Screenwriting : Ask Me Anything (AMA) Wednesday 2/6 to Thursday 2/7- Breaking Your Story with Treatments, Synopsis, Beat Sheets, and Outlines by Brian Herskowitz

Hi, Brian Herskowitz. I hope you're doing great. Thanks for having this AMA. I'm excited for the AMA and your synopsis webinar tomorrow! How do you pare a treatment down to a short synopsis?

Well, some of this I will be covering in the class tomorrow (actually all of this). You need to think of each scene as an event. That is to say that something of significance happens in every scene. What's that event? What's the most impactful and succinct way to express that event? That's the starting point. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Thanks for the answer, Brian Herskowitz. I'll definitely be taking notes at the webinar. See you there.

Brian Herskowitz Thanks for spending your valuable time with us. What are some of the best resources for learning how to write proper synopsis, outlines and beat sheets? Also, what's the difference between a treatment, outline, synopsis as people get them mixed up?

Thank you Brian Herskowitz for spend time with us and doing this AMA! I would love to ask for your advice when we have a synopsis treatment and we need to create a synopsis from it! My synopsis treatment has three pages and my synopsis has one page with three paragraphs. I think I did my best, but any advice you can give, I”ll appreciate!

I have another question: What is a beat sheet and what we should include on it? Thank you! Looking forward for AMA :))

Thanks Anthony McBride. Experimenting with your synopsis can be an excellent learning tool. Think of how you would tell your story in five minutes or less. Set an alarm and see how far you get... then write that same story. as succinctly and in the most entertaining fashion possible. Keep refining until you read the synopsis and cannot find anything wrong with it.

There are some good resources you can explore as well. Classes on Stage 32, articles on Studio Binder, and Master Class. There are plenty of resources.

I like to see stories progress from a logline that's clear, specific, and entertaining, then a beat sheet - a step outline that contains each major beat of your story, and from that, a full outline that includes everything except lines of dialogue. That's what I tend to use as my road map for writing the screenplay.

As to the difference,e a treatment is similar to a synopsis but much more detailed and much longer. Outlines and Treatments are sometimes used interchangeably. Some consider the outline to be a stop outline that lays out the story structure, while the treatment is written in prose. I tend to do detailed outlines of my screenplays that I would consider synonymous wth a treatment.

To recap, synopsis distills the story down into a more digestible bite, outline takes the beats and expands upon them, and the treatment is a detailed telling of your story minus the dialogue.

Hi Sandra Isabel Correia I am not sure what your question is about your synopsis, but I will take a stab at answering anyway. It's common and a good idea to have a synopsis of different lengths. The issue is one of balance. Are you able to include the most important details in your shortest version? Are you able to avoid padding in the longer version? You'll often be asked to submit a synopsis for festivals, competitions, agents, etc... and some will want to restrict the length, while others only care about the quality. The longer and more complex the story, the longer the more complex your treatment will be. The craft becomes about keeping the story (in the synopsis) simple and clear without sacrificing the essence of your script.

A beat sheet is where you take each scene and describe it as an event. For example, the opening of JAWS might look something like this:

1. EXT. BEACH BONFIRE - NIGHT A young man and a pretty blond girl drink at a beach party.

2. EXT. BEACH -NIGHT - the young man and pretty blond run down the beach, stripping as they go.

3. EXT BEACH - NIGHT - As the girl skinny-dips, the young man falls down drunk and passes out.

4. EXT. OCEAN - NIGHT - The Blond Girl swims to a buoy.

5. EXT. UNDERWATER - NIGHT - Something swims through the murky depths

6. EXT. OCEAN - NIGHT - The blond girl feels something tug on her leg. Yanking her underwater.. She screams

7. EXT. BEACH - NIGHT - The boy mumbles drunkenly

8. EXT. OCEAN BUOY - NIGHT- The blond girl SCREAMS... Clings to the buoy for dear life. Gets dragged underwater for the last time.

That's actually a little more detailed than I would normally do... the beat sheet is for the writer, and not usually seen by anyone else. As such it can be as dense or sparse as you want. You could simply do something like this:

1. Beach night. Girl and boy... party.

2. Boy and girl run down the beach - strip

3. Boy passes out, the girl goes for Swin...

Etcetera. As long as it's clear to you. When I expand that into the outline/treatment, it may be even more details.

EXT. BEACH BONFIRE - NIGHT - There's a party in full swing. A dozen young men and women drinking, dancing. A YOUNG MAN, been in hand, catches the eye of an attractive blond girl. She smiles seductively, an invitation. She stands and slowly walks away from the fire. She turns back, beckoning the young man. He leaps drunkenly to his feet and follows...

And so on.

I hope that helps!

Can you help me punch up this logline? "A group of Black lawyers at a corporate retreat make a bet: whoever can stay in their "professional voice" the longest wins, but as the weekend spirals into chaos, they find that maintaining their carefully curated personas is harder—and funnier—than they ever expected."

Hi Brian Herskowitz. Thank you for your reply, and you answered my doubts. I use the beat sheet when I am writting. I didn't know it was the name. "The craft becomes about keeping the story (in the synopsis) simple and clear without sacrificing the essence of your script." That is what I tried to do it. So, I am on the right track. Thank you one more time, and have a wonderful day.

Hi Brian: Looking to polish a noir feature longline with some crisp verbiage: “A struggling French actress in 1940s Hollywood is an unwitting pawn in a hypnotist’s deadly scheme, uncovering a Nazi espionage plot hidden beneath the glittering world of Orson Welles’ stage magic and Rita Hayworth’s box office allure .”

Dontae T Muse thanks for the question. There's not much wrong with your logline. Here are a few tweaks you can try. First, look to specifics. Who are the Black Lawyers? Give us a name to root for. In other words, who is your main character? Second, see if you can be more specific with the turn that comes... i.e. when X happens, it throws the group into chaos... Look at word crafting and see if you can pick a few adjectives that will illicit the comedy from the story and the characters rather than just stating..." and funny happens.""

I find it helpful to put the logline into a clear "When A happens to MC, then that causes B to happen." statement. Focus on what is the main event of the movie. What's the one thing you discuss when you leave the theater with your friends and they ask what the movie was about? "When a Russian mafia duffus kills retired super-assassin John Wick's dog, he then goes on a bloody revenge rampage, leaving a slew of bodies in his wake."

Lastly, look to pare the logline down. One technique I like to use I call the acordian method. Write the logline and put everything into it. Doesn't matter if it's a sentence or a page. Get specific, but don't be afraid of being verbose.

Then, go the opposite way. Tell the story in as few words as possible. "Black lawyers make a bet." Then, keep going back and forth until you've found the perfect balance of length and detail.

Kit Wilson nice to hear from you. First of all, nice poster. Take a look at the answer I gave to Dante. I think it can perhaps guide you as well. Your story sounds intriguing, but it's a little unclear. Is the film historical fiction? Are Orson Wells and Rita Hayworth the stars? If so, start with that. We want to know who you're talking about. I.E. In 1940, Hollywood stars Rita Hayworth and Orson Wells involve (the hypnotist's name) in a deadly game of espionage with Nazi spy Hanz Gruber... Okay, so that's not it, but I hope you get the idea. In a logline, you're looking to find a shorthand so that the audience knows what the ride's going to be. Who will they be attracted to, and why?

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thank you Brian. Yes, it's historical fiction with Hayworth/Welles performing with the lead actress. Together they work to defeat the bad guys and establish the actress as a viable Hollywood star.

Thank you, Brian. That was helpful. I do not have one main character but one character does have the largest transformation so I'll use him. *Note: If the ethnicity of the lawyers isn't black then there is no code switching.

This is the result:

"Code Switch"

When Marcus attends a corporate law retreat, a group of Black lawyers make a bet: whoever can stay in their "professional voice" the longest wins, but as the weekend spirals into chaos, he must decide if losing the bet or finding himself is more important.

Thanks for your time today Brian and for your wonderful responses on Q & A. I was in Ted Field's office in 2018 and he wanted to be part of my limited series about the women pilots in WWII - until my producer gave him a horrible script and he backed out. This true story deserves an A-list screenwriter to work with me as the historian. I am more a producer on this project than a writer but I was forced to come up with a Pilot script. I got in touch with Fred Roos (who wanted to help me in 2007 but couldn't) to wish him a Happy 90th Birthday in May. He was still producing ("Priscilla" and "Megalopolis") and told me he would try again to get traction for my story. Then he died 4 days before his 90th! So sad. So I continue to reach out to reps for stars who could make it happen - but I have exhausted all producers on Stage 32 who aren't able to take the project to past bosses. Disney has major IP to the story, but the young Execs probably will never know if I can't get in the right door to educate them. They could merchandise the heck out their IP and distribute the limited series if I can ever get it done. A couple of attempts have been made to tell some of the story in the U.S. - but nothing has moved forward. I know I have the right story. Can I pay you to write a dynamite synopsis? LOL

Hi Brian, thank you for hosting this AMA! I’m really interested in understanding the key elements that contribute to building a solid narrative structure, from the beat sheet all the way to the final script. How can a writer ensure that the dramatic progression remains engaging and cohesive throughout the entire story? Also, what is the most common mistake screenwriters make when creating a beat sheet, and how can they avoid it?

@Dantae T Muse, that's moving in the right direction. Keep playing with it. See if you can give a little insight into what causes the chaos and what form the chaos takes.

@,Deborah Jennings, I am so sorry about the timing of Fred's passing. That's a tragedy. I would be happy to discuss the synopsis issue with you, but I honestly have a super full plate. You have my email, so feel free to send me a note.

@Larissa Nacif, that's probably too large a topic to tackle here, but I will do my best to get you started.

In my opinion there are several elements ts that aid in keeping an audience engaged.

1. Conflict

2. Escalation

3. Stakes

I find the easiest way to keep a main character active is to give them a strong want.

Take James Bond. If each film he wanted to watch TV there wouldn't be much in the way of conflict. Maybe the neighbor keeps interrupting him, but the STAKES aren't very high.

No, James Bond has to literally save the world, and the CLOCK is ticking.

That speaks to the stakes. How important is it to your character that they succeed?

The ticking clock speaks to the ever-escalating pressure on the main character.

The more action, the less the character has an internal conflict. The more slice of life, the more important it is to give your hero a hidden need that is in opposition to their desire.

For example, if what your hero wants is REVENGE, but what they need is to learn forgiveness.

In that scenario, if they get what they want, they lose what they need. This technique is often utilized in romance, but it works in many genres.

When a character has a clear, strong desire, it is easier to put obstacles in their path, thus creating conflict.

Selfish plug here, but I go into some detail in my book PROCESS TO PRODUCT, but this gives you a brief thumbnail.

I hope that helps.

Thank you Brian Herskowitz for your time and answers! Look forward to your session.

Brian Herskowitz Some reps and industry people will not work with scripts or materials made with AI. What do you think of this?

Brian Herskowitz, when breaking a story, how do you decide what details to include in a treatment or beat sheet versus saving them for the script itself?

Hi @Anthony Mc Bride, as a writer, I applaud those who resist AI because there is a risk that it can take food and money out of our pockets. How long and how completely we can be protected from AI is a great unknown.

My gut tells me that it is too late to put the genie back in the bottle. I can see a time when writers will need to embrace the use of AI and be prepared to integrate AI into their work or face obsolescence.

But not yet. AI is good and improving frighteningly rapidly, but it won't replace Aaron Sorkin yet... yet.

That's my half a cents worth.

@Ashley Renee Smith, that is the million dollar question. The choices are alwaysnhownmuch detail and whichbones tonleave out.

One trick I use is to ask "What happensntonthenreader/audiences experience if I leave out thisndetail?

If I were to synopsize JOHN WICK, does the audiences perception of the story change if I dont mention is ling hair and beard? Probably not. If I leave out that he is a retired assasin? Probably so. That detail is crucal tonshow that the Russian whonsteals hiscarnand murders his dog have messed with the wring person.

Earlier I mentioned the according concept of compression and expansion. Try writing an outline that is as short as you can make it.

"John Wick goes on a muderos revenge rampage."

Then, write a much more detailed synopsis. Retired super assassin, John Wick, has a group of Young Russian mafia thugs, Led by Iosef Tovarov ask him if he will sell them his souped up Ford Mustang Boss 429. When he declines they follow him home, beat and rob John, and in an act of pure cruelty kill the puppy his recently deceased wife gave him..."

You get the idea. Throw in the kitchen sink. The go back and try to pare it done to the bare mi I'm leaving in a little more detail than your fist pass.

Keep doing this dance until you find the right balance of details while keeping the story to the length required.

Feel free to ask me anything (that's what AMA stands for, yo!)

You worked on a lot of shows, Brian Herskowitz. What's your biggest tip for writers who are new to writing rooms?

Maurice Vaughan first and foremost be yourself. That's why you were invited into the room. if you are new don't try and take over the room, but also, don't be shy about speaking up if you have something that you think helps.

if your ideas get shot down don't take it personally. Listen at least twice as much as you talk.

Lastly, you will be spending more time with your fellow writers than anyone else. Have a positive attitude. Be someone they want to spend time with. If that's not who you are that's okay but try not to be negative or grating. That can get old pretty quick.

Work twice as hard and have fun.

That's great advice, Brian Herskowitz! Thank you. What movies or shows are you excited for this year?

Thank you, everyone, for participating in this AMA. I hope you found some of the information useful.

Brian Herskowitz Again. Thanks for your time, Mr. Herskowitz. I appreciated your feedback.

You're welcome, Brian Herskowitz. Thanks again for having this AMA. I'm looking forward to your next AMA and webinar! Have a great weekend!

You're awesome, Brian Herskowitz! Thank you!

Thank you Brian Herskowitz for your amazing answers and bringing so good enlightenment to our doubts! I wish you the best and always around here with us!

Applauding you for a great session filled with creative gems! Bravo and thanks!