Logline "formula"

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  • Logline "formula"

    One reads about how a logline should be -- protagonist, antagonist, objective, stakes.

    Bitter Script Reader found this logline compeling (ang gave the script a 9) as mentioned in his blog.


    "The lone survivor of a massive school explosion is held against his will while the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer sift through a story of blackmail, cyber-bullying, and murder, to try to figure out exactly what happened"

    Who's the protagonist?
    Who's the antagonist?
    What's at stake?

    It seems like, even for loglines, there's not a "one size fits all" approach.
    This particular story doesn't strike me as a likely Hero's Journey either.

  • #2
    Re: Logline "formula"

    Originally posted by RG55 View Post
    One reads about how a logline should be -- protagonist, antagonist, objective, stakes.

    Bitter Script Reader found this logline compeling (ang gave the script a 9) as mentioned in his blog.


    "The lone survivor of a massive school explosion is held against his will while the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer sift through a story of blackmail, cyber-bullying, and murder, to try to figure out exactly what happened"

    Who's the protagonist?
    Who's the antagonist?
    What's at stake?

    It seems like, even for loglines, there's not a "one size fits all" approach.
    This particular story doesn't strike me as a likely Hero's Journey either.
    Not every story is a "hero's journey." This is simply another awkward one-size-fits all paradigm that works when it works and doesn't when it doesn't.

    And trying to impose some kind of standardized formula to the writing of log lines is, as far as I'm concerned, equally foolish. To say that every story can be reduced to the same A+B=C structure is to suggest that every story *has* the same A+B=C structure.

    And that's obviously untrue.

    Try to squeeze something like "Radio Days" into that formula. It's just impossible. Certainly anything that comes out the other end won't really reflect what that movie is.

    If I were to offer any advice about log lines, I would ask people to ask a few basic questions about their stories.

    Who is it about? What is it about? What is it about your script that makes it special and unique?

    That doesn't add up to any formula, but if you can figure out how to convey those things in around a sentence, you'll be well on the way to crafting a decent log line.

    Let me put it this way. "Daddy Daycare" -- all it took were those two words and you knew exactly what the movie was about. Good, bad, like it, hate it.

    You knew what the movie was going to be about. You knew it was going to be a comedy. You just needed the two words to give you a clear sense of how this thing was going to unfold, who the likely protagonists were going to be, what their problems were going to be -- how things were likely to go wrong.

    That was all you needed to start telling the story in your head.

    You come up with two words that can do the same for your script, you'll be doing well. Most people find it hard to do it in a sentence.

    NMS

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Logline "formula"

      While working on my logline, I came across a good short, well-written article on drafting loglines that seems to quickly incorporate alot of what I've read elsewhere...

      http://scriptnurse.com/wp/screenwrit...ting-loglines/

      This, along with the TwoAdverbs article seems to cover the vital logline elements and rationale pretty well. Somewhere I found a 54 page PDF of it which includes an expansive 36 page logline library. If anyone has trouble finding it or wants it, let me know...

      PDF's entitled I WROTE A 120 PAGE SCRIPT BUT CAN‟T WRITE A LOGLINE: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LOGLINE by Christopher Lockhart
      Last edited by MJ Scribe; 07-09-2013, 06:01 AM. Reason: spacing
      " Don't really like writing. But I do like having written." Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Logline "formula"

        Originally posted by RG55 View Post
        One reads about how a logline should be -- protagonist, antagonist, objective, stakes.

        Bitter Script Reader found this logline compeling (ang gave the script a 9) as mentioned in his blog.


        "The lone survivor of a massive school explosion is held against his will while the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer sift through a story of blackmail, cyber-bullying, and murder, to try to figure out exactly what happened"

        Who's the protagonist?
        Who's the antagonist?
        What's at stake?

        It seems like, even for loglines, there's not a "one size fits all" approach.
        This particular story doesn't strike me as a likely Hero's Journey either.
        Yep, agreed, I can't figure out who the lead is or what the goal is or what's at stake. What's compelling about this logline escapes me. The only thing it's got going for it, from where I'm sitting, is that it's a clear, well-written sentence.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Logline "formula"

          Originally posted by MJ Scribe View Post
          Somewhere I found a 54 page PDF of it which includes an expansive 36 page logline library. If anyone has trouble finding it or wants it, let me know...

          PDF's entitled I WROTE A 120 PAGE SCRIPT BUT CAN‟T WRITE A LOGLINE: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LOGLINE by Christopher Lockhart
          Jeff Lowell posted a link to it last week:

          http://twoadverbs.site.aplus.net/logline.pdf

          It's quite helpful.

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Logline "formula"

            Originally posted by RG55 View Post
            "The lone survivor of a massive school explosion is held against his will while the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer sift through a story of blackmail, cyber-bullying, and murder, to try to figure out exactly what happened"

            Who's the protagonist?
            Who's the antagonist?
            What's at stake?
            I agree the logline's not especially clear, but you can kind of tease out that the "lone survivor" is the protagonist, and he's being held against his will so that makes "the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer" the antagonist, and probably the stakes are that they suspect him of being the bomber. But it takes a fair amount of effort to interpret/guess all that, so it's probably not a good logline.

            Also, I read the script in question, and the "lone survivor" is not the only survivor, and the second survivor is actually a key character, central to the plot, so I'm not sure why the writer decided to go with an obviously inaccurate logline (except perhaps to avoid making it even more complicated).

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Logline "formula"

              cool, Paul. Should shortshrift most logline threads...
              " Don't really like writing. But I do like having written." Vince Gilligan, Breaking Bad.

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Logline "formula"

                Er...I wasn't taking the writer to task for not writing a "proper" logline.

                My point was that the screenwriter had a logline which did not adhere to the formula--yet he got people interested to read it (like Bitter Script Reader) and got a 9 on the Blacklist.

                So, the logline "formula" seems not to matter that much.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Logline "formula"

                  Originally posted by Paul Striver View Post
                  I agree the logline's not especially clear, but you can kind of tease out that the "lone survivor" is the protagonist, and he's being held against his will so that makes "the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer" the antagonist, and probably the stakes are that they suspect him of being the bomber. But it takes a fair amount of effort to interpret/guess all that, so it's probably not a good logline.

                  Also, I read the script in question, and the "lone survivor" is not the only survivor, and the second survivor is actually a key character, central to the plot, so I'm not sure why the writer decided to go with an obviously inaccurate logline (except perhaps to avoid making it even more complicated).
                  Instead of "lone survivor", "a survivor" would do the same purpose, so it is puzzling why he "lied".

                  Since the "authorities" are trying to figure out exactly what happened they don't seem all that antagonistic. "Blame him", that would be antagonistic.

                  Point is, protagonist, antagonist, stakes are not well defined (at the very least) and yet, it got read and highly rated.

                  Conclusion: One can deviate from formulas and still get it right.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Logline "formula"

                    Originally posted by nmstevens View Post
                    Not every story is a "hero's journey." This is simply another awkward one-size-fits all paradigm that works when it works and doesn't when it doesn't.
                    NMS
                    That's what I meant.
                    I'll add that many hero's stories are not hero's journeys.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Logline "formula"

                      Originally posted by RG55 View Post
                      One reads about how a logline should be -- protagonist, antagonist, objective, stakes.

                      Bitter Script Reader found this logline compeling (ang gave the script a 9) as mentioned in his blog.


                      "The lone survivor of a massive school explosion is held against his will while the administration, police and school board appointed lawyer sift through a story of blackmail, cyber-bullying, and murder, to try to figure out exactly what happened"

                      Who's the protagonist?
                      Who's the antagonist?
                      What's at stake?

                      It seems like, even for loglines, there's not a "one size fits all" approach.
                      This particular story doesn't strike me as a likely Hero's Journey either.
                      There's no reason why this script couldn't be a Hero's Journey based on the logline. You could easily plug something like AIR FORCE ONE into this logline with the President instead of the lone survivor and the Vice President and her roundtable as the administration, etc.

                      If you're making the case that the logline itself needn't demonstrate the Hero's Journey, of course not. Not all loglines are written for the same purpose. If you're making the case that all films needn't be a Hero's Journey, that's also true, but you haven't made that point with this logline.

                      It sounds like you're just trying to make the point that it is possible to make a delicious cake without using a proven recipe. Sure, that's possible. Is it as likely? Eh...

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Logline "formula"

                        To use your analogy, my point is that cake is not the only food there is.
                        The recipe for the cake is great, if it is a cake you want to make.
                        But if you want to make a quiche and still use the cake recipe...

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Logline "formula"

                          Verbal Kint.
                          life happens
                          despite a few cracked pots-
                          and random sunlight

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Logline "formula"

                            Originally posted by RG55 View Post
                            To use your analogy, my point is that cake is not the only food there is.
                            The recipe for the cake is great, if it is a cake you want to make.
                            But if you want to make a quiche and still use the cake recipe...
                            That's subverting my metaphor, and turning it into a straw man argument. You might as well say "If I literally want to sell a movie studio a quiche, must I format it like a screenplay?" Of course not.

                            Back to the original point... If you're writing something that doesn't remotely fit the Hero's Journey, then it's a more difficult balancing act, the results are more likely to be disastrous, and of course the logline will reflect that. But that doesn't mean every script must follow the Hero's Journey.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Logline "formula"

                              I'm with Keenguy on this one. 1) He has a way cooler name than you do and 2) He's right.

                              Everyone wants to show how cool they are and redesign the wheel. Fact is people like the wheel. It works and they know what to do with it. A logline has a specific purpose and the people you're sending it to prefer something easy to grasp that gives them an image of what you have. The best way to do that is almost always to give them that image in a frame they are used to so they don't get distracted and just move on.

                              Why reinvent the wheel when ninety-nine out of hundred times it's the best tool for the job? I get wanting to be creative, but what I don't get is that most folks don't realize that it's a business. A logline is a business tool producers are comfortable with.
                              If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
                              Dave Barry

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