GlossaryDocuments & drafts
Scriptment
A scriptment is a hybrid document, part script and part treatment, that mixes prose storytelling with occasional formatted scenes and dialogue. Coined by James Cameron, it lets a writer sketch a film at treatment speed while dropping into full scene format wherever a moment needs to play in detail.
A scriptment blends the two forms: long stretches read as a prose treatment, then break into properly formatted scenes for key sequences where the dialogue or staging is the point.
It is a working tool rather than a deliverable format — useful for developing a sprawling story, or for capturing a vivid scene before the surrounding structure is solid. The term is associated with Cameron's early work on large-scale features.