Writing A Screenplay Logline

You will need a great screenplay logline to sell your script.  The logline will be a one or two sentence pitch of your film.  You will use it in your query letter to agents and producers and you will use it to pitch your script idea to anyone who asks about it.  You should practice it a bit out loud so that you can easily recite it.  If you live in L.A. being able to recite your logline can be very important as you never know who you might run into.

I often see screenwriting books and websites define the logline as the “short blurb in the T.V. Guide” that describes a film in a sentence or two. I think this is a horrible definition of what you want your logline to be.  Just open up any T.V. guide and you’ll see that they’re often written by hacks and usually do very little to sell the film.  Your logline must be compelling and make people want to read the entire script or at the very least make them want to read your synopsis.

I point this out mainly so you don’t open up the T.V. guide for assistance in writing your logline.  Keep in mind the reason for your logline: it’s to get someone to read your script, practically at all costs.  The T.V. guide blurb is there to give the viewer a truthful, straightforward summation of the story so they can decide if they want to watch the movie or not.  There’s a big different.

Let’s look at a few examples.

Here’s the one sentence logline I found for Die Hard on IMDB:

New York cop John McClane gives terrorists a dose of their own medicine as they hold hostages in an LA office building.

I think this logline sums up the story pretty well.  After all, Die Hard was about McClane whooping terrorists’ asses in an LA office building.  One thing that I hate about this logline, and it’s something you see a lot, is that it uses a clichéd figure of speech (dose of their own medicine).  I think they’re used often mainly because they can convey a lot of meaning in a relatively short space.  Personally I hate them and I think you should avoid them.  To me it is a lazy way to describe your script and it makes it seem clichéd and unoriginal – how many movies could you describe as the hero gives the bad guys a “dose of their own medicine”?  If you find a more original way to describe your script it will sound more original.

Here’s how I might have written a logline if I had written the script for Die Hard:

When NYC cop John McClane gets trapped in an LA office building taken over by terrorists, he kicks the shit out of them one terrorist at a time.

Obviously you can’t use the word “shit” in a T.V. guide blurb but that’s the great thing about what you’re writing – it’s not a T.V. guide blurb – it’s a one sentence pitch of the movie and you can use whatever language you need to sell your script.  I think saying “he kicks the shit out of them one terrorist at a time” really sums up the “R” rated violent humor this action flick and would do a lot more to sell this script then the IMDB logline.

Here’s the logline I found on IMDB for Easy Rider:

Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in search of America.

Are you kidding me?  I love this movie but would this pitch really get me to read the script?  Only if I knew that Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper and Jack Nicholson were in the film!  So if you don’t have that level of actor attached to your project you’re going to need a better logline.

Here’s my re-written logline for Easy Rider:

Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans in a cocaine funded, LSD fueled road “trip” encountering dirty hippies, a convict lawyer, and murdering bigots.

The story for my screenplay Dish Dogs was actually similar to Easy Rider.  Here’s the logline I wrote for it:

Dish Dogs is the story of two college graduates, fed up with society and eager to gain some measure of free will; so they drive around the country in a 1958 Ford pick-up truck washing dishes.

Your logline should include the main character(s), the antagonist(s), the central conflict of the script, and give solid clues about the genre and tone of the script.  This sounds like a lot but that’s what you need to do.

In Die Hard John McClane is the hero which is in the logline I wrote.  The terrorists are the antagonist and they supply the conflict, which is also in the logline I wrote.  It’s a tongue-and-cheek action movie (tone and genre) which I think “he kicks the shit out of them one terrorist at a time” makes clear.

In Easy Rider Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda are the “Two counterculture bikers” that the story revolves around.  “Murdering bigots” are the antagonists and supply some of the conflict – although the hippies and convict lawyer do also.  The genre is pretty clear, too, it’s a road buddy movie (Two counterculture bikers travel from Los Angeles to New Orleans).  The tone is summed up by the entire sentence (I hope).  Easy Rider isn’t a comedy and there’s nothing funny about the logline.  It’s a gritty look at the counterculture movement and America at the time the movie was made.  I hope that’s what is conveyed by the entire sentence but especially the last part: “cocaine funded, LSD fueled road “trip” encountering dirty hippies, a convict lawyer, and murdering bigots.”

For my script Dish Dogs the two main characters are the “two college graduates.”  The antagonist and conflict comes from society – they’re “fed up” and are eager to push back against it (conflict).  The genre, like Easy Rider, is a road buddy movie but much more lighthearted.  The main characters are somewhat sophomoric and using grandiose themes like “free will” against the backdrop of washing dishes and driving around in a 1958 Ford pick-up truck hopefully shows this lighthearted comedic tone.

One other thing that you might want to think about is using other well known films to draw comparisons to your own film.  For instance I put this sentence at the end of my Dish Dogs synopsis:

Dish Dogs is Easy Rider meets The Graduate for a new generation.

This is not a replacement for your real logline but can act as a quick way to sum up your script, especially in a verbal pitch where you tell someone your logline and then follow it up with “it’s like Easy Rider meets The Graduate for a new generation.”  If you can come up with a really creative marriage of two well known films to describe your script you might include both sentences in your query letter and they might both act as the logline.

If you would like me (and other readers) to comment on your logline just post it in as a comment below and I’ll try and comment on it.  Feel free to comment on other people’s loglines as well.

Or take a stab at the examples I gave and see if you can come up with better loglines than I did.

Tagged as: screenplay loglines

If you found this post useful and want to learn more about how to sell your screenplay please check out my book Selling Your Screenplay.