Screenwriting: How To Write Compelling Loglines 

You're welcome. Thank you for watching.

Thanks for sharing Jonathan :) You gotta do what works best for you.

Steven Smith Thank you Steven! I'm glad you found it useful.

Mine too, @UCLA Extension?

You're welcome Britt =)

Thank you for watching Dj!

Darth Bruce Thank you Darth Bruce =)

Lol thanks Zs. It's always good to hear from you. Good luck with your next short. Send me a link when you upload it!

I will ^^. still have time, hahaha! Shooting in April in Hong Kong。

Your welcome epic =)

Nice! l didn't that names. Thanks You now Sir

LisaLisa You're more than welcome LisaLisa ;)

Glad you found it useful TUC1!

I like it

sounds like a good watch,would be an epic action or animated film

Go for it.

@@koketsok1513 why would it be action?

A desperate writer is forced to work alongside his bitter rival in order to escape the grips of poverty.

It just takes practice =). I use loglines because I really like their power to grab your attention. The more you work at it the better you'll get.

Loglines do continually evolve. I'm still covering my filmmaking journey with our film, but I also like sharing information that I've learned and experiences that I think others could benefit from. Thanks again for commenting NicolovsVideo.

D4Darious A perfect woman with a perfect life wakes up in a futuristic hospital suffering with amnesia. She soon discovers nothing in her life has been what she thought it was.

***** Many people refer to the logline as the elevator pitch actually. It's a perfect way to describe how much time you have to pitch.

Rudahms the elevator line existed long before Save the Cat did... and so did "save the cat". It was actually called "wag the dog".

Rudahms if you read enough about screenplays you'll run into them both. And as useful as Save the Cat is, if you're realize interested in doing this, it's far from the many books you should probably read.

Koulla Theoharous You don't have to, but many people do. I worked out a logline for mine just so it's easier to explain what the short would be about to others.

D4Darious Cheers :D

It's definitely worth looking into. Thanks for commenting!

The setup is only important if the story takes place in a world that's VERY different from ours. Not every sci-fi or fantasy would need a setup, just the ones that are hard to understand without one. If your story doesn't require a setup then you don't need to use one. Most of the time you get a sense of the genre based off of the premise of the story or idea, so don't worry to much about using special words or anything.For example, If the logline states a "star fighter must....", we're gonna know it's a sci-fi just by the fact that it takes place in space. As far as franchises, you only need to communicate the synopsis of the film you're working on. If it has franchise potential then you can talk about that, but you don't need to communicate that it's a franchise in the logline. If it's a logline for a movie that's apart of an already established franchise then I think people will assume that based off of the title. If they can't, then you can tell them is't apart of a pre-existing world or a series of movies, but again, you really don't have to state that in the logline. Hope this helps =) and thank you for commenting.

D4Darious Thank you very much, it's way clearer now.

It can take a while to come up with a good logline for a story you're thinking of. If you're having way more trouble coming up with a logline for a story, it's a good sign that your story may need some tweaking.

Shavian1 Thank you Shavian! Definitely sounds interesting, still a bit on the vague side though in terms of the nature of the conflict =). What's the last battle?

D4Darious LOL Damn! That's supposed to be the hook. Aren't you interested in finding out why he would wait 20 years to come home, as well as what the last battle would be? Don't worry I'm going to hire you to Direct as soon as I hit the lottery :)

Shavian1 ha thanks Shavian. waiting 20 years to come home is interesting. I didn't have a problem with that aspect of it =)

Shavian1, that's interesting but we have no idea he waited to come home, so it's not a hook. I thought he was a POW or something. It's interesting, but there's no conflict or smoking gun. Nothing that evokes emotion or a need to know more. I struggle with loglines myself, and I think most writers do, so don't take it as an insult as it's for nothing to do with your story, and I'm just trying to help.

Danae' Latrice, the reason to don't want to use the character name is because at the logline level there's no room to give the description needed to refer to them and also make it clear. That's why historical figures are acceptable, because they need no explanations. But if you use for the name of the script as the character's, if it can be stated clearly it should be fine. But why would you title your script by her/his name? Titles are extremely important! And you want a great one! I suggest you look into how to come up with titles.

Beanie Green What about "Batman", "Citizen Kane", "John Wick", "Forrest Gump", "Rambo", or "Rocky"? Those movies did ok and were named after the character. Using the character name is good if the name is the title; it helps clarify who you are talking about as being the main character. Or, if the villain is the title, then it builds up a drama in saying that the main character will have to fight against the movie's own title, somebody that must be important. Take "Terminator", for example. "A man from the future must save the mother of future humanity from an evil known only as The Terminator... the movie is called the Terminator: fighting this villain is so hard it takes up the entire movie."

Shavian1 Definitely gives you a clear idea of what it's about. You don't wanna use names in your logline though if you can help it =)

Skip it n go back to it later. You don't have to create the things in order. Not sure if you still need an answer.

Haaaater

Bill Thompson It's a bit confusing. how is he cursed with his patient's disorders? what opportunities to be nice? It's a bit to vague. It needs a little specificity.

bonoplayer99 "The premise line is your story. The log line, unlike the premise line, does not show the overarching shape of your story, it does not give you the action line of the protagonist, nor does it give you a sense of the big picture. The log line’s job is to grab you and get your mind and emotions churning," . (Excerpted from How Not to Write Your Self-Published Book: Top 25 Writer Fails & Fixes. Xela Opus Press, publication date 2013)

Leanda Miller Thank you, thank you so much!!

After reading the article on that link, I'm not surprised about the confusion. Me too. Your question made me look into it and it helped me too. Cheers

RedRocketFilms Add in the main conflict or antagonist that the ice-cream man faces and you have a stronger logline =)

RedRocketFilms in a world, where ice cream isn't the only flavor in town, a man clings to his small town ideals amidst the fast-paced, competitive world of the big city.