by Scott Gordon Richards | Blog
There are two types of loglines. A developmental logline used to grow a story from initial concept idea to a full fledged project, and a pitch logline used to entice a film exec to make your movie or TV series. This blog is focused on the latter.
I’ve always struggled with loglines. It wasn’t until I listened to John Truby’s lecture that loglines became easier for me.
There is a plethora of advice out there concerning how long a logline should be and what to include in one. For the most part, everything others say about loglines remains true to their version and vision. So, who do you listen to?
The short answer is; listen to the people your planning on pitching to. But that doesn’t help much. What if you have a chance meeting and you’re in the preverbal elevator with scant time to get a feel for their preferred style of logline?
Maybe the following will help.
According to ScreenwritingU…
A logline should have the following:
1. It is unique.
2. It appeals to a wide audience.
3. It can be said in one sentence, and you can see the whole movie.
It should be: One sentence that gives the whole story, often includes the protagonist’s goals, obstacles and/or main conflict.
But you know all that.
According to Save the Cat…
A logline must satisfy 4 basic elements.
1. Irony
2. Compelling mental picture
3. Audience, cost and tone
4. A killer title
Poppycock!! We know that’s not it.
According to Roadmap Writers…
A logline is written from the protagonist’s perspective.
“When [trigger] happens to [protag], [protag] must face[struggle] in order to reach [goal].”
or the ‘who-trigger-struggle-goal’ logline.
Now we’re starting to get somewhere.
According to Raindance…
Who, Wants what, but is Opposed by, Risks.
It’s all starting to sound similar.
According to someone I highly recommend listening to, Max Timm, a very knowledgeable and skilled writer and teacher at ISA…
- It’s okay for your logline to be a little long! It’s better to give them more than less. Yes, It should be one sentence, but if it’s two… it isn’t the end of the world.
- It helps when loglines are structured as if it’s a really short summary of your whole story. “When, then, Until…”
- Use your logline as a development tool. Create a developmental logline to help you see all the story elements that should be in place in your project. ***Main Character with a flaw, stage of life, setup event/opportunity, secondary helper, a 2nd act pursuit/goal and how, an Opponent with a motive, a midpoint complication and /or low point. Every Story need these elements in some way.
- Every great story has in interesting, flawed character interacting with a stakes-driven situation.
- Get the audience on the same conceptual page as you immediately.
- Know your hook and what makes your story unique and fresh.
- Give us more than just the setup – the 2nd act of your feature is what we want to experience.
- For TV, show the audience how your flawed character will pursue a goal within a repetitive situation. It won’t be boring-repetitive if you have a layered, interesting character. And if you have a really unique situation, it still deserves an interesting and emotionally layered character.
- The emotional engine is everything, why is the character personally pursuing something?
Getting better, but this is more for a developmental logline and not what you might pitch to a producer. But then I found John Truby’s lecture…
He says things more clearly and in a way that brings all of the above into better focus.
According to Truby…
A logline should have the following, in one sentence:
1. The hero should be an underdog with a weakness. He has an internal flaw that hurts the hero in life and that flaw should be opposite the hero’s goal in some manner. Seeking the goal will force the hero to deal with their own weakness.
2. Should suggest the entire plot in one sentence without giving it away.
3. A specific desire (goal) that is extremely hard to accomplish.
4. One main opponent who is as powerful as possible.
5. Put the plot contrast right up front so it has punch. (this doesn’t mean it must be mentioned first in the logline, only that it is prominent.)
My loglines have dramatically improved since I started using Truby’s and Hal’s ideas together.
I went through all my loglines and wrote down:
The Original Idea, An Underdog with a Weakness, the Protag’s specific goal/desire that is extremely hard to accomplish, One Powerful Opponent, and the Plot Contrast.
From there I wrote versions of the logline until I was happy.
I continue to accumulate points of view on loglines from industry professionals. I found the following in a seminar by Jen Grisanti of Jen Grisanti Consulting Inc.
She suggests asking yourself: “Who is our character? You want to create empathy by stating a flaw or weakness so we can relate to them. What do they want? Why do they want it? What’s the obstacle getting in the way?”
That sounds a lot like what Truby says.
Audrey Knox (Manager at The Cartel) – says it’s okay to add the genre at the beginning. But I believe that a good logline will show us the genre without stating it bluntly.
One of Jen’s biggest peeves is; Don’t use “must” or “forced” in the logline. That kind of makes sense to me. All loglines feels stronger when you find another way of saying a character ‘must’, or ‘is forced’, especially the latter since it’s a passive verb and we want our loglines to be all action and spark excitement.
Another bit of advice Jen gives us is; Don’t end a logline with a question.
“A good logline clearly and succinctly lays out the dramatic narrative of a screenplay and hooks the reader, enticing them to read the entire script. For this reason, a logline never gives away the ending.” -Aaron Sorkin
I hope you find this blog helpful to you. But as always, Take from this what you feel works best for you.
Happy writing.