Logline for Pulp Fiction

Again, being new to the forums I ask for you to be gentle.

When you have a script like Pulp Fiction (having several stories going on), what do you do? So what would Pulp Fiction's logline look like ??

Thanks in advance.

You'd have to focus on one story. With PF I'd probably go with Vincent Vegas. At least he has some sort of character arc (i.e. decides he wants out) and he appears more than one of the stories.

Bottom line? I wouldn't even try. The fact it was a book and not a spec script meant that the movie's future was never in the hands of a humble logline.

My head hurts thinking about it.

Chickenfish

Chickenfish, you woman! I'm ashamed of you!

A non-standard logline suggestion for a non-standard film:

A disturbing yet often uplifting montage detailing the intertwining lives, loves and hates of various shady L.A. underworld characters as they seek power, wealth or redemption.

Shrug, maybe not, but it's tough to choose which character to stick with. Chicken sees Vincent Vega as lead for the logline, I see Butch as lead. Ultimately it's neither so I'm throwing all the eggs up in the air and hoping some come down sunny side up.

Edited to add:
imdb.com does it better anyway:
The stories of two mob hit men, a boxer and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

-Derek

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One of the many reasons you should never listen to dpat ~PipeWriter

LOL

Okay so I tried to put one together and realised anything I tried just made it sound ordinary. It was something like:

Following a near death experience, a hitman decides he wants out, but first he must survive a day involving a hold-up, a headless body and a date with the wife of his psychotic boss.

See what I mean?! Aaargh I feel dirty now...

Chickenfish :b

Two philosophical hit men, a pair of petty thieves, a gimp, a boxer, a Don and his very sexy wife --lives cataclysmically intertwine in a rollicking ride through LA's seediest underside.

i dunno...

or maybe

Two philosophical hit men, a pair of petty thieves, a gimp, a boxer, a Don and his very sexy wife --lives cataclysmically intertwine in a desperate, rollicking ride through LA's underworld.

The fact it was a book and not a spec script meant that the movie's future was never in the hands of a humble logline.

PULP FICTION was a book?

"An anthology film containing three stories of Los Angeles criminals."

The key is - it's an anthology film... a collection of stories that are connected in some way. The most common anthology films are in the horror genre - stuff like ASYLUM and CAT'S EYE and TALES FROM THE HOOD and DEAD OF NIGHT.

ASYLUM is a good example when looking at PULP FICTION because it's about the murder of a doctor at a looney bin, and his replacement interviews the crazy dudes he last talked to - and each tells their (spooky) story. At the end of the film the replacement has to figure out who killed the doctor (so - like PULP - the stories all connect into a larger story).

PULP began as an anthology film with 3 different writer-directors each contributing a story, and just kind of evolved into QT directing all 3 stories and the wrap around.

You writing an anthology?

- Bill

i would have covered it along the lines of:

Intersecting stories follow quirky criminal characters through the seedy Los Angeles underworld.

But this would be the receiving end, not the sales end.

"Following a near death experience, a hitman decides he wants out, but first he must survive a day involving a hold-up, a headless body and a date with the wife of his psychotic boss."

It sounds like you're mixing up Jules Winfield and Vincent Vega here. Jules was the one who wanted out, and Vincent was the one who took Mia Wallace out.

For that matter, Marsallus Wallace wasn't psychotic, he was just a gangster and a killer. You don't necessarily have to be psychotic to do that, just sociopathic.

There may not be a good way to summarize this film, although you guys have given it a fair shot. It's a disjointed, quirky ensemble film that defies traditional capsulization. It is a revolutionary picture, and the old rules don't really work for it.

But it still needs a log line, right? Or is this one that would work best with Bill's explanation and then a big synopsis paragraph?

Bill, I'm wondering- do you know who the other directors were? Did that ever get set up? I think I read Robert Rodriguez directed the Bonnie Situation scene with the good coffee.

Thanks.

zu