12/17/2023 0 Comments Logline vs synopsis![]() ![]() If you haven’t seen the movie, does that second sentence provide you with a better understanding of its premise? Does it make you want to watch the movie more or less? “Free Guy” (2021) “Free Guy” (2021). The response from a distracted world: Meh.” “Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. Here is a longer, alternative version of the “Don’t Look Up” logline that vaguely identifies the antagonists: ![]() There is great value in developing your logline before you even start writing your script. With that said, they shouldn’t be an afterthought, nor something you just do when you finish your project. This is why they are so important when it comes to selling your completed creative vision. Would you read a book if you had absolutely no idea what that story was about? What if it was a fantasy novel and you really like science fiction? Your logline is a way to get the right set of eyes looking at your project. For agents and producers, loglines provide a means to quickly sort scripts or finished films. Your logline is a quick way to convey the key elements of your story to the reader or the listener. Loglines are usually two sentences or less – the shorter, the better. Undoubtedly, they’ll ask: “What’s your logline?” What is a logline?Ī logline is an extremely short description of your screenplay or film. If you want to be a writer and really stay the course? You need The 3 Ps as well, but I’ll let you find out what those are and why.You’ve just finished your script, and now you’re ready to send it out to agents and producers. In my reimagined ALIEN logline, I use words like “accidentally” to show those Space Truckers never meant to pick up that “intelligent, hostile alien life form” I also use “picking them off, one by one” to give some suggestion as to how the plot works out.īut The 3 Cs are not just it. I start with “Seven Space Truckers.” I think the best loglines mention the characters rather than *just* the situation, so the reader/listener can “anchor” him/herself (though it’s not impossible to do it the other way around).ĬONFLICT– So, this means WHAT HAPPENS in the story. Remember my reimagined logline for ALIEN, here. I know, LE DUH, right? But you’d be surprised by how many writers screw up (usually via the previous 5 things in this article) and end up with a logline it’s simply impossible to unpick.ĬHARACTERS – Again, obvious: WHO is in it. MORE: 7 Ways Of Showcasing Your Writer’s VoiceĦ) The writer forgets “The 3 Cs.” But WTF are the three Cs, you ask? Here you go:ĬLARITY – In your loglines, you need to be as clear as possible. ![]() This is why you should NEVER skimp on your logline. Yes, it’s difficult – possibly more difficult than writing the actual screenplay. Best of all, give us a sense of your writer’s VOICE in your loglines. This means you don’t make your comedy sound like a horror or your drama like a comedy you forget to tell us it���s historical, fantasy or science fiction or that it’s a precinct drama, or location and/or arena plays a specific part in the story. MORE: 3 Tips On Querying Via Email & Not Blowing Itĥ) The writer forgets a sense of tone, time or place. Dudes, you’re writers: use WORDS to their proper effect. Yet, often writers will launch into the details of what’s in the script or even worse, HOW they wrote it, what sacrifices they had to make and OMGWTFSOMEONEKILLMENOW. We want a summary of what happens – not every single little detail. But the Industry Pro reading your query or hearing you pitch has NOT READ IT YET. It’s what we want to know!Ĥ) The writer goes on and on and on! The crashingly obvious here: YOU know what’s in your screenplay you wrote it. So, my recommendation? DON'T ask questions of your pitchee, on paper or in person – use your loglines to TELL US what happens. I honestly cannot remember a time I’ve heard or read a pitch from a professional writer that includes a question that doesn’t answer itself or work for some *other* reason (i.e., to ask the reader to imagine him/herself in the protagonist’s place, though this generally works best with novels, rather than screenplays I find). Over the many, many years I’ve been doing this script reading malarkey, I’ve noticed (generally) NEW writers employ the above tactic. Ii) It’s what I call “red flag” material about a writer’s level of experience (or lack of it).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |