Los Angeles, 1956. An ambitious prosecutor wants to know why the police were so eager to close the file on the suspicious death of a wealthy businessman. When his off the books investigation uncovers a link between that case and the murder of a young prostitute twenty years earlier, both his career and his life are endangered.

Post WW2, late 40's, would work better. Pre-Parker and the department reeked with corruption.

And that could be a story pay off: the scandal not only topples the bad cop, it triggers the appointment of a good cop like Parker to clean house.

Post WW2, late 40's, would work better. Pre-Parker and the department reeked with corruption.

And that could be a story pay off: the scandal not only topples the bad cop, it triggers the appointment of a good cop like Parker to clean house.

I might be able to move it back to the late 1940's. I think I'd lose the flavor of what I want in the story if I went backward or forward too much. Thanks for the info about the LAPD.

>>>the detectives were referred to either as officer? or by their rank. Is that accurate or were they addressed as detective?

Either is accurate depending: civilians may call cops "officers". Within the department, as in the military, cops address other cops by the title of their rank as matter of hierarchy, chain of command, respect for authority; after all, law enforcement agencies are quasi-military organizations.

Thanks for the clarification. The set up for the plot -- let alone the plot itself -- seems quite convoluted. Certainly quite a challenge to boil down to 30 words. Or even 40.

BTW: given that your story is about the LAPD in the same time period as "L.A. Confidential", script readers, directors and producers are inevitably going to compare it with that movie. The question your story will be interrogated with is: what makes this different from, as good as -- better -- than "L.A. Confidential"?

Ain't fair -- but that's show business. (Can you select another time period? What's so special about your version of the mid-50's that sets it apart from the 50's of "L.A. Confidential"?)

>>>the detectives were referred to either as officer? or by their rank. Is that accurate or were they addressed as detective?

Either is accurate depending: civilians may call cops "officers". Within the department, as in the military, cops address other cops by the title of their rank as matter of hierarchy, chain of command, respect for authority; after all, law enforcement agencies are quasi-military organizations.

Thanks for the clarification. The set up for the plot -- let alone the plot itself -- seems quite convoluted. Certainly quite a challenge to boil down to 30 words. Or even 40.

BTW: given that your story is about the LAPD in the same time period as "L.A. Confidential", script readers, directors and producers are inevitably going to compare it with that movie. The question your story will be interrogated with is: what makes this different from, as good as -- better -- than "L.A. Confidential"?

Ain't fair -- but that's show business. (Can you select another time period? What's so special about your version of the mid-50's that sets it apart from the 50's of "L.A. Confidential"?)

Thanks for taking the time to crit my logline.

All of the issues you mention are addressed in the script, but, unfortunately, I didn't have room to include them in my logline.

The prosecutor, Dev Stone, is about to try the businessman for bribing public officials when the guy turns up dead, an apparent suicide. The thing is, the businessman had called Dev a few hours before his death to offer information on a twenty year old murder in exchange for leniency at sentencing. He doesn't give any details about the murder at that point, but he does imply that Dev's father, the Chief of the LAPD, is involved (turns out, the Chief killed a teenage prostitute back in the day when he was a detective).

The cops close the case quickly; Dev thinks too quickly. Dev smells a rat because the businessman sounded like he had a get out of jail card, so why would he off himself? He also senses an opportunity for a case even bigger than the first one. He begins his own, unsanctioned investigation, getting resistance from the cops, including his father, all the way.

Given your expertise with the LAPD, may I impose and ask you a question? I noticed in "LA Confidential" that the detectives were referred to either as "officer" or by their rank. Is that accurate or should they be addressed as "detective"? Thanks.