Script Writing: How To Write A Logline
Creating interesting stories that people will want to read is probably one of the most important things you can do as a writer. A good story is told in natural flow, so it is important to know how to write a narrative or “story” line.
A story line is a sequence of events that occur within an organized framework. For example, your life follows a sequential pattern from birth through adulthood. You are born, you grow up, you get married, you have children, and then you live your life. All human beings need stories to understand their place in the world and why they exist.
Writing a story involves telling someone else’s tale (or creating your own). It happens over time, and it uses details to give shape to what is going on. When writing a story, there should be a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning establishes who the characters are and gives a brief summary of the setting and situation. The middle is all about developing the character traits and showing how they react to the situations they find themselves in. And the ending brings everything together and reminds readers of what happened earlier in the story.
In this article, we will focus only on the first part of storytelling: the logline or main sentence. A logline is usually one to two sentences long and typically does not contain any adjectives or adverbs.
Use their words
The first thing you should do is use their own words as much as possible in your script logline. If you are not allowed to, try to find a way to work them into your sentence or create your own version of their well-written line.
This will save you a lot of time in the rewriting process, as you can simply take what they wrote and make it better!
It’s also helpful to know what types of stories they have written before. By studying their writing style, you can pick up some tips for how to write your own story.
Interior tales focus more on actions and events than conversations, while exterior stories typically start with something like “A man walked down the street.” We often get distracted by small talk, so silence is our main character in many stories.
In novels, we call these chapters scenes because they combine setting, action, and dialogue into one unit. A good writer keeps this basic structure in mind when crafting storylines.
Be honest
As you write your script, be as truthful and accurate with yourself as you would like others to be when they read your logline. If you add too many bells and whistles, people may think that it is more interesting than it actually is.
Your logline should effectively describe the main character, what he or she wants, and how to achieve their goal. It should also include some indication of the setting and tone.
It’s very easy to add decorations later (broccoli can do that!), but we always have to make sure that the core element of our work survives this test!
Don’t worry about being original- there are already so many cliches in use for movie loglines that coming up with something unique becomes harder as yours get longer. Just make sure yours is different enough to fool someone into thinking it isn’t a cliché!
Blog post: How to Pitch Your Screenplay To Get Read
Bullet point: Keep it short and sweet
Your potential reader does not need to know an elaborate backstory to motivate the protagonist, nor do they want to hear about all of the clever twists and turns you designed.
Focus on your audience
As we already discussed, a good script logline should tell someone something about who the story is for and what the story is about. But it should also do this quickly and effectively!
Too often writers get so focused on telling instead of focusing on people, that their message gets lost in the process. Your potential reader will not be interested in reading your work if you are trying to convince them rather than appeal to them.
When writing a script logline, try to keep things as simple as possible while still making the point clearly. Use straightforward language and short, direct sentences to avoid overloading the line.
Avoid flowery or dramatic adjectives unless they truly fit the logline. A well-written logline does not need much decoration. Instead use strong, basic keywords to create your lead.
Get to the point
A logline is very short, typically one or two sentences that try to get straight into the core of what the movie is about. It’s kind of like a brief summary of the movie. Your first line should hook us and tell us something important about the movie so we are interested in watching the rest of it.
It’s not enough just to say “Movie!” and add a bunch of fancy adjectives - that would be a boring logline. "Adventure Movie" isn't much more exciting than saying, "Action Movie."
Give me a hint as to the genre of the movie and I can probably guess most of the juicy details. Same for setting and protagonist - if you don’t include those, then what's the point?
Include enough information to establish basic continuity, but leave out anything that doesn't contribute to telling the story of the film. Avoid giving away major plot points unless they're needed to fully explain the movie.
Stories are more effective than facts
As we know, stories use events or situations as plot points to tell who your character is, what they want, and how they try to get it. A good story also uses characters that people can relate to.
Stories are therefore far more powerful than “facts” - things like statistics or studies that prove X theory. A story with emotional impact is much more potent.
That doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to support your thesis! In fact, using lots of evidence to back up your argument will usually make it stronger. But don’t rely only on those - instead, write a story that proves your point.
Make it memorable
A good logline should be one to two sentences at most, and must contain both of these elements: a) An action b) Who is doing the action
The action in your logline does not have to be set in stone but it should be clearly identifiable. For example, “A house gets blown up” or “An office manager takes charge” are much better than “People struggle to survive after a natural disaster�” or “Two strangers meet for the first time�”.
Your audience will know what needed to happen next if you describe the action properly!
If your logline contains too many descriptors that mean nothing, then it becomes hard to identify the main event. Make sure your bullet point has clear keywords that relate to your logline.
Make it specific
A good script logline should be one sentence, but make sure that what you write is a strong statement with potential for development. It should give a clear sense of what the movie will be about and who the main character will be.
It’s very difficult to create a great plot when the setting is vague or the characters are not clearly defined. You need to know your story!
By being more specific, your creative writing can develop and expand as you add additional details to fit the storyline.
Test it
A good script logline should be able to quickly grab your attention, make you laugh, inspire you, and tell you everything you need to know about the story. You can test this out by writing a short paragraph and then testing it against the bullet point.
It’s hard to identify if a plot is interesting or not unless you are already familiar with the genre and/or story types in that genre. If you're not, that's okay! There are many free genres and narrative styles for you to explore.
You may also want to read our article: Tips For Writers Who Want To Become Famous. It contains helpful information about how to get started as a writer.