Loglines

In screenwriting “logline” is a term commonly used as a selling device to interest a reader, producer, actor and agent in your script. There is tons of great information available in books and online about how to write winning loglines. Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat” has an excellent chapter on what makes for a good logline — if you want to sell your movie.

Before You Try to Sell Your Movie…

Long before you try to sell your movie — or even get someone to read it, you need to write your movie. When you’re developing your idea and thinking about your story, you are searching for a way to encapsulate your movie in your head in a way you can understand and share with other people. That is also a logline. Only you don’t need to sell it to anyone, you’ve only got to understand it for yourself.

The Writer’s Logline

A “writer’s logline” is different than the one you would use to pitch to another person. The writer’s logline is the one that you keep in your head to remind you what your story is all about. It doesn’t need to be ironic and compelling yet. It needs to contain the kernel of a good idea and the components of a good story.

Components of a Good Story

All great stories are unique in the specifics of their worlds, all great stories are alike in the similarities of their plots. What are the components…