Once free from the creativity drainer known as writer’s block, the preparation for shopping and optioning your screenplay will commence. Even before writing your screenplay, two key elements are needed – a logline and treatment. But once the revising and editing process has slowed down, revisiting the logline and treatment is a must. In today’s blog, I’ll dive into redoing your logline and treatment for your big moment.

Loglines and treatments are like the mission statement and slogan for your vision. They set the blueprint for what your story will become once you begin writing/typing your script. Even though your story might change course here and there, your logline and treatment are there to keep you from veering too far off course.

For me, my logline and treatment have remained the same since I first wrote my pilot. Of course, there have been some minor tweaks along the way, but pretty much the same premise has remained in tack. Remember to always keep your premise in mind when redoing your logline and treatment.

With that said, let’s explore how to repurpose your logline and treatment.

Logline

Retooling a logline can be both amazing and challenging. As the definition states,  a logline is

a brief (usually one-sentence) summary of a television program, film, or book that states the central conflict of the story, often providing both a synopsis of the story’s plot, and an emotional “hook” to stimulate interest.

Being short and concise is the key to crafting a great logline. So once you’ve come up with one, you can breathe a sigh of relief.

The revising and editing process can make it hard to look at your well-crafted logline and think “this doesn’t speak to the story I have now.” That moment can be a heartbreak for any writer especially your average screenwriter. It means you have to go back to the drawing board and go through the brainstorming process all over again.  But it’s okay as now you understand your plot and characters better. Writing the new one will be a little easier.

When redoing your logline, you have to keep your screenplay in mind. It has to inhibit the plot and characters as they are now not from the previous revision(s). Just remember to keep the setting, characters, inciting incident, conflict, and goals in mind. As I have gone through the revising process, I have found myself looking back at the logline every time to see if it still captures the premise of my script. Every revision causes a tweak to the logline in some form or fashion. Keep calm and go with the flow.

Treatment

Long before the first word of your screenplay is typed or written, your treatment plots out how your story will come together and take shape. Treatment follows its definition to a tee:

a piece of prose, typically the step between scene cards and the first draft of a screenplay, longer and more detailed than an outline that reads like a short story, but describes the events as they happen in the present tense.

The treatment allows you to write your screenplay without worrying or over thinking every little detail. Trust me that’s a godsend for a type A personality like me and my racing thoughts. It provides structure while allowing for wiggle room where needed.

The revising and editing process can throw your well thought-out treatment for a loop. It feels like your world is coming to an end as you go back to start tweaking dialogue and rearranging scenes to best fit the story in its new form.  But it’s okay as now you understand that all the moving parts are now working in tangent with each other. Writing the new one will be an undertaking but so worth it.

Like your logline, retooling your treatment make you refer to your revised screenplay. It has to follow the story’s new course instead of the previous one. As I’ve gone through the revising process, I found myself tweaking the treatment as I rewrote and edited my script. The same vision I had, in the beginning, did not reflect the current state of my screenplay. Every revision trickles down to the treatment in some way. Just remember to keep your vision in tack.

The goal with these two writing staples is to help shape and mold your vision to what your endgame is going to be – optioning your idea for film, television or the web. Keep your eyes on the promised land.

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Hopefully, reading this post will aid you in rethinking and revising your treatment and logline. But this isn’t the end of the conversation, you can leave comments below and discuss this even more with your fellow screenwriters along with myself.

Come back later this week for more on deconstructing and reconstructing your film/series bible.