In recent weeks, there’s been a lot of questions about writing good loglines. In helping a fellow Stage 32 denizen, I came across this website http://scriptshadow.blogspot.com/2009/11/top-100-loglines-for-scriptshad.... They held a contest a few years back and listed their 100 best loglines. The site offers some of the reasons why less than stellar loglines weren’t selected. It might be helpful to those seeking help with this all important skill.
Screenwriting : Writing good loglines by Phillip E. Hardy, Prolifique
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Thank you for the share...
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That was a very honest and interesting read.
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Alle, you do have a point. I did think that whilst reading, being so selective towards his own taste. Interesting to see the different styles in which people do write log lines. You are right in what you say .... Sad that some would have missed the opportunity due to personal choice on the readers behalf.
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the larger point in posting this, ass so that people could see what this gentleman was looking at during his logline selection process. For example, that some were too wordy and that some didn't have enough detail. beyond that, this guy could have an ego the size of Napoleon and it wouldn' make hid selection criteria less valid.
Alle: You are correct. This logline selection process was very subjective. Some of the winning loglines were shyte. For example, this one is pretty thin: Logline: An Internet billionaire returns to his hometown to deliver the keynote speech at his old high school's graduation. But I love this one: Logline: Three struggling funk musicians get framed for the murder of a circus clown, thrusting them onto the main stage of an underground clown war. It sounds just silly and original enough for me to read the screenplay. I also posted it because I thought it had a good variety of loglines. Some that are fairly decent.
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I just wrote the thing in another thread. I had to read hundreds of loglines recently to find a script for a producer. I mined InkTip, Black LIst, Moviebytes and Talentville and found out 1) very few people can write a decent logline and 2) ditto about synopses. A huge wake-up call for me.
Patty: If it were easy, everyone could do it. When I write a synopsis, I always try to dish out a very concise review of the important parts of my screenplay. I have a literary agent and producer pitching several of my scripts and I have to make them solid enough to get an interested party to read the full script.
One thing a lot of people forget about why loglines and synopses is not just because they can't BUT all the fear mongering about "script" idea theft. Far too many post/ stories/ suggestions/ by all the on line sites on this subject. If you happen to be one of the victims or think you are you just have to deal with it. It has been my experience that besides the bad writing a lot of writers try too hard to disguise script with that fear in mind