Which is why I suggest that you include the hero’s flaw. In the logline, the inner journey is generally much less important. Why did they go see it?Īfter a wild Vegas Buck’s Party, a dysfunctional bunch of guys wakes with no memory of last night, a tiger in the bathroom – and no groom.Īudiences flocked to see a bunch of hung-over guys try to find Doug – and maybe to find out who was the rightful owner of that feline.
BEST LOGLINE EXAMPLES MOVIE
Yes, The Hangover does transform its characters and it’s a very important part of why the movie works but that’s not why people went to see it. “… No, I think I’m gonna go shoot me an elk. “It’s about a bunch of guys whose lives are changed by a weekend in Vegas. I love it because it’s the inner journey, the transformation of the protagonist, that ultimately moves us – not the getting of the McGuffin.īut audiences generally don’t decide to go see a film because of the inner journey. What does the guy have to DO that’s going to trigger this epiphany? This logline is all inner journey and not enough outer conflict.ĭon’t get me wrong. But what’s the quest? A political crisis? Not specific enough. He’s going to move from being focussed on his ambition to caring about his wife and children. Here’s an example I’ve made up to illustrate the point:Ī political crisis forces a cynical, womanising US President to choose between career and family. Most common logline weakness #5: No external questĪ lot of loglines I see describe the character’s inner journey but contain no external quest. Your plots can be complex but your logline must clearly and simply express the big idea that’s central to your story. Plant an idea in someone’s mind? If you haven’t seen the film, you’ll have no idea how he might do that but it’s an intriguing quest, yes? To regain his estranged children, a guilt-ridden dream thief risks his life to overcome heavily armed cerebral defences and plant an idea in a business mogul’s mind. Here’s my take on the logline for Inception: The plot of this Christopher Nolan blockbuster is, depending on your point of view, either breathtakingly or mind-numbingly complex, but the concept is simple.
It’s too complex and, what’s more, none of the elements complement one another.īy contrast, take a look at Inception. But if I’d been pitched this, I would have responded with the immortal words of Sydney Pollack in Tootsie, “Who gives a shit?”.
BEST LOGLINE EXAMPLES TV
But is it simple? Reality TV crew? Model turned bounty hunter? Armoured car robbery? Of course, if you’d questioned the writer, they would have said, “But this really happened!”, because it did. That’s a single sentence and remarkably it’s only 28 words. While being profiled by a reality TV crew, a teenage-model-turned-bounty hunter and her companions get in over their heads tracking down those responsible for an armoured car robbery. Take a look at this logline I pulled from this week’s TV guide for the Keira Knightley flop, Domino:
Most common logline weakness #6: Too complex
BEST LOGLINE EXAMPLES HOW TO
Here are the 6 most common mistakes I see – and how to avoid them. But there are good loglines and there are ordinary loglines. I love it because it helps you identify the dramatic conflict at the core of your story and it helps you test whether your concept is sufficiently simple and compelling to attract a cinematic audience. Specifically, I love the logline that’s just a single sentence of no more than 27 words. So here is a companion piece to help sharpen your understanding of one of the screenwriter’s most powerful tools. In an earlier post I gave tips on how to write a logline but even people who’ve read that article have been sending me loglines that aren’t as strong as they should be.
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