TV WRITING TIPS:

Breaking Down the Television Series Treatment

Yvonne Grace
Yvonne Grace is an award-winning Television Drama Producer with
20+years experience in Script Development, Script Editing and Drama Production
for the BBC, CITV and ITV. She Script Edited EastEnders for the BBC, Produced
My Dads A Boring Nerd for the CITV (winning Best Childrens Comedy Drama),
Produced Holby City for the BBC (which was BAFTA nominated) and Executive
Produced Crossroads for ITV. Her Script Consultancy Script Advice delivers
workshops, provides online TV writing training and develops writer talent. Her book
Writing For Television; Series, Serials and Soaps is available on Amazon.
The creative process can be messy. If you are a Jackson Pollock sort of word
splasher, then you will know what I mean. If you lean more to the Mondrian or Escher
school of thought, you may well have backed up every file you ever started (and there
will be many) entitled story 1+revisions with the date, time and file size
methodically noted. Only you will understand the complexity of your story mapping
and you will adore story lining.
As a writer, I fall into both camps. I splash, but I also like structure and order. I
am also obsessed with story lining. Which is just as well, because via my consultancy
Script Advice, I specialise in unravelling, developing and enhancing the work of
television writers, primarily engaged in the process of writing series and serial
formats.
Theres a time and a place for everything and when you are beginning a
project, then you can afford to get your metaphorical writers smock covered in paint.
(I say this in the blind belief that there is no-one out there in cyber land, reading this
article, that actually wears a writers smock. If you do. Stay safe. Stay inside.)
The Creative Spark happens; as we story nuts all know, whenever the flip it
wants to. Be ready!
THE IGNITION:
At the point of ignition, your imagination will be firing off at all angles. It
might have been a word. It might have been an image. It might have been the
combination of your sister Lesley saying that thing about your Uncle George whilst
plugging in the kettle it just happened and what ever started it, you now have to get
your initial thoughts down as soon as you can, otherwise the Zeitgeist that pesky
mirror of our collective thinking will go and sit on some other writers shoulder and
whisper in their ear instead.
Here, at the Ignition Point, you need to brain storm what it is you are trying to
say. Theres something great here.maybe. But now you have started the engine, you
need to make sure the narrative continues to drive forward otherwise what you may
find is that you have just had an idea for a story that only sits in a single hour or two at
the most.

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The life span or format length of your story depends on many factors, but
the most important one focusses down on the number of characters you have carrying
your plot line and their interaction with each other.
Longevity of a story is the direct result of how much connectivity, association
and impact one character and their arc, has on another.
There is a reason why the series format (also called Continuing Drama in UK
TV) has at its centre, a family, a group, an ensemble these characters carry the
weight of the series on their shoulders.
THE EXPANSION
Consider now, your overall message.
What is it you are trying to say?
Dont be afraid at this point, to talk your story out. Its in the telling that the
holes will appear. By vocalising what your story is really about; what you really want
to discuss here, you will realise very quickly if there is enough actual meat on the
bones to warrant more than a single telling. You will also begin to pin point the main
message.
It will only be in the writing of the Treatment that you will be able to totally
nail your story and where you will also be able to define the over all concept as well
as zone in on the detail of your world.
The Expansion bit of the creation process is where you will need to describe
and define the over all story arc of each character. Here you will be doing two vital
things:
1/ Nailing the Text the action the plot line for your character
2/ Identifying and bringing into dramatic play, the Subtext of the character.
These two have to work together.
When you get Subtext working with Text; then your Message can come alive
and your audience will know what it is you were trying to say.
THE DISTILLATION
Here you need to break your idea down into its component parts. You are
getting at the essence; the kernel of your idea. You want to show both the beating
heart of your world, but also the narratives surrounding it.
So we are talking about themes; we are also talking about the beats of your
story arcs for your characters; the drive of the narrative through the episodes.
In Bloodline, for example, the themes are:

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Loyalty, Family, Love, Rejection, Abandonment, Atonement.
The component parts of the story represented in the Treatment of the idea
would be:
The Setting Florida Keys.
The Family Back story and present.
The Secret the Murderous activity of the siblings and its consequences.
These should be expressed in the Treatment.
THE CONCLUSION
You have ignited the spark, expanded on the concept, broken it down into its
component parts and now you need to tie the whole thing up. Be sure your story holds
water. Ask yourself these questions:
* WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
* WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SAY AND HOW ARE YOU GOING TO
SAY IT?
* WHAT DO WE LEARN?
Get this information into your Treatment and you will be able to at least start
the development ball rolling. Without this process, you will find you are ill-prepared
for the questions that will be asked of you about your potential series.
I know in the US, you view the business of series differently to writers in the
UK.
But I wanted to show you my template for a TV Treatment. I believe if you
follow this, you wont go far wrong in constructing and describing your long running
series story.
In my world, a Treatment is no longer than 8 pages and no less than 2. We can
produce extended treatments and also of course Bibles of drama series, but for the
purposes of this article, I am focussing on the document that is most often requested at
the beginning of a conversation with a potential Commissioner or Producer.
This is the Selling Document where your creative idea gets broken down in
to its component parts and the Essence, or Distillation of your idea is presented.
TITLE:
Make yours really sell your idea by being the best you can make it.

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My favourite titles? Call The Midwife. Roger and Val Have Just Got In.
Sometimes its better that the title describes whats in the tin, so to speak eg: Good
Cop or, to take an example of a show for CITV that I Produced; My Dads A Boring
Nerd.
My favourite US titles? The Good Wife. Breaking Bad. The Unbreakable
Kimmy Schmidt
FORMAT DESCRIPTION:
These are the definitions that describe my working day and most of my
television career in drama production.
NB: US writers these descriptions wont cut it with you you will be
stating here, your series length so 13 x 1 hours
Series: A drama that is open ended. A core cast of returning characters. The
backdrop remains the same and is returned to each week. This is also called the
precinct. There may be several stories per episode which are resolved, but the series
storyline, that which is carried by the core returning cast, remains open. For example:
Waking The Dead Coronation Street Downton Abbey Scott and Bailey Skins.
Serial: A drama of more than two parts with a strong serial element. A core
cast of returning characters and an over arching storyline, but in this case the storyline
is ultimately resolved. For example: The Wrong Mans Prey My Big Fat Teenage
Diary Peaky Blinders Poldark.
Here in your treatment you state how long your series or serial is x 3/4/6/8
parts or is it a series of 13 or more parts?
LOGLINE:
In a small paragraph; a cluster of lines 3 6 maximum (otherwise its a pitch
paragraph, not a logline!) summarise your idea as succinctly and entertainingly as you
can. You need to convey the main narrative here the set up, the jeopardy or
challenge for your protagonist and to give a sense of style and tone by the way you
word this. Its hard to do but essential. This is what your Producer/Commissioner will
keep referring to in your conversation about the drama and its future development.
ONE PARAGRAPH OF TASTY DESCRIPTION SETTING OUT THE
WORLD:
Here the job is to be as descriptive and evocative as possible. Imagine you are
telling your friend about a film you have just seen that truly made an impact on you.
You need to entice them into the storyline, to make them want to see it too.
Use your visual brain and set out some key moments they need not be the
first ones seen in the first scene of your pilot but they could be set pieces or
significant moments in your story for your main character. Visualise and describe for
us what is going on. Draw us in.

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CHARACTER BIOGRAPHIES:
Make these as tasty as you can. I like to add a quotation relating to each
character under their name; the sort of thing they are most likely to say or something
that alludes to their particular storyline. For example; in a treatment I wrote,
ostensibly about the Eternal Quest For Mr Right and entitled A Man For All Seasons
(I did not square this with the estate of Robert Bolt but, if it had been commissioned I
would have had to do a rethink) I created a character called Plum. Her quotation was
Plum is looking for a man she can spar with; so far, she has only dated a man that
shops there. In each character biography, give a suggestion of the arc of their
storyline across the number of episodes. Make these people live on the page.
EPISODE OUTLINES:
Be exact and succinct in your language; avoid then she said, then he said
(which is oxygen sucking for anyone to read). Give only the thrust of the A storyline
(or the main story line) with the smaller B and Cs threading in between. The broad
stroke is necessary here, not the detail.
The reason these are here in the treatment, is to prove to a prospective
buyer/producer that your idea really does fill the slots you say you are aiming for. So
if there are 3 parts or 8, a producer will be looking at whether there is enough story
material to go the distance. Some producers may ask for more detail at this point, and
you can then provide them with an episode break down (which is a step by step break
down of the story as it unfolds in each episode) but here, in the treatment, you are
setting out the long arcs the broad strokes you need to give an impression of
plenty but avoid tedious details.
MAIN STORY ARCS:
Each character has a journey and here you outline what that is in story terms.
Again, pithy evocative language is what we are looking for.
Every moment a character exists on screen is a moment weighted with both
subtext and text. Get their story down here for your Commissioner/Producer to see in
an easily accessible way.
THE CENTRAL MESSAGE:
This will most likely be alluded to in your logline, but here you can
extrapolate a bit more and dig a bit deeper. What do you want your audience to come
away thinking having spent time with your drama? What is it you are saying about the
world and your characters? What is the macro message to be gleaned from diving, as
we have done here, in your treatment, into the micro world of your drama?
Throughout the writing of your treatment you must also pay attention to the
style and tone of your writing and as much as possible, evoke for your reader the
flavour of what they will ultimately be seeing on screen.