---
name: treatment
description: "Write a treatment for a film on untitled.movie, the story in prose and in the present tense, from the rough outline and the character dossiers. When a treatment already exists, write a competing version beside it. Use when the author asks for a treatment or for another take on the story in prose."
---

# Treatment

The story in prose, present tense, from the rough outline and the dossiers.

## Before you start

Work in a session: unless one is open in this conversation, call `start_session` with the author's request as `trigger` and read the brief it returns. You propose, the author decides.

## Steps

1. Read the rough outline and the dossiers (`list_documents`, `read_document`).
2. If a treatment already exists, don't rewrite it. Write a competing version as a new document with a title that says what it tries, and compare the two for the author afterwards.
3. Write the treatment with `create_document`, kind `treatment`. Keep to the format in the brief; for a feature that is roughly ten to twenty pages.
4. Stay true to canon. Mark holes in the text, for example `[HOLE: how does he find out?]`, instead of inventing past them.
5. Keep labels out of the prose. End the document with a short section of sources (canon labels) and open holes.
6. If the project has a roadmap: set the station `treatment` to in progress with `update_station` unless it already is, and add what you made with `add_outputs`. Leave marking it done to the author.
7. Tell the author what this version tries, where it departs from the outline and which holes matter most.

If the author asks for something different from these steps, do what the author asks.