2020 Black List Word Cloud Logline Challenge: Winners!

The challenge started with a word cloud based on the loglines for the 2020 Black List scripts, all 80 of them:

You can see the entire set of 2020 Black List loglines for the 80 scripts here.

You can read all the entries in this year’s logline challenge here.

The prizes:

• 5 Semifinal Winners: 1 free Craft class I will be teaching next year through Screenwriting Master Class. Each winner gets their choice of one class.
• 3 Finalist Winners: Free 1 script read + 1 month script hosting via the Black List website + 1 free Craft class.
• 1 Grand Prize Winner: Free 2 script reads + 2 months script hosting via the Black List website + 2 free Craft classes.

This year, we had a record 52 participants contributing loglines for the contest. Infused by the holiday spirit and inspired by each writer’s creativity, I am expanding the slate of Semifinal Winners to everyone who uploaded 2 or more loglines.

Note: This does not include the Finalist Winners and Grand Prize Winners.

The Semifinal Winners are:

Aowinya
Johnny Dinh
Jess sk
D Jackson
Agnes Bookbinder
Hernan Giaggio
Dustin Melvin
Patriciasrivers
Deegancommunications
Debbie Simmons
Denise Hauf Miotke
Karissa Tesluk Piszko
Ngonidzashe
Ellen Waitt
Karissa Tesluk Piszko
Grace Feyisetan
KLB
Sachi Leith
Kylie L.

Semifinal winners receive one free Craft class I will be teaching in 2021.

The 2020 Black List Word Cloud Logline Challenge finalist winners are:

Erin Cancino who wins the Best Maximum Use of Logline Words Award:

TWO OLD BEST FRIENDS MAKE LOVE AFTER BOTH DISCOVER EARTH MAKES DEPRESSED PEOPLE YOUNG NOW: TIME KILLER.

David H for the Made Me Laugh Award:

BASED on a TRUE STORY, THREE OLD HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS DISCOVER a MYSTERIOUS BLACK television REMOTE that turns the band JOURNEY into a KILLER of LITTLE PEOPLE. NOW the CREW must FIGHT to SAVE EARTH AFTER realizing it is a SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL.

D Jackson for the Kitchen Sink Award:

BEING a MAN of SPACE HIMSELF, a certain OLD elf WANTS to be like OTHER ASTRONAUTS — from ANY COUNTRY on EARTH — LEADING in service to LOVE, and in opposition to WAR. So he recruits the BEST possible CREW from all the LITTLE people NOW LIVING, in ALL the WORLD. Their JOB, he instructs, is to MAKE deliveries — gifts — to every hearth and home, for every BOY and every GIRL — every WOMAN and man — every FATHER and MOTHER and all the CHILDREN of every FAMILY in every TOWN — to all its PEOPLE and all their FRIENDS of a FRIEND — EACH and every last ONE — DURING BLACK of night BETWEEN the TIME of midnight and 12:01. Though earnest, their FIRST ATTEMPTS fail, however, and they soon FIND that the whole STATION must be BASED at precisely ninety degrees latitude in ORDER to pull it all off. The PRESSURE is WAY HIGH! AFTER a YEAR of STRUGGLES (that feels like THREE YEARS of failure) his team is so far BEHIND deadline that he reluctantly TAKES an impossible decision AGAINST all reason: A SECRET SCHOOL of magic (“Toy COLLEGE”) must be built onsite, and a vast factory must be constructed. His staff grows resentful. Their STRUGGLING is REAL! The schedule is KILLER. It’s cold! A FIGHT seems inevitable… UNTIL one DAY a pair of TWO YOUNG helpers SEES a way to keep BOTH initiatives working TOGETHER. But JUST when things appear to be operating at FULL potential, they DISCOVER their STAR executive — the SAME who LED them this far — has fallen DEPRESSED and taken to drink. They determine to CONFRONT him, even though it will be DANGEROUS (because he weighs like twenty of them — TRUE STORY!). It will TAKE the patience of an orangutan and the cunning of an ASSASSIN to SAVE his dream — if not his very LIFE. Their chances for success are REMOTE. Suddenly fate takes a twist when a MYSTERIOUS character emerges from his PAST, having somehow arrived at the MIDDLE of their OWN JOURNEY in the nick of time. Mirth is restored but ONLY briefly. The stranger MAKES a heretical NEW proposal: A super sleigh PULLED by reindeer — SMALL ones, but capable of FLIGHT. The idea is unanimously rejected, but its sheer audacity inspires the fat old wizard to SURVIVE his vice, and soon toys are whizzing from the assembly line, each with a unique SERIAL number.

The Finalists win 1 free script read + 1 free month script hosting via the Black List website, plus 1 free Craft class in 2021.

And the Grand Prize Winners are…

That’s right, two winners this year. This duo not only contributed the most logline entries — 12 and 8 respectively — they also had loglines that sounded like actual movies. Here is Example #1:

As a NEW FATHER, a STRUGGLING SMALL-TIME COUNTRY STAR TAKES a JOB as a MIDDLE SCHOOL music teacher JUST to MAKE a LIVING, but AFTER his FIRST DAY he knows he won’t SURVIVE a FULL YEAR.

Country music star forced to teach middle school. I can see that.

Here is Example #2:

AFTER BEING TOGETHER twenty-THREE YEARS, CREW and STAR DISCOVER the SECRET BEHIND TRUE bliss: BOTH CHILDREN leaving for COLLEGE at the SAME TIME. NOW, ONE BOY WANTS to return home… alongside his TWO NEW GIRL-FRIENDS — 50 YEAR-OLD twins.

Happy parents say good-bye to adult children, home alone at last! One returns with two girlfriends — fifty year-old twins. I can see that, too.

Congratulations to Walter Purvis who led all contestants with 12 logline submissions including Example #1, and Kevin Long who uploaded 8 loglines including Example #2.

Walter and Kevin win 2 free script reads + 2 free months script hosting via the Black List website, plus 2 free Craft classes I will be teaching in 2021.

Here is my roster of my online Craft classes for 2021:

January 4: Pixar and the Craft of Storytelling
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January 18: Story Summaries — From Loglines to Beat Sheets
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February 1: Handling Exposition
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February 15: Scene Description Spotlight
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March 1: Character Development Keys
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March 15: Create a Compelling Protagonist
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March 29: Write a Worthy Nemesis
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April 12: Scene-Writing Workshop
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April 26: Dialogue-Writing Workshop
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May 10: The Coen Brothers and the Craft of Storytelling
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Winners, please email me for details and your choice of Craft classes: GITSblog at gmail dot com.

Thanks to all for participating. Let’s do this again next year!