These feel like the summaries you’d see in TV Guide or on Netflix. Left home alone for the holidays, James Bond’s nephew uncovers gold thieves. Writing a story about a lonely rancher, a New York Times reporter falls in love with her subject. Here are more examples from that time:Ī long-suffering percussionist becomes the director of a dismal marching band.Īn avalanche traps a family in their house, along with a stranger who may be a killer. On the top sheet of every piece of coverage I turned in, I had to write a logline. I ended up working as a paid reader for a little over a year, writing coverage for Tri-Star Pictures.
#Story logline examples how to
We were learning how to write coverage, the industry-standard reports that studios and producers use when considering projects. That’s a logline I wrote for Sam Hamm’s 1988 script “Pulitzer Prize.” It’s likely the first logline I ever wrote, way back in film school. When a prize-winning journalist makes up a source, she pays an ex-con to be her supposed poet-laureate.Set in unoccupied Africa during the early days of World War II: An American expatriate meets a former lover, with unforeseen complications.Loglines are one-or-two sentence summaries of a story or screenplay. The single sentence summary, forces the writer to distill the story down to its key essence… and when written with purpose, reveals the story’s CORE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS. Only a writer intimately familiar with his story can write a proper Writer’s Logline, and there in lies its supreme power. They come across with a clever, fresh angle, which like the high-concept, immediately drums forth visuals and potential.” Stand out loglines usually incorporate a sense of irony. We capture the story goal and summary with a bit more detail, anchoring it with the main character, their goal, the force working against them, and the stakes if they fail. “In strict writing terms, loglines are stated in a single sentence. The Writer’s Logline includes a few specific points. It’s just doesn’t really tell us much of anything.Ī real logline, one that actually conveys the story, is what I refer to as the Writer’s Logline, and it’s the one you’re here to master. Of course these are all writer interpretations. Or a one-line pitch (not an actual Logline) “Rambo in space.”īecause most script writers don’t release loglines with their published work, the internet is awash with clever gimmick loglines to the most famous stories and pitches masking as genuine loglines. Instead, they focus on trying to be clever, distilling the story down, not to a technical reflection of the story, but to a flashy or ambiguous hook… a marketing gimmick. Too often, even in the shi-shi’est of writing circles, folks abandon the idea of structure to the logline. If you’re not running a logline on your typical story build, you’re doing yourself a disservice.įor those coming to the concept for the first time, a logline is merely a single sentence summary of your story… On “Loglines: Is my story any good,” I explain the significance of the logline, today, I’m going to further the discussion of their importance, and break down the process of making a successful one. In Storycraft to Comics, I explain the fundamental structure to a good logline and give some examples. In the Writer’s Guide to Comics I explain what a log line is. Article length: 2000 words (preview 500/wds)
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