas. You will
have identified constraints in terms of time, budget
and health and safety, and your resources (equipment, people).
The next stage is to “pitch” (sell) these ideas to a potential
funder / client. This client might be a TV / film production
company, or a commissioner for a TV channel. To do this
effectively, you need to prepare a treatment or
proposal which suggests your ideas. This will
include an outline and an argument as to why your
ideas would be successful with a specific target audience
identified.
Remember, the purpose of a treatment is to sell your idea, so
be clear about what makes your idea different and distinctive!
In the media industry this treatment will probably be altered
slightly by the commissioning editor to suit their purpose.
A treatment will include the following:
• Classification / genre
• Duration
• Summary of programme idea including content, narrative,
location(s) and what makes it different
• Audience
• Similar / comparable programme examples
• Price / budget
• Equipment
• Actors and production team required
• Any ethical issues
Your treatment should be no longer than a couple of sides of
A4 paper.

2. Writing a treatment Portfolio: Media / VC 13/09/2016
GENRE: Comedy, we chose this genre because we thought that
choosing this genre would bring a huge audience as it is one of
the most successful genres in the film industry.
DURATION: 3 minutes
SUMMARY: Romaine is frustrated and annoyed in detention,
whilst everyone is out at lunch. Romaine is alone thinking
whether to leave the detention without permission, he does so
and leaves rapidly towards the ‘Street’. Romaine will enter the
canteen feeling relief as he is collecting his food, Ricardo is
also in a rush and steals Romaine’s food and quickly runs for
the canteen doors.
AUDIENCE: 13+ because people younger would not be able to
understand.
SIMILAR PROGRAMMES: The Inbetweeners without dialogue
BUDGET: £2.50
EQUIPMENT: Camera, Adobe Premiere Pro, Mac.
ACTORS: Romaine,
PRODUCTION TEAM: Stacy, Ricardo, Kimberley, Donelle,
Romaine
ETHICAL ISSUES: N/A