What We Do

LA Film Treatments (LAFT) is a full-service creator of treatments, pitch decks, story books and series bibles for the entertainment and advertising industries. Based in Los Angeles with a presence in China, India, and Europe, we offer experienced confidential services tailored for all formats and genres.
Raison d'Être

Why the Treatment Process is the Best Therapy

A great treatment helps bridge the communication gap between the originator of a project and the people who will be instrumental in seeing that it gets made. The added bonus: the treatment process also strengthens and focuses the creator’s vision in ways that a simple script can’t.

Everyone is creative, to varying degrees. But most people…

Read More
About Us

James Killough

LA Film Treatments is a group of seasoned, freelance entertainment and advertising industry development professionals headed by James Killough, who brings to the table singular skills and talents sharpened by decades of experience developing projects large and small on five continents for some of the world’s leading filmmakers.

James began his deep dive into the world of treatments when he worked as Marcus Nispel’s full-time treatment content creator in the early aughts. At the time, Nispel was the highest-earning commercials director in the world for several years running…

Read More

Our Services

A treatment is the visual script and overview for all filmed content, intended to lift a project from the dry technical format of a script in order to convey a creator’s overall approach through visuals and technical specs.

You might be a director finding your way into a script. Or a writer tackling a high-concept project who wants feedback before you proceed. Or a commercials director giving your interpretation of boards you’ve been invited to pitch. A great treatment will help you focus your thoughts, further the project with stakeholders, or set you well above the competition with the very best chance of booking a spot.

A pitch deck is a treatment evolved into a selling tool. It not only maps out the creative plan, but presents the project as a commercially viable product to buyers.

The production plan of a pitch deck tends to be more detailed than a treatments. For instance, a good treatment tends to make suggestions and give options with the express purpose of eliciting feedback from potential stakeholders. A pitch deck has a clearer path to production.

The story book is a lean, keen, selling machine, the third and final stage of a treatment’s journey. It is a key promotional tool, a leave behind electronic or print brochure to assist the films reps at festivals, markets and meetings with buyers.

The film has been shot, or is close to wrapping. Aspirational images and moodboards are replaced by actual stills and key art. Any final changes to cast, key crew and affiliated companies have been made.

The series bible is the traditional tool that accompanies the pilot of a TV series script. It is far more detailed than a normal treatment, and normally has no images. But it is related to a treatment in that it expresses the intensions and vision of the show’s writer-creator for character arcs, future episodes and the prospects for the series over as many seasons as possible.

A series bible created by James Killough is used as a teaching tool at Columbia University in the Business of Television course; it’s considered to be the ideal content and format.

Point of View

You Should Probably Stop Calling it 'Development Hell'

Thousands of scripts are written each day, whether on spec or commission. The industry wisdom is only one in ten projects developed end up in production. Even that doesn’t guarantee it will reach an audience.

It really doesn’t pay to see the process as ‘development hell’. Yes, it is difficult. Yes, it can be frustrating. No, you shouldn’t invest one iota of your emotional health in it.

Read More

Kindly Note

References and work samples are only available upon request by accredited members of the entertainment and advertising industries.

The intro video in the header of this page was using existing footage from commercials James Killough directed, shot by Oscar-nominated cinematographer James Laxton. It serves as an example of embedding part of a filmmaker’s work in a presentation, providing it with a more focused framework.