What is a Film Treatment?

A Film Treatment is necessary because it allows the screenwriter to communicate their screenplay idea in a brief but compelling way and it is a powerful creative tool. Writing a Treatment is a fast way to test out an idea before it is transformed into a script and it allows a screenwriter some distance between the idea and the script. Further it can help the screenwriter to work out problems and determine if the story holds up. Also the story can then be developed according to what the people want to see.
The length of a treatment is appropriate to the final product. It is necessary to communicate the story of the narrative and the treatment should tell the whole story and should focus on the highlights. It is a document that is a scene by scene breakdown of the actual script.
A Treatment should read like a short story and should be written in the present tense. It should present the entire story with its end and maybe even use key scenes and some dialogue from the screenplay that it’s based on. It should include a working title, name and contact information of the writer, introduction to the key characters and answer the questions “who, what, when, why, where”.
Another important aspect is that it should break up the story into three parts which are the foundation stores for the building of the story.
Act 1  Situation, characters, conflict is introduced.
Act 2  Conflict begins and expands until it reaches a crisis
Act 3  Resolution; conflict rises to one more crisis and then it is resolved