Write the documentary treatment
before you've shot the film.

A documentary treatment is a document that describes a documentary before it is filmed or finished, written to persuade funders, commissioners, broadcasters or producers to support it. It usually contains a logline, a synopsis told as a story, the main subjects and your access to them, the planned structure, the visual and sound style, and why the film matters now. Unlike a screenplay it does not script events; it shows that a story exists and that you can capture it.

Start with a logline built around a person with something at stake. Write the synopsis in the present tense, in the order an audience experiences the film, including the turn you expect. Introduce the subjects as people, state your access specifically, and describe the structure, marking what is filmed, interview and archive. Explain the style and why the story matters now, add a short director's statement, and check it answers: is there a story, can you get it, why now?

A compact example: a logline about a family-run ferry with one summer to survive a council vote; a synopsis following the season from the vote to the last sailing through the father who fights, the daughter who plans to leave and the passengers who depend on it; access stated as a year of agreed filming, public council meetings and a local archive; an observational style without narration; and three acts ending on the final crossing, whichever way the vote goes.

Follow the length the fund or commissioner specifies, because many set one and some reject submissions that ignore it. Without a stated limit, a first-contact treatment is often a page or two with the logline and synopsis leading, while a full development treatment can run longer to cover subjects, access, structure and style in detail. The test is whether a busy reader understands the story, the access and the relevance within the first page.

A synopsis is a short summary of the story, usually a paragraph or a page. A treatment contains a synopsis but goes further: it introduces the subjects and your access to them, describes the structure and visual style, explains why the film matters now and why you should make it. A synopsis tells the reader what happens; a treatment convinces them the film can be made and deserves to be.

A treatment focuses on the film: the story, subjects, structure and style. A proposal, often required by grant funds, wraps the treatment in the practical case: budget, schedule, team biographies, distribution and outreach plans, and sometimes impact goals. In practice most proposals include a treatment as their central section, so building the treatment first and adding the practical sections around it is the usual order.

Describe the story you anticipate, name the point where it could turn, and show why the film works either way. Funders know documentaries change during production, so a treatment that pretends to know the ending is less credible than one that names the central question and the likely outcomes. Anchor it in what is certain, such as the people, the access and a fixed event like a vote, a race or a deadline, so the structure holds as details change.

Mainly three things: a story with stakes told through compelling people, credible access to those people and events, and a clear reason the film matters now. After that they look at the filmmaker's voice and track record, a style that suits the subject, and feasibility within the budget and schedule. Specific details persuade more than ambition, so concrete access, named subjects and a structure the reader can picture tend to carry a treatment further than broad themes.

Name a specific subject, what they want or face, and what is at stake if they fail, in one or two sentences. Include the setting or the ticking clock when it adds tension. Avoid describing a topic, such as a film about the decline of coastal towns; write the human story, such as three generations with one summer to save the ferry their town depends on. Test it by asking whether a stranger would want to know what happens next.

Yes, with research and structure, but it should not invent the story. In Storyflow the AI reads everything on the board, so it can research the public record behind a subject, draft a first synopsis or logline options from your notes, and list what a funder will ask that the treatment does not yet answer. Every fact still needs checking against its source, and the voice, the story and the ethical choices about your subjects stay with the filmmaker.

Not yet. Storyflow is paid-only during early access, with plans from $7.99 a month billed annually ($9.99 monthly). A free plan launches before the end of 2026, and anyone a paid member invites to a board joins free. A co-producer or researcher you invite can work on the project with you, and producers and funders reading the treatment through a view-only link never need an account.