Thanks for plugging my book Mark. Although writing the creative treatment first has been suggested in this string, it needs to be emphasized as an essential document.
The first step toward creating an effective informational video is to forget about doing a video. Focus first on the needs and objectives of the client. That's what your client cares about. Once you clearly state -- in writing -- that you understand your client's issues, and know how they can be resolved, that's when your client is more likely to trust you.
For corporate video, the treatment is a business document and a specification sheet. A professional would no more write a script without treatment approval than a manufacturer would design a product without knowing the specifications. Typical treatment format includes:
Background - What's the problem?
Objectives - How must the audience think or behave differently to solve the problem?
Strategies - What will be done to change thinking or behavior?
Implementation - Active voice, present tense description of what will be seen and heard.
It's not brain surgery, but it needs a lot of thought, and can do more to build comfort factor with your client than anything else you do. Keep in mind, a script is an exotic-looking document that clients usually lack the experience or imagination to understand. It can be confusing and intimidating.
A treatment is a standard, full-margin document, written in terms of analysis and objectives that business folks understand. It creates comfort and makes them much more likely to part with budget.
If you want to see a couple of sample treatments, send me an email requesting them and I will email them to you. Better yet, buy the book, and have the whole process clearly described for you.
About the book, Scriptwriting for High-Impact Videos, a new, second edition was published earlier this year. So be sure that, if you buy, you buy the one for this century.
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Scriptwriting-for-High-Impact-Videos/e/978...
Best of luck with your project.
