Back under construction again.

There may be a compelling human story embedded in this logline, but alas it is well hidden. ?This logline plays its cards too close to its chest to give a producer or director a clear idea what the plot is.

“Confront the ghosts of her past” is an much overused trope that could refer to, well, anything. ?Sexual molestation, drug abuse, a death of a loved one, a kidnapping, a tragic accident, a fatal disease. ?When a ?term or phrase can mean anything, it means nothing for the purpose of a logline. To reiterate, the purpose of a logline is to disclose — not conceal — what the primary conflict and dramatic action of the plot.

Also “ghost of the past” has the logline looking backward in time. ?But loglines are about what the protagonist must do living forward in time.

So what becomes the objective goal of the protagonist moving forward in time when her father shows up again in her life?

And about IMDB. ?I think it?s a valuable resource but, imho, the story summaries are not necessarily good examples of how to write a logline.

The summaries of stories at IMDB are blurbs. Blurbs are designed to inform and sell the finished film to movie viewers. ?Loglines are designed to inform and sell spec scripts to movie makers. ?Those are 2 different products targeting 2 different markets with 2 different sets of requirements.

In order to build up my own understanding and skill at composing loglines, I have built up a database of nearly 750 loglines for movies ? not scripts, but for movies that actually got made. ?And I have found IMDB to be a valuable resource for the raw material of writing a logline ? but rarely ?a polished product good enough to copy-paste into the database as a logline.

Also, in the instance of ?Eat, Pray, Love? the movie is an adaptation from a best-selling book. ?IOW: the concept, the storyline was pre-sold as a book; it?s commercial success was the hook for making the movie. ?A logline was extraneous.
fwiw

Is the ghost lover literal (as he’s a real ghost; there’s a supernatural element to the story) or is he figurative?

And I frankly don’t see how “reconstructing the house” will restore the careful balance? ?And what’s the visual look like for “careful balance”. ?As film is a visual medium there needs to be a visual moment that signals to the audience that the protagonist has achieved her objective goal. ?For example, if a female runner’s objective goal is to win Olympic gold, then the obvious visual moment that signals success is when she breaks the tape at the Olympic games.

Finally, how does her being a historical researcher directly figure into her objective goal as either an asset or a liability (aka: character flaw). ?That she is an historical researcher may flesh out her character in the script, but for the purpose of this logline it seems, well, irrelevant.

In a logline, where every word must count, any description of the character should relate directly to the objective goal and the central conflict entailed in struggling for that goal. ?Directly either in the sense that the description is about a trait that threatens to defeat the character in her struggle ?(the more common use) or is necessary for the character to reach her goal (less common).

Examples: ? “The King’s Speech” is about a “stuttering prince”; his stuttering is a liability that threatens to doom him to ?fail to fulfill his objective goal, playing out his role as an English monarch. ?Whereas “Almost Famous” is about a precocious 15-year old boy who gets a writing assignment from the magazine “Rolling Stone”; his precocity is an asset he needs to achieve his objective goal of filing his assignment on deadline.