Part VI: How to Write an Effective Logline in 10 Easy Steps

I developed a fool-proof logline formula (okay, nothing’s fool-proof. I know so many fools…) that will ensure AT LEAST the identification of the proper elements that should always be included in your effective logline. You’ve seen the list before, I’m sure. Some of the smart ones probably cut and pasted it into a word document, and printed it out on colored stock, frame it and placed it in a conspicuous spot near your writer’s station. Why? Because you’re anal, but besides that, it’s because you keep forgetting what these elements are, so you do a Google search for “logline” and are now inundated with 10,000 pages of logline references on how to construct a logline, logline consultants, etc. Pretty soon, you’re distracted by that ad for “instant, guaranteed weight loss in three days or less”, and you forget what you were searching for to begin with and give up altogether.

Okay…maybe that’s just me.

However, now you don’t need to subject yourself to a memory test each and every time you have a new, exciting concept and want to document that idea by writing a logline for it for your notes.

Just remember “logline”: L-O-G-L-I-N-E.

These are the elements that are going to be needed for any logline to be effective.

L – Lead: “Lead character”. This is your protagonist. You do NOT provide the character name in the logline, unless, of course, the story is biographical about a famous person. If you’re writing a screenplay on Albert Einstein, you may say “When genius physicist Albert Einstein discovered the zombie virus…” If your character is “Secret Agent Bob”, or “Joe the Plumber”, you do not use their names and take up valuable logline real estate.

O – Obstacle: The obstacle is what your character MUST overcome in order to achieve their goal and complete their character arc. Your character must overcome his fear of heights in order to catch the killer and win the girl. Your character must overcome poverty in order to win the Heisman trophy, etc. The obstacle may be a person, place or thing, conceptual or real (bullying is conceptual; a bully is real, and please, no drawn-out discussions on how “real” bullying is; we’re arguing semantics).

G – Goal: The goal is the one thing your character hopes to win or achieve: to win the heart of a girl, to ascend to the throne, to fly, etc.

L – Lose; as in “what they stand to lose”. This is also known as “stakes” or “risks”. Your hero has to stand to lose something or else there is no threat in trying to get to the goal. Your hero wants the girl, but the girl has a boyfriend, who just happens to be the toughest kid in school. What does your hero stand to lose? How about his face – figuratively and literally?

I – Irony/ Inciting Incident. This gets a little tricky now. I believe the better the irony, the more effective the concept, the story and the logline. What element single-handedly ratchets up the conflict of Sheriff Brody fighting a man-eating shark in “Jaws”? How about the fact that he is deathly afraid of the water! What about a mob boss so riddled with guilt that he sees a psychiatrist? A king who needs to make one of the most important speeches in his country’s history, but is so overcome with his debilitating speech impediment (stuttering), that he nearly gives up his crown?

Sometimes, though, no matter how much you search for it, you might not find any irony (sorry for you). In those cases, I would include a reference to the inciting incident.

N – New; as in “What’s new in this story that we haven’t seen a hundred times before?” This is better known as your “hook”. The hook is, in my opinion, THE most important element, not only of your logline, but of your entire story. It is also the most misunderstood element of the screenplay. It is not easily defined or described, but, much like “porn”, I know it when I see it. The hook is the element (s) of a story that is unique to your story and, hopefully, had not been done before. Recently, my multi- award-winning screenplay, “Banking on Betty”, had received so much recognition, not only for the screenplay, but also for the unique “hook” that it served up. The premise was a simple buddy-buddy story that takes place cross-country; a federal witness being pursued by gangsters and corrupt cops. Hook number one was that the witness was an 80-yr.old woman, with a mouth like a sailor, and hook #2 was that she was testifying against the mob, for which she was the primary financial accountant, and has a photographic memory. The twist (also hook #3) was that as a witness, she would be testifying against the Godfather himself- her own son, who wants her dead. The fact that none of these hooks had previously been seen before, you can understand why it received the attention.

E – Enemy; your antagonist. This MUST BE a specific person or thing. Entities like “law enforcement” or “the government” cannot be antagonists. They must be represented by an individual character.

Now, I realize that “haters gonna hate”, and claim this to be some hokey made-up formula that doesn’t solve the issue at hand.

Hater. I know who you are…and your logline sucks, btw.

The fact is many writers have difficulty in even STARTING the logline, and getting the flow going, so just think of Barbra Walters; the Gilda Radner version:

“BAWA”

(NOTE: I realize it was “Baba Wawa”, but this is a good way to remember these four starter words)

You should always consider using when starting your logline: “Because”; As”; “When” and “After”. These are excellent starting words for a logline because they “ask” a question and FORCE you to answer that question in the logline.

“BECAUSE/AS/WHEN/AFTER this happened, my IRONICALLY FLAWED LEAD had to overcome these OBSTACLES in order to achieve this GOAL, and to prevent this LOSS, he had to fight this ENEMY and this story is NEW because of this hook.”

(Lead, Obstacle, Goal, Loss, Irony, New, Enemy)

When you use these four words, you are forced to explain what happened and why- which is essentially the point of the logline.

Next Week- The FINAL Word on LOGLINES!

WRITER'S BIO: Mr. Scala spent 22-plus years in the Hollywood community, and was the Executive Director for the 72nd Annual Academy Awards, as well as The Soul Train Awards, The Grammys, The Blockbuster Video Awards Show and The Saturn Award Show. His company is currently working on their thirty-ninth (39) novel-to-screenplay adaptation for clients, and he counts many celebrities and household names among his vast clientele. His TV project, "Bad Priest", is in development with a cable network, where one executive said the following: "This pilot is compelling and clear and offers just enough to tease us with where these stories and characters might go. It begs for a full season..."

Today, he and his writing team are actively working on several ghostwriting projects for his celebrity clientele as well, including the adapting the novel "Making Broken Beautiful" by Pamela Millican-Hartnoll; a tragic story of excessive abuse and redemptive success; and biopics of early rock pioneer Jimmie F. Rodgers and iconic folk star Harry Chapin- all while continuing to mentor new writers and self-published authors.

He has ghostwritten two screenplays that have since been produced into feature films; "Assassin 33 A.D." and "The Tombs", both are currently available on Amazon Prime.