Your script is ready and you’re in a hurry to get the word out, so you hastily piece together a vague logline. Without realizing it, your poorly written logline could stop your screenplay screenwriting project dead in its tracks. Why all the fuss about having a good logline? Well, following a good logline example should be very important to you because it’s your way describing to people the essence of your movie. A good logline can mean the difference between a film executive deciding to buy your script and you facing another dead end. Practically speaking, the logline description will tell producers whether or not your movie is worth buying.
Developing a captivating logline is an integral part of the screenwriting business. As an aspiring screenwriter, turing your art form into a viable living is dependent on developing the skill of selling your script. Honing your business skill is critical in gaining traction that will cause your business to move forward. Before we look at a perfect logline example, you should understand what ingredients go into making it compelling enough to grab the attention of your audience.
In order to increase your chance for success, there are key points of emphasis that will help you effectively describe the central theme of your script to producers. First, make sure that you have a strong title that helps identify the genre of your script. After you have established the title and genre, your lead character must be made known, you must define exactly what they want or what their goal to achieve is, and you must know what obstacles they will have to overcome on the way to accomplishing their goal. Let’s look at a perfect logline example:
Title-”Meet the Parents”
Genre-Adult Comedy
Neurotic male nurse Greg Focker must meet his girlfriend’s parents before proposing to her, but a disastrous, ill-fated weekend visit to her parents’ house reveals that her intimidating, ex-CIA father is the kind of dad that every guy fears.
In this logline example for the movie, “Meet the Parents,” you can see the important elements that we mentioned earlier. The lead character is Greg Focker. The goal that he wants to accomplish is to propose to his longtime girlfriend, while the main obstacles he must overcome are the numerous, unlucky mishaps he finds himself involved with and her intimidating, suspicious father.
As you develop your own unique logline, keep in mind that, although writing a screenplay is a form of art, your business success depends on your ability to sell your work to producers and film executives. Your logline is an opportunity to provide a descriptive summary of your script. Make every effort to concisely capture the central theme of your script in one or two sentences, including identifying your lead character, the goal of your lead character, and the opposition they must overcome along the way to reaching their goal. Including these points in your logline will make it stronger and will make producers take notice of it.