The Logline

 


The Logline

A logline is a one-line description of your book, or movie script that you create in order to pitch your work to an agent or production company that might be interested in your project. Your job as a professional writer is to describe your work in a short one liner that is comprehensive and concise in a logline. This one liner describes your story or main character and the premise of your story. This is not an easy thing to do, trust me when I say this. It can take anywhere from a week to a year before you come up with that perfect one liner. So, get cracking on how they are done by doing your research of loglines for your favorite movies. Here are a few examples that I found on the internet:

The Godfather: The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Titanic: Two star-crossed lovers fall in love aboard the R.M.S. Titanic and struggle to keep their relationship afloat as the doomed ship sinks into the Atlantic.

The Shawshank Redemption: Two imprisoned men bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

American Assassin: A young American joins a deniable group of government assassins in the hope of revenge against the terrorists who murdered his fiancé.

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE: When an unhinged billionaire plots to cull the human race, an underprivileged trainee in a secret intelligence agency must prove himself in order to save the world.

Crime-Thriller: THE FUGITIVE: Falsely accused of killing his wife, a doctor desperately searches for the real killer, with a relentless federal agent hot on his trail.

THE WIZARD OF OZ: After a twister takes a lonely Kansas farm girl to a magical land, she sets out on a dangerous journey to find a wizard with the power to send her home.

My mentor gave me this formula many years ago and surprisingly enough, it’s easy to remember and makes life so much easier when creating loglines.

Go back and reread the logline examples I gave you above and notice the following:

  • Protagonist(s) – The story’s main character(s).
  • Inciting Incident – The event that sets the protagonist(s) on their journey. This is the first turning point, where the main character’s ordinary world upends.
  • Objective – The main goal of the protagonist(s).
  • Antagonistic force – The character, force, or obstacle preventing the protagonist(s) from reaching the objective.
  • Keep your logline short and to the point.

He always said to ensure you create the best logline, do the following before you finalize it.

  • Brainstorm your best movie ideas before you write the logline!
  • Think about the key ingredients of the story elements of your book or movie before writing the logline
  • Focus on the main conflict in your story (the central problem that moves the plot forward)
  • Never use character names in your logline.
  • Never give away the entire script or the whole movie!
  • Never use another writer’s book or movie in your logline

Now go forth and create the best logline you can muster.

 

Elizabeth Kilbride is a Writer and Editor with forty years of experience in writing with 12 of those years in the online content sphere. Graduating with an Associate of Arts from Pheonix University, then a degree in Mass Communication and Cyber Analysis from Phoenix University, then on to Walden University for her master’s in criminology with emphasis on Cybercrime and Identity Theft, and is currently studying for her Ph.D. degree in Criminology, her portfolio includes coverage of politics, current affairs, elections, history, and true crime. In her spare time, Elizabeth is also a gourmet cook, life coach, and avid artist, proficient in watercolor, acrylic, pen and ink Gouache, and pastels. As a political operative having worked on over 300 campaigns during her career, Elizabeth has turned many life events into books and movie scripts while using history to weave interesting storylines. She also runs 6 various blogs from art to life coaching, to food, to writing, and opinion or history pieces each week.  

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