What is a film treatment?

A treatment is a short prose summary of a film — usually one to three pages — that tells the whole story in present tense, hitting the major beats. It sits between a log line and a full screenplay and is used to pitch the idea before writing the script.

What makes a strong log line?

A strong log line names the protagonist, their goal, the central conflict, and the stakes in one or two sentences. The builder assembles yours from the character, goal, and antagonist you enter so it reads as a hook, not a synopsis.

What are the key three-act beats?

The core beats are the inciting incident that launches Act 1, the midpoint that raises the stakes in Act 2, and the climax that resolves the conflict in Act 3. The treatment places your story elements at each of these turning points.

Should a treatment be in past or present tense?

Treatments are written in present tense, third person, as if the reader is watching the film unfold. The generated text uses present tense throughout so it reads like a screen story rather than a novel summary.

Is a treatment the same as a synopsis?

They overlap but differ in purpose. A synopsis is often a one-paragraph plot summary, while a treatment is a longer narrative document that conveys tone and structure to a producer or development executive. This builder produces the longer treatment form.

Screenplay Treatment Builder

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The whole movie in three pages

Before a script exists, a treatment has to make a reader see the movie — its hook, its turns, and the point of it all. This builder takes your protagonist, goal, antagonist, and theme and lays them across a classic three-act spine: a log line, the inciting incident, the midpoint, and the climax, all in present-tense screen prose.

How it works

The tool assembles a log line from your character, goal, and opposing force — the one-sentence hook that a treatment opens on. It then maps your inputs onto the standard three-act beats: Act 1 establishes the protagonist’s ordinary world and ends on the inciting incident that disrupts it; Act 2 escalates through a midpoint that raises the stakes and forces a choice; Act 3 builds to the climax where the protagonist confronts the antagonist, followed by a resolution. The theme you supply becomes a closing statement that names what the film is really about. Everything is written in present tense, third person, the convention for treatments.

Tips and example

A log line works best as a [trait] [hero] must [goal] before [stakes], or [consequence] — keep it to one breath.
Make the inciting incident an external event that forces the hero to act, not an internal decision.
The midpoint should change the game — a reversal, a revelation, or a point of no return — so Act 2 does not sag.
State the theme as a question or claim about life (loyalty costs more than betrayal), not as a genre or topic.