Treatments

@geektothechic asks:  Is there a definitive right way to write the treatment?


There many different ways to write a treatment for a screenplay.  The focus when writing one should be on your audience.  Ask yourself, "Who is going to read this?"  Is it a producer that will decide if they want to fund writing the screenplay or making the film?  Or is it just for you to summarize your story?  If the treatment is for a buyer or someone else to read, the goal should be to make it an enjoyable read.  The treatment shouldn't be too technical and should have a good flow.  Many times if it is for a producer they will ask for a four page treatment where Act 1 is one page, Act 2 is two pages and Act 3 is one page.  The limitation with this type is that there isn't much detail to your story.  The advantage to even writing this for yourself is that you boiling your story down.  If you can't tell your story quickly, then probably there is something wrong with it.  
A treatment can also be for you to outline your film.  It's helpful to write out each scene with a line or two or a paragraph for each scene.  These can be just notes or thoughts on each scene and not necessarily something that reads.  Sometimes a treatment of this type can be as long as 75 pages.  Back in the golden age of Hollywood writers would write a 100+ page treatment before writing the screenplay.  So they knew their stories well.  The point of this type of treatment is for you as the screenwriter to know your plan before you start writing the script.  If another writer is going to be reading the treatment in order to help write the script, giving them as much to read as possible is a must.  
I hope that helps.  Good luck in writing your treatment!