How to Write a Logline

“Always remember this: It’s a logline, not a longline. Its job is to sell the story, not tell the story.”

It’s funny, but I’m often asked by students or blog readers what a logline is, and yet we’re exposed to them on an almost daily basis. For example, when you use your remote control to flip through the cable or satellite channel guide, every episode of every TV series includes a logline of that episode’s plot. Here are some examples ripped from this week’s TV Guide:

Good Witch (Hallmark): Middleton is abuzz with the arrival of a comet that appears once every hundred years. Cassie shares the secret of the comet: everyone in town gets a wish, but not all wishes will be granted.

Instinct (CBS): Dylan and Lizzie go undercover in New York’s erotic underworld when they investigate the murder of a high-powered public relations rep.

Preacher (AMC): In her attempt to rescue Cassidy, Tulip meets an unexpected obstacle.

Netflix, IMDB, Halliwells — there are loglines seemingly everywhere.

Where did loglines originate? Wikipedia has this to say on the subject:

The logline first came into use and was recognized as a separate form during the old studio days of Hollywood. The studios had script vaults in which they stored screenplays. Readers wrote a concise one line summary of what the script was about either on the cover of the script, on the spine of the script, or both. The log line on the spine of the script allowed people to read the log lines of scripts that were stacked without having to unstack them.

The logline allowed studio executives, producers, directors, and actors to scan a great many scripts quickly while searching for a project that they were interested in that met their needs, whether love story, horror film, action film, comedy or drama.

You know what? The logline’s function in Hollywood has not changed all that much from the old studio days. It’s still primarily used as a means of conveying a story’s most basic narrative elements to sellers and buyers.

And what are those basic narrative elements? Like every one of the story summaries we’ll be studying this week, there is no set formula. However one of the earliest things I learned when I broke into the business was to identify three fundamental elements of any story by answering these questions:

• Who is the Protagonist?
• What do they want?
• Who is keeping them from it?

Protagonist. Goal. Nemesis. I would argue that is the essence of a logline.

I have read some screenwriting gurus who expand this list to four, five or even more elements for a logline. Some say you need to get into what makes the story distinctive. Others state you must provide specifics about the story’s setting. Still others insist you have to introduce some sort of emotional hook.

Two things. The first is straight from one of Hollywood’s major agencies. Some years ago, they put together a “Story Department — Coverage Packet” as a set of guidelines for anyone who would be reading scripts and providing coverage for the agency. I did a series of posts on Go Into The Story analyzing that packet including this one, specifically about loglines. In that section, the document says:

The logline provides a one-sentence summary of the script’s premise and plot. It should succinctly describe the situation of the protagonist and include any major story elements.

Concise, concise, concise. One sentence that generally describes the script. General is the key word. Don’t worry about every detail of the story in the log line.

“Concise, concise, concise.” They didn’t use that word in triplicate because of some errant repeat key. People who work in the Hollywood movie business are extremely busy and they have the attention span of gnats. Therefore a good logline is a concise one that says what it needs to say in the briefest possible form.

The second thing: If you can’t convey how your story is distinctive, what its setting is, and its emotional hook based on Protagonist, Goal, Nemesis, then you haven’t done a good enough job crafting your logline or your story may have some inherent issues.

So my advice? Keep it simple: Protagonist, Goal, Nemesis.

The packet provides three examples of loglines:

An attractive young nun and an ex-leprechaun venture into a bizarre Irish fantasy world to return a stolen magical ring.

A private detective gets in over his head when a simple missing persons case turns into a deadly chase for a priceless diamond.

An amnesiac plane crash survivor discovers that he is a government assassin… or is he?

Notice anything missing from each? No Nemesis. You’ve got a “bizarre Irish fantasy world,” a “deadly chase” and an amnesiac who may or may not be an assassin. Those suggest a general sense of complications, but don’t get at the heart of each story’s central conflict. That’s what including a Nemesis can do for your logline. For example, here is how I’ve pitched K-9 ever since we sold the spec script to Universal Studios:

Pursuing a powerful drug lord, a headstrong policeman gets a new partner — an equally headstrong K-9 cop.

By adding the Nemesis (“powerful drug lord”), the logline sharpens the goal as well as the central conflict: It’s not just a human cop and police dog in a test of wills, their struggle is ultimately tied to busting the bad guy.

If you want to immerse yourself in the world of loglines, a great place is IMDb. The loglines there are user generated, so some are better than others. Here are a few I found that effectively combine Protagonist, Goal, Nemesis:

Raiders of the Lost Ark: Archeologist and adventurer Indiana Jones is hired by the US government to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis.

The Silence of the Lambs: A young FBI cadet must confide in an incarcerated and manipulative killer to receive his help on catching another serial killer who skins his victims.

Those are both pretty solid loglines. Then there are others on IMDB:

The King’s Speech: The story of King George VI of Britain, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

Doesn’t even mention Bertie’s speech impediment. Seems like a pretty gross omission, especially since his stuttering is arguably the story’s Nemesis.

But what about…

Finally, let’s acknowledge an issue you may be dealing with in a current story or doubtless will at some point: How to write a logline for a complex story, one that can’t be neatly summarized with Protagonist, Goal, Nemesis.

Here is where our screenwriting gurus’ advice may come in handy. Still thinking concise, try to nail these three elements: Protagonist, Distinctive, Emotion.

• Protagonist: Give the reader the primary character’s perspective into the story.
• Distinctive: Provide some key narrative element that will hook the reader.
• Emotion: Present a point of emotional connection for the reader.

With a complex story, you’re not going to be able to grab a reader with a simple logline, so you have to go at them laterally with a distinctive hook and an emotional connection. Here is a pretty good IMDb example of such a logline:

Forrest Gump: Forrest Gump, while not intelligent, has accidentally been present at many historic moments, but his true love, Jenny, eludes him.

Protagonist: Forrest.

Distinctive: He leads a fateful life that intersects him with numerous historic moments.

Emotion: He pursues his true love throughout his quixotic journey.

The Godfather: The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Protagonist: Don Corleone.

Distinctive: Organized crime dynasty.

Emotion: Transfers control of an empire to a reluctant son.

If you put your mind to it and focus on the right narrative elements, even sprawling stories can be described in a logline

Summary

Loglines are an important story summary. They are the handle by which scripts are passed around from Hollywood sellers to buyers to talent.

A well constructed logline typically has three narrative elements: Protagonist, Goal, Nemesis.

If the story is a complex one, try to hit these three elements: Protagonist, Distinctive, Emotion.

Always remember this: It’s a logline, not a longline. Its job is to sell the story, not tell the story.