There are some script gurus who claim that your entire script can be encapsulated in your logline. I’m not sure that’s true but a logline does need to include several essential elements from your script. And it needs to be evocative! Often that logline is the only thing you will send to a prospective manager, agent or company seeking new material. And it may be the sole basis on which a production company solicits your script, choosing it from among hundreds, even thousands of submissions.
I like to make the analogy that that little tease is truly the tail wagging the dog. It calls attention and then, if received well, will invite further involvement. Maybe even adoption!
Loglines should be written with active verbs and enticing adjectives that will hook any reader.
The elements in your logline should include:
- The protagonist
- Some sense of that individual’s fatal flaw or weakness
- What the protagonist believes he/she must do
- What obstacle(s) might get in the way.
Sometimes a logline may include what the protagonist needs to learn but not very often.
A logline should ideally be one sentence-two sentences max. And it should be easy to parse. Many loglines that I’ve reviewed are so convoluted with run-on clauses or such confusing grammar that they broadcast THIS WRITER ISN’T A GOOD COMMUNICATOR. Not the best way to introduce yourself, obviously. Think of those poorly constructed loglines as being like wild dogs who have to be chased. If your busy reader has to run after and wrestle with the invitation to your story, he/she will most likely quit. There are too many nice, easily accessible, friendlier dogs available in the script-writing kennel.
Generally, loglines do not include the proper names for the characters. Why? Because the logline is there to present the essence of your story – it’s not the place where fine details matter.
Comic loglines should have something in the description that clues us into the fact that it will be funny. Here’s one you’ll probably recognize – Goaded by his buddies, a shy nerdy guy who’s never “done the deed,” finds pressure mounting when he meets a single mother to whom he’s attracted.
The logline, in this case, tells us that our protagonist is a shy nerd – his fatal flaw. It implies that his buddies are pushing him to finally have sex and it informs us that his goal is to do so with a special woman (obviously NOT a virgin) who has sparked his passion. Along the way, The 40 Year Old Virgin learns a lot about trust, commitment and compromise but those elements are not in the logline. Those are needs, not wants.
How about a movie like Uncle Buck? Here’s a logline – An excruciatingly clumsy, disorganized, and unemployed uncle is selected as an unlikely babysitter for his nephews and rebellious teenage niece when his brother and his skeptical wife must abruptly leave town. Comedy is written all over this logline as the protagonist is spelled out as inept, inexperienced and unqualified to take on this serious job.
Let’s look at some loglines from other famous films or shows you’ll hopefully know.
When a fragile alien arrives on earth, a small boy who befriends him, must figure out how to get him back to his home planet before government researchers intervene to conduct deadly research. In this logline we get even more information. We get the inciting incident – a fragile alien arrives on earth. We know a small boy will need to face off against big government powers to help his friend. We even get the ticking clock – if the boy can’t help the alien, he’ll be captured and most likely bad things such as death will happen. That’s ET in a nutshell.
How about this one – When a mild-mannered chemistry teacher learns he has cancer, he decides to cook and sell crystal meth to build a nest egg for his financially strapped family.
Let’s take a closer look at this. This logline gives us yet another extra hook. It implies that our protagonist is going to embark on something that is completely “other” than his normal principled life. His ticking mortality clock is going to run out and that has propelled him down an illegal and unethical trajectory. As we know, Breaking Bad takes that hero on a journey into the dark side where everyone around him will be damaged in the process.
Many anti-hero stories will have a logline that justifies why the anti-hero should be excused for his or her bad behavior.
Here’s another – When two best friends embark on a girls’ weekend and one of them is nearly raped, the women decide that they will not return home and begin a crime spree to support their travels.
In this case, we know the women started out just to have fun but something goes terribly wrong. The logline doesn’t give away the spoiler inciting incident – a murder, but it does tell us that these women are no longer the same. Their moral compass has shifted and complete freedom is now their goal. To coin Janis Joplin, they have nothing left to lose. Here’s a mediocre logline for Thelma and Louise – Two Women Go On A Crime Spree. Why is it crappy? Because it is missing the details that make the two main characters truly interesting.
Let’s look at one of my favorite psychological thrillers, The Sixth Sense – A psychologist struggles to cure a troubled boy who is haunted by a bizarre affliction – he sees dead people. OR A psychiatrist in an alienated marriage is hired to cure a boy who claims he is visited by tortured ghosts.
These two versions get at the same core issue – they tell us what the psychiatrist has, as his goal – to help a boy deal with his visions of dead people. I wrote the 2nd one to add in a few important details: 1) the psychiatrist is in a marriage where he can’t seem to communicate with his wife and 2) the ghosts that the boy sees have big stories to reveal to him. Both convey the essential essence of the story but in version II I tried to build further inducement for you to read this script/see the film.
A logline is not a tag line. A tag line might be She witnessed it all but she couldn’t tell. Or He was after vengeance but found freedom. A tagline is simply to call attention. You might see it on a poster.
Loglines should also not be confused with comps. Comps or comparables provide your prospective reader with some grounding as to what to expect from your story. Is it a dark comedy? Are the characters all somehow absurd? Or is it so anchored in reality that it almost feels like a documentary? Some examples of comps (or films or shows similar to your project) might be When Harry Meets Sally meets Wedding Crashers. Or Girls Meets Glee Meets Mozart in the Jungle. Comps should clue the reader into both the tone of your story and its content. If your serious political drama examines characters in prison, you might write The Shawshank Redemption meets Orange Is The New Black.
Talent managers and agents will tell you not to compare your series or film with something very old unless it is a well-known classic. So, writing “Think Shampoo Meets Easy Rider” might not cut it with your 20-something potential reader. Also avoid comping to utterly obscure films or shows that only a small handful of viewers have ever seen.
Finally, remember your logline is NOT intended as a synopsis. In these one-two sentences you are not trying to condense your story into a paragraph loaded with various characters and plot lines.
At its core, your logline is an effective advertisement for your script, designed to pique the interest of almost anyone who encounters it. It’s the tail that wags the dog, saying, “C’mon, come and get me. I’m awesome.”
