Let’s talk about the one sentence it took me way too long to learn the importance of…
Loglines.
What is a logline?
A logline is the premise of your film, distilled down to a single sentence.
So the logline for E.T. might be – A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
Aren’t loglines just for pitching your film idea?
Yes, they’re great for an “elevator pitch,” but they’re much more useful than that.
How could dumbing down my complex, sprawling narrative into the equivalent of a Tweet possibly benefit my artistic vision?!
Believe it or not, a clear logline can save you from writing yourself into a corner (or, you know, into a 200-page script that no one will read).
Let me show you how.
The Struggling Musician
Imagine you’re working on a short film about a musician struggling to write a song.
You don’t know WHY, but something tells you, that’s going to be a great short film.
So you just start writing. And you have no idea what you’re doing, but you finish the script and show some people.
They all say vaguely nice things about it, but you can tell they don’t love it.
Why not? What’s missing?
Well, if I were to guess, I’d say not having that logline BEFORE you started writing turned the story into a muddled mess with no real direction.
Next time, instead of running a whole SCRIPT by your friends or fellow writers/filmmakers, try running the LOGLINE by them. Not only does it save both of you a ton of time, you’ll be able to see the story’s potential plainly in their reaction. If they perk up, their eyes widen a bit, maybe you’re on to something…
If not, just come up with another one. A lot easier than coming up with a whole new script.
By the way, we’ll circle back to this struggling musician premise…
The Common Beginner’s Trap
Most beginner filmmakers when asked what their story is about, will do what I used to do – ramble.
Instead of a concise logline, it’s usually a laundry list of conflicts, relationships, backstories, etc.
Or sometimes you’ll even get the entire beat-by-beat outline of the story.
When I hear that kind of long ramble, I have a pretty good idea that the story is not good. That may sound dick-ish, but I’ve got someone backing me up on this…
Spielberg’s Advice
Steven Spielberg once said, “If a person can tell me the idea in twenty-five words or less, it’s going to make a pretty good movie.“
I think this young upstart may be on to something.
If you can’t get someone intrigued by your story when it’s condensed into a single sentence, why would they want to see that premise stretched out into 10 minutes, or 2 hours?
By the way, this doesn’t just apply to high-concept films like Jaws or E.T.; it’s equally true for dramas, comedies, and all those little indie short films we want to make.
Let’s look at our example from earlier…
The Struggling Musician - LOGLINE EQUIPPED
Ok assuming Spielberg knows what he’s talking about, we need to figure out a logline for our story about a musician struggling to write a song.
There’s probably 546 million stories you could write about this situation, but most of them suck.
So don’t just start writing. Think about the big picture. Think about what would make this generic situation fun to watch.
You should be able to articulate that in a single sentence, like Spielberg says.
How about: “A struggling musician tries to write a song for his wife’s eulogy.”
Well. I personally don’t want to watch that. Sounds like a real bummer.
Is there anything unique or interesting about the guy? From the way this story is presented in this logline, the whole point of the story is to feel bad for this guy.
I love a good sad movie, but this is boring. I’ll pass.
Let’s try again:
“A burnt-out musician struggles to finish his last song before losing his hearing forever.”
How do you feel when you hear that sentence?
I know how I feel – INTERESTED!
I want to know more about this guy and how he’s going to solve this problem. Even though it’s probably going to be a sad story, unlike the last logline, this one is compelling. My imagination is actually activated by this itty-bitty logline.
Besides that, I know it’s also going to give the writer a clear spine for the story before they type a single word.
That’s a good logline.
Let’s try one more version.
“A washed-up country musician struggles to ghost-write a song for his estranged bubble-gum pop, superstar daughter.”
I’d watch this one any day of the week. Why? It’s surprising, it has color, and it could be either really sad, or really hilarious, or both. Is it loosely based on Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus? Again, it got my imagination going.
Good logline.
Summing it Up
This logline is your story’s GPS. It keeps you and your story on track, focused on a clear goal and an urgent obstacle. Besides that, it makes your project more attractive to OTHER people, which is very handy when crewing up, looking for financing, etc etc.
Without that guiding logline, your script risks becoming a buffet of half-baked ideas—lots of options, but nothing satisfying.
So, next time you sit down to write, start with a logline. Nail down what your character wants, what’s standing in their way, and what’s at stake. It’s a simple step that can save you a lot of headaches—and maybe a couple of sleepless nights wondering where it all went wrong.
By the way, loglines are a key part of my new Instant Short Film Blueprint. Check it out and in only 2 hours you’ll learn my repeatable method for writing compelling short films you can shoot this weekend — no budget required.
That’s it for this week.
Let’s make some movies.
-Kent
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