Mike’s 7 Logline Essentials

1. Purpose

One of the things I always make sure to do before beginning any new screenplay is to craft for it the most concise, dynamic and provocative logline possible. First and foremost, it’s a way for me to vet my idea, to make sure it holds up to scrutiny, both conceptually as well as in its simplicity.

Additionally, by forcing myself to create this succinct summary of the central conflict of the story, it creates a North Star of sorts to help guide me along the way as I write, enabling me to make certain that I'm always staying on track, always remaining focused on what I set out to achieve. It can be easy to lose my way in the muck and mire of plotting, so by constantly referring back to the logline, I’m able to ensure that I’m reinforcing my clear-cut objectives every step of the way.

Later, when I have a finished script that’s ready to go to market, I will hone my logline once again, just to make sure it’s specifically geared toward selling – and by that, I mean that it speaks to the language that agents, managers and studio executives best understand. This language is less focused on artistry and prose and more focused on simplicity, familiarity and marketability.

Also, I like to have as much control over the way my script is pitched and discussed once it’s disseminated to the marketplace, so by providing my representatives a clear logline that they can refer to in phone conversations and emails with buyers, I ensure that I’m putting my best foot forward as the creator. Now, the reality is that if your script makes its way onto an agency, studio or streamer desk, it will likely be submitted for “coverage” – whereby a staff reader, or script analyst, will create their own log line for the script that will serve as the basis for how it is perceived by executives. At that point, it’s out of your hands, and you’d best hope that your script speaks to the simplicity and commerciality that you intended.

2. Concept

While crafting a logline is essential to aiding in the initial screenwriting process, its ultimate function is as a sales tool. And as such, the entire basis for creating an effective logline hinges on the notion that your script’s concept is commercially viable and marketable in the first place. In other words, if you’re writing a personal art film, an obscure character study, or even just an eccentric indie ensemble piece, the logline for said script isn’t likely to matter much in the marketplace because its concept is inherently non-commercial – and as a result, is unlikely to attract much in the way of buyer attention. Obvious exceptions to this would be if you managed to attach a piece of talent to your script, like a marketable director or star.

The term “high concept” is often used to describe a script that possesses a simple yet compelling premise that promises mass audience appeal. And as I am in the business of selling scripts, I attempt to conceive stories that most everyone can relate to. Fortunately for me, those also happen to be the kinds of movies that I most enjoy and am inspired to write.

If your creative bent is geared more toward smaller, indie fare with more limited audience appeal, I would encourage you to focus on creating lead characters that are so richly drawn and well-crafted that they might attract the interest of bankable movie stars looking for award-turning roles. With their attachment in place, your script has at least a shot of making a sale at a smaller indie studio or streamer. As it relates to a logline for such a script, you should still apply my subsequent “Logline Essentials” in an effort to elevate the “scope” of the material, such that it is clearly perceived in the marketplace as commercially viable “awards-bait.”

Additional guardrails that I adhere to include never giving away the ending to my story – always leaving them wanting more. And if the logline requires more than one sentence for me to describe the movie, then I’m probably complicating matters and should return to the drawing board with simplicity as my guide -- as less is always more. And lastly, what’s the hook? Does it have a compelling hook? Have I sufficiently simplified its expression such that it provocatively grabs people’s attention? Remember, the people reading your logline will likely have read thousands before yours comes across their desk, so it’s critical that your inspired concept sets it apart.

3. Elements

LOGLINE: When (W) happens to (X), s/he must do (Y) to prevent (Z) from happening.

These are the four critical “elements” that I believe create the structural basis for an effective logline. While the order and specific wording in which you present them is certainly adjustable, I have found that this particular progression works best for me when constructing a simple and effective logline. So, what are the W, X,Y, Z elements?

(W) – this represents the Catalyst, or Inciting Incident in the story. It is the conceptual idea at the heart of your script, an unforeseen event that throws your Protagonist’s life out of balance. This is the “big idea,” from which all your subsequent conflict derives. It could come in the form of falling in love with the wrong girl (Romeo + Juliet), losing one’s job (Jerry Maguire), an asteroid hurtling toward Earth (Armageddon), or anything in between.

(X) – this represents your Protagonist, the hero of your story. Your lead character. The movie star.

(Y) – this represents your Protagonist’s Mission, or, as noted screenwriting lecturer and author Robert McKee describes it, their “object of desire.” The Protagonist must believe the successful fulfillment of this Mission to be critical if s/he is to place his/her life back into balance – or as McKee describes it, “moving life from chaos back to order.”

(Z) – this represents the story’s Stakes, in combination with the Protagonist’s Obstacles and/or Antagonist. The Stakes are the worst-case outcome, the dreaded nightmare scenario in which the Protagonist has failed to achieve the Mission, rendering his or her life forever imbalanced in the form of heartbreak (Romeo + Juliet), poverty (Jerry Maguire) or death (Armageddon), etc. The success of this Protagonist’s Mission should actively run up against Obstacles and/or an Antagonist, which can come in the form of the “physical, social, personal, or inner” (McKee). Ideally, the specificity of this conflict should be active and literal, not figurative. In other words, it’s one thing for Jerry Maguire to thematically evolve to become “his father’s son again,” but if he doesn’t actively get his career back on track and save his marriage, he’ll die impoverished and alone. And while Jerry does indeed become his father’s son again, the logline is better served by simply describing his Mission as needing to save his career and get the girl.

4. Protagonist

One of the most important components of an effective logline is the description of your Protagonist, the hero of your story. Not only does it inform the reader who they will be invested in for the next 120 pages, but it also informs the agent, manager, or studio executive of the potential casting options that might apply to the eventual production. This is critical because your script’s casting potential is more important than ever these days in piquing even the slightest interest of a buyer in your idea, let alone making the sale. Agents and executives will literally hang up the phone or toss your script in the recycling bin unread if they can’t immediately envision the marketability of your movie based on its potential attachment to a bankable movie star.

Another factor I always consider when I describe my Protagonist is the prospective budget of my film. For example, my most recent project with a blockbuster producer is a very expensive sci-fi movie with a projected budget of over $100 million. However, since it’s an original idea and not based on any successful existing Intellectual Property like a book or video game, it requires an A-list movie star in the lead role to ever have a chance of getting made. So, you better believe that when I conceived the story, I deliberately chose to make my Protagonist a forty-something male, who could be played by anyone from Chris Hemsworth to Will Smith, and any of the ten or so stars in between that are bankable enough to justify the size of the budget. If I had made a teenager the Protagonist of my story, it might have made for an interesting script, but it would have absolutely no chance at selling because there are no bankable A-list teenage stars.

Creatively, it’s important to describe your Protagonist as a “type” rather than by the character’s name, which provides no evocative value. The descriptive terms I use to describe my Protagonist not only clearly convey approximate age and gender, but they must also evoke a sense of “familiarity” in the reader’s mind – allowing them to quickly latch onto the “type” of person this might be. For example, back to the Jerry Maguire reference – a “slick sports agent” immediately conjures in the mind the kind of person this might be. The Protagonist description also allows for an efficient way of suggesting the “World” in which your story takes place, in addition to building upon that in subsequent Essentials. Remember, brevity and simplicity are key to an effective logline, so it’s important to load up each of your elements with the most concise and resonant adjectives and verbs to paint an unambiguous picture of your story.

Additionally, the precise words I use to portray the Protagonist ideally put them in a box by the very nature of how I describe them, allowing me to get more mileage out of their starting point while, at the same time, suggesting where they might need to go. For example, a “down-on-her-luck truck stop waitress” suggests an adult woman, in a unique world, whose life is in a particular state of disrepair. And as McKee reminds us, it is the unique choices and characteristics of said Protagonist that fascinate us most – the more specific the choices, the more universal the story becomes. Another factor I always consider when crafting my Mission is that, in the best screenplays, every Protagonist has a 'want' that seems to drive their actions; however, they also possess a 'need' that subtly lies in wait beneath their want, whether they’re aware of it or not. As Mick Jagger put it, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” In a logline however, it is usually simpler and more easily understood to describe what your Protagonist “wants.”

5. Genre/World

These days, there are two very important elements that I always try to be mindful of as I craft loglines – my script’s Genre and World. It’s important for loglines to suggest a story’s specific Genre because business-minded representatives and buyers can more easily comprehend an idea if they can slot it into what they perceive as its appropriate “marketing category.” But more specifically, it allows agents and managers to more easily assess where a script might fit in the landscape of the marketplace.

Studios and other buyers have specific corporate “needs” that they are constantly seeking to fill as they plan out their upcoming slates. I’ll often hear, “Oh this studio needs R rated comedies,” or “This streamer needs more Action/Thrillers.” And since the best agents and managers have their thumbs firmly on the pulse of each company’s current needs, if your script’s Genre happens to fit a particular buyer’s slate, they immediately get dollar signs in their eyes -- regardless of whether they’ve even read the script. So, the credo here is, if you can speak the language of the representative/buyer, it helps them to help you.

Another element that I find is more essential than ever to convey in a logline is the concept of a script’s World. This is the unique, real or imagined setting for your story -- its time and place, as well as its inherent design and architecture, established characters, rules, backstories and lore. Most recently ushered in by the likes of comic book movies from Marvel and D.C., as well as unique streamer series like Game of Thrones and Black Mirror, or even Emily in Paris, the inclusion of a unique World in a story has yielded a lot of success with today’s audiences. Just make sure it’s not so unique that it gets lost in the weeds and executives aren’t able to grasp it. Conveying World in a logline can be difficult given the limitations of a single sentence, but with the right adjectives sprinkled amongst your Protagonist, Mission and Antagonists, you can usually suggest enough to at least imply that a unique World exists. Buyers love ideas set in unique Worlds because it immediately springs to their minds the notion of lucrative franchises, spin-off’s, TV shows, merchandizing and so on. And while the inclusion of a World in your logline/script isn’t absolutely required to make a sale, it can certainly increase your odds. Again, the goal here is helping them to help you.

6. Tone/Language

One thing I always try to be cognizant of when crafting a logline is the precise nature of the Language I use as it relates to Tone. Because the last thing you want to do is confuse the prospective reader that your Thriller is in fact a Comedy, or worse, that your Comedy is actually a Drama. Given the brevity of a logline, it can sometimes limit your ability to clarify the specific nature of your story – but clarify you must, or you could lose your reader right out of the gate if they misunderstand your intended Tone.

Now, given that a logline is always accompanied by the script’s title, we have an additional means of conveying Tone and Genre – but it also points to the similar necessity of creating an effective title with Language that also speaks to your script’s Tone and Genre. This becomes especially nuanced when combining genres, like Action/Comedy, or Supernatural/Thriller. For example, in a straight Action script, your logline Mission language might include words like “operation” or “heist,” whereas a Comedy’s logline Mission might skew toward the use of words like “hijinks” or “antics.” Instantly, the reader can discern the difference in genre, just by a simple word choice or two. Ideally, an effective description of the Mission and Stakes will best establish the script’s Tone and Genre. However, I’ve learned never to just assume that what I believe to be self-evident is equally self-evident to the next person.

Equally important in the language of a logline is the use of “active verbs” to describe your Protagonist’s Mission. Put simply, your characters should be taking assertive action to achieve tangible goals or to affect clear outcomes. And given that this is a prospective movie we’re trying to sell, those active verbs should sound as bold, urgent and cinematic as possible. Harkening back to English class, we learned that the Passive Voice might say, “The detective was murdered by the butler.” However, for the purposes of a logline, we want to employ the Active Voice, by more directly stating, “The butler murders the detective.” Additionally, as a rule, all loglines should be written in a form of the Present Tense as opposed to Past Tense: When (W) happens to (X), s/he must do (Y) to prevent (Z) from happening.

7. Voice/Irony

Last, but not least, is the opportunity to inject your personal Voice, as well as a dash of Dramatic Irony, into your logline. To make your logline stand out from the many thousands your audience will have read, it can sometimes be helpful to color it with the originality of your unique screenwriting Voice, be that via prose, plot points or simply attitude. For example, no logline of David Lynch’s classic Blue Velvet would be worth its salt without an off-beat reference to the discovery of “a severed human ear in the grass” as the Catalyst. Original. Provocative. And singularly Lynch.

The inclusion of an element of Irony in your logline can suggest an additional layer of depth and character complexity to your story. Admittedly, the presence of Dramatic Irony in a logline usually requires the script’s concept to contain a component of irony to begin with, often in the form of the Protagonist’s nature versus the nature of the Mission they’re embarking upon. For example, take this stab at a logline for Raiders of the Lost Ark: When an agnostic archaeologist is enlisted by the government to help stop the Nazi’s, he must beat them to the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant before they wield its supernatural powers to win the war. The obvious Irony here is the hero’s lack of faith as he desperately pursues a McGuffin that’s entirely predicated on faith. (Note: McGuffin: an object or event in a book or a film that serves as the impetus for the plot.)

Examples of effective loglines:

Star Wars
When a hopeful farm boy discovers he has extraordinary abilities, he joins forces with a group of rebel fighters to free the galaxy from the oppressive Empire.

Titanic
When two ill-fated lovers fall for each other during the Titanic's maiden voyage, they must fight to survive as the tragic ship sinks into the Atlantic.

Finding Nemo
When his son is carried away by the ocean, a worried clownfish sets out on a dangerous journey across the perilous sea to rescue him.

Little Miss Sunshine
When a hopeful child beauty queen discovers a spot is available in the "Little Miss Sunshine" pageant, she persuades her dysfunctional family to embark on a cross-country journey, despite their doubts about her chances of winning.

Summary

One final thought on the creation of an effective logline -- if it doesn’t absolutely “wow” you, it’s not likely to wow others either. Take your time with it, constantly chiseling and putting it to the test. Break out your thesaurus and try out different language, focusing on those critical verbs and adjectives, making sure you’re maximizing every word choice. And then, try it out on your friends, family and colleagues. There’s no shame in being initially met with a shrug – I’ve endured countless indifferent responses to some of my loglines from those I trust. And if that’s the case, it just means you have more work to do, either on the idea itself, or the expression of your logline. Either way, it’s invaluable feedback that can only bring out your very best.