Hi Scott, I've been following your Quest posts avidly. :-) Just a quick question, what is the start date of the 24 week course? Cheers! Billie

I can't remember where I saw this but here is a quick logline template: When INCITING INCIDENT, a SPECIFIC PROTAGONIST must OBJECTIVE, or else STAKES. Example: When his daughter is abducted by human traffickers, a former CIA operative must use his special-forces training to track down her kidnappers before she is sold as a sex slave. Obviously it won't work for every story, but it's a good start for someone who is struggling to write a logline.

Billie, it runs from July 2-December 16, 2012. The first eight weeks are the Core theory classes which have less work than following Prep and Pages, so should be more amenable to people and summer vacation schedules.

Perfect! Thanks :-)

Re: Forest Gump log line. I read that and thought, "Damn that's good." It always amazes me how powerful and consice good writing is. Rule 17: Omit needless words.

If you want to know if your logline is good enough, put it to "The redbox test" If a thirsty alcoholic, with only enough money in his pocket to buy one drink, crosses the street to the liquor store, then he spots a redbox and goes to check it. Write a logline that would keep him sober through the night. It's a bit extreme, but you need to aim high all the time.

I know people have asked this earlier in the week, but regarding multiple loglines...how many different stories can we give you loglines for? On another note, what is your suggestion for writing a logline for a story you haven't really developed at all? I have some ideas that I'd like to submit, but because of other projects I haven't had time to develop them. Should I just worry about the Protagonist, Goal, Nemesis, and forget about all the inbetween, and work on that if I'm chosen? Thanks! This is such an amazing opportunity! I just hope I can impress Producer Scott and be chosen!! :)

Hey, Question: The coverage dep't example mentions a logline as being one sentence. Is there a max sentence limit for loglines for the Quest? (one, one to three, etc.) Thanks!

That can work, Teddy. Just like there's no right way to write a script, there's no right way to write a logline. My take, your take, they both get at it pretty well. My favorite logline of all is that now famous story where James Cameron walked into a conference room at 20th Century Fox to pitch a sequel to Alien. He walked up to the chalkboard and wrote: "ALIEN$". Then sat down. The rest, as they say, is history.

Patrick, I'll say one thing about using Twitter: It forces you to be super-conscious of your word choices. I think working with loglines is the same kind of thing. And all that should translate into scene description and dialogue where in almost all cases, less is more.

Love that, Ammar. Another one is imagine you've bumped into a Movie Studio President as he's hustling to his $100K car. She agrees to listen to your pitch, but you only have 30 seconds before she reaches her car and she's on the move. What can you say about your story that will stop her in her tracks? That's the power of a logline. A pure distillation of your story concept that cuts through the fog and plants the conceit straight into their brain.

Marc, you can give me loglines for as many stories as you want, but please, please, PLEASE re-read Tuesday's post about making sure the loglines you present qualify as movies. Just because you [or anybody else] has a lot of ideas doesn't mean they are necessarily good ones. Sending me five average ideas = zero. Sending one great idea = I'm interested. Also sending five average ideas will piss off Producer Scott. So push yourself to HONESTLY assess every concept before submitting it. Is it a movie? Can you imagine 5-10 million people spending their hard-earned cash to see that movie? If not, don't submit it.

CJ, there's no rule that I know of, although pretty much everyone in Hwood will say a logline should be one sentence. Unfortunately what often happens is writers submit loglines which are long, run-on sentences. Just because it's one sentence doesn't mean that it's an effective logline if the sentence contains 100 words and multiple clauses. So if you NEED two sentences for your logline, use two sentences. But just like the ICM coverage guidelines say: "Concise, concise, concise."

Thank you for this opportunity...

Thanks for the info

Hell (and this is not meant as any kind of humble brag) right now my short-list is at *22* loglines. Moreover, I can imagine every single one of them as a movie, because I used an existing movie as a structural template.

When you read a logline, do you automatically assume the characters are young-ish (20s/30s) unless something in the logline indicates otherwise? Would this depend on the genre?

What if all you have is a great logline and nothing else (no acts/scenes/any characters beyond the pro/ant)? Would your course be useful or is this a recipe for disaster? (I've finished features before, if that's relevant.) Thanks.

Hard to say in theory. If it's important [their age], include it in the logline. If not, perhaps try without?

Lincoln, after the Core session [8 weeks of screenwriting theory], we move into Prep. The stand-alone version of that course is officially called Prep: From Concept to Outline, so it's not a problem to start with just the root of the story.

Can you use a book adaptation or real life project that you're presently working on? Or should the log line be a unique new project? Thanks Scott for the wealth of experience. GITS is my doctorial audit. I use something everyday I discover here... Thanks again... Speedo

George, if there is any book or biopic / real life elements, that raises the question of underlying rights. As long as you have secured them legally in the form of an option, not a problem. Anything short of that, I can't move forward on, and thus would prefer wholly original content.

I suppose this is more of a genre question, but how important is tone to a logline? Sometimes it's hard to tell if a logline is drama or comedy. Should a comedy logline seem funny?

It seems the logline of any script [I'm working on] has always alluded me. Coming up with a logline is a whole different set of skills to writing the script. I always feel I'm missing the most important part of the story! Are there any senior GITS members or members who feel they have a knack for loglines, who would be willing to hear from a few novice logliners? Perhaps via e-mail? Cheers Billie :-)

Sure. If you can't see my email in the profile, put another comment.

Thanks Ammar! No, I can't see your email in the comment...

realxwriter is my user name for google mail account. Damn emails fishing, it makes life so complicated.

I would say yes. I just tested about ten loglines on a pal this morning, and for a number of them he said "If this is going to be a comedy, I'm all in. If it's a drama, I dunno." I thought most of them were obvious comedies, but I guess I'll be working on their tone over the next two days.

That reminds me of a story about Jay-Z. He had a whole room of up and coming music guys "pitching" him beats and samples, and he would just walk around until something struck his fancy. If that didn't happen in the first five seconds, he moved on. With my own ideas, I've noticed that the best ones evoke a very visceral response in people immediately.

I always thought the logline was simply meant to whet the appetite, so to speak. Given that one is also going to to provide a title and genre description, how much can be implied in the logline and how much has to be explicit?

Ben, that is a good question because if the genre is unclear from the logline, obviously a reader could 'miss' the story. Certainly if you can make the logline funny for a comedy, that can be helpful but not to the point of making the logline unduly long. As always, no set answer, do your best. I will make it easy on people: They can specify the genre with their submission.

That is absolutely how the music business operates [or used to, I confess I haven't trafficked in that world for several years]. You have about 5-10 seconds in a demo to get a record producer's attention and that's it. A logline is the movie equivalent of those 5-10 seconds.

pliny, I would steer the conversation back to what I posted yesterday: Protagonist. Goal. Nemesis. If you can convey something of the tone and emotion of the story, great. But the best loglines [to me] are those that convey clearly a great story conceit [you can refer back to my Quest post on Tuesday for a discussion of that], the central idea of the movie. As with K-9: A comedy about a cop and a police dog. That's the conceit, the central idea of the movie. If you whet my appetite with that, then that's a very good thing.

Thanks, Scott.

Scott, trust me I understand completely, but the Dear Satan logline got me thinking, because it implies so much without really saying an awful lot. More importantly, it makes you want to see what sort of hijinks are going to ensue. As they stand, the combo of title, genre & logline suggest a family movie. Change either the title or the genre slightly, and even with the same logline we'd have a different movie.

I'd love some help as well. Would you be willing to take a look at mine?

Sure.

Hi Scott, If one of your story concepts is based or inspired by true events, should that be incorporated into the logline?

I don't know if this will help anyone, but it helps me. Think of your logline as a piece of flash fiction, a short story in one or two sentences. One of the more famous is Frederic Browns 'Knock' from 1948: "The last man on Earth sat in a room. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door."

I never heard that one. It's freaking impressive how those two sentences affected me when I read them. Just wow. Thanks for posting this gem.

Sarah, if there are potential legal concerns / rights issues, yes, that is important. If the story you've come up with is really far different than what inspired you, not so big of a deal.

Will all loglines submitted be kept private? What happens if you choose someone and don't like the choices they are making for their story? Thanks.

All loglines will be kept private including those of selected participants so they can develop and write those scripts without jeopardy of someone else jumping on their idea. Re your second point: That's a good question, and I hope it doesn't come to that. Having mentored hundreds of writers through script projects, I think I'm pretty good at this, respecting the writer's creative sensibilities, yet always presenting them with what I think are other options. We discuss each choice, weighing upsides and downsides. In this situation, I will lean a bit more heavily on the writer if I feel a choice I am suggesting is better than the one they are considering, as I am involving more of my producing sensibilities in the process. But even there I have to be judicious because if a writer can see a choice, then chances are they're not going to write it well. I must say I rarely have problems with this because the focus is on the story, not the writer's or my ego. And when we approach the story as an equivalent partner in the process, invariably the story shows the way. So the long answer to your question: We will engage in a very active back and forth dialogue about story choices, and always look to the story itself for the way through. But if I feel strongly about something from a producing and writing standpoint, I will certainly press that point. No matter the outcome, it will prove to be an educational experience for the writer because if they want to work in Hollywood, they have to be able to handle story notes. Lots and lots of story notes.

Hi Scott, You're always preaching "similar but different". How do you feel about the "it's like movie X meets movie Y" way of pitching? Is this something we could incorporate into our loglines? Thanks for the great initiative, by the way.

Is there a limit to the number of loglines / submissions from each applicant?

Scott's answer for a similar question > http://bit.ly/JIt2PV

If it helps get across your idea, I don't have a problem with it. However "Bambi" meets "Halloween" does not constitute a logline. So be sure to read my post re loglines to write a good one, then if you wish to 'tag' the submission with "It's 'The King's Speech' meets 'Kill Bill'", that's okay by me. [My examples above were meant to be silly, just in case anyone thought I was being serious].

Here are two great resources to help out people who are working on loglines (and which I don't think I've seen on the site before): Logline examples - good and bad I WROTE A 120 PAGE SCRIPT BUT CAN?T WRITE A LOGLINE: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LOGLINE by Christopher Lockhart Good luck to everyone--and thank you for this opportunity, Scott.

Scott, The deadline is June 8th & the course starts July 2 but when can you expect to be notified if accepted as 1 of the 4? Thanks Robert Dufault

Robert, I am targeting June 22 and will try really hard to hit that date because I know that's a tight window for potential participants. However if the current rate continues, I will receiver over 1,000 submissions from individuals and over 1,200 loglines. As I am committed to reviewing every single logline personally, I am already scrambling. If I have to push the start date back to July 9 in order to make sure I have enough time to vet everyone properly [those that make the first cut], I will do that. But I just don't know anything with any certainty because this is all new and the response has been - frankly - stunning. I would say this: Assuming a writer is serious about this, then they should be mentally prepared to go July 2, even if I can only give them a week's notice that they've been selected.

I already sent you a logline for my story but after reading how to present a logline I was wondering if I could send you a second attempt at it or if that would just piss you off? Thanks Quasixx

Won't piss me off, especially if it's a GREAT story idea.

Yeah but what bugs me about a logline is that even though Forrest Gump was a great idea & a fantastic movie, reading the logline I would have passed it up. The story I’m working on is similar in as much as I take historical facts & fill in the blanks where there is no history. Like the movie Forrest Gump there is action, drama, comedy & a slight chance at romance. But like the Forrest’s logline, when I read my logline or even my second logline I’m working on for my movie I feel I would still pass it up. Tell me the truth, in reading the Gump logline would you give it a second look? I mean, what in that logline would make you even think it’s interesting? I would really like to know what you have to say about it.

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