🙂Īnd while it might seem like the challenge is mainly about condensing your story idea into this compressed form, even at that length, the real challenge is coming up with a story that fires on all cylinders that the logline just has to briefly explain. Especially if you’re using it to get feedback on your idea before you start writing (which of course I recommend!). So for my money it’s better to go a little long (even two or three sentences) rather than being short but unclear. Sure it’s great if they’re as short as possible, but what’s more important is that the reader completely gets the concept (not just the first act).
#Good logline examples how to#
The other issue with loglines is that they aren’t some sort of haiku that one only has to learn how to operate within, using the exact right words with the exact right length. (Which of course is not easy to do, and a big reason why succeeding in this field is difficult, and high-paying!)
#Good logline examples professional#
You’re clearly explaining the heart of your story to a busy entertainment industry professional who has seen hundreds of concepts and will only want to read the script if it seems viable within a particular genre, while also sounding original and compelling.
You’re not teasing a potential audience with your logline. As I’ve written about before, these are two very different things with different purposes.
#Good logline examples movie#
It might seem like a good idea to just tease what will happen in the story after the first act, perhaps because that’s how studio marketing departments sometimes hint at a movie plot to an audience. Which presumably fits a particular tried-and-true type of story, both in the traditional sense of genre, and the very helpful ten story types offered in Save the Cat.
To me, the best loglines are all about the nature of the external challenge and what the main character is up against, and what they’re doing to try to solve their problem(s) and reach their goal. Writers often focus too briefly on what the main character will need to achieve and its difficulty, and sometimes only on their internal need or character arc, as opposed to the external high-stakes problem that fits an entertainment genre - which hopefully your project has. What’s happening in it? How does the story generally build, complicate and evolve as the main character actively tries to resolve their problem/goal? Can that be strongly suggested by the nature of who/what they’re up against and the specific external achievement the audience will hopefully be rooting for? And when a professional is looking at your concept, that’s what they really want to understand: that last 3/4 of your script. (I get into this in the “Believable” chapter of my book.) That’s crucial to indicate up front, and hopefully get them understanding and buying into it before they then read what the story’s main external plot is about.īut what I often see is that by the time the logline is finished communicating the catalyst or inciting incident of the story, the writer feels they’re out of space and summarizes what has to be done to solve the main story problem in a few vague words at the end.īut here’s the thing: what they have to do to solve it and what’s in the way really IS your story. It’s natural and understandable to spend a lot of a logline setting up the situation and characters and talking about how the story launches.Īnd it’s important to do this, especially if there is anything fantastical in the world of your story that readers need to first understand.
0 kommentar(er)
