Taking on warring Texas drug cartels, a female Iraq war vet of color, a teenage hunk from the feed store, and a cattle dog, come to the aid of a neighbor who’s son has been kidnapped.

Lol

Yeah good luck with that!

Some posters here have been applauding intriguing, but totally mysterious loglines, so Ieft. Now that people have come to their senses, I'm back.

I've been getting synopsis reads with: "Taking on warring Texas drug cartels, two rancher women (an Iraq war vet and an ex-NYC fashion model), have 72 hours to save a son from kidnappers."

My famous music producer friend in NYC, who has all the music connections, won't let me let it stay in the drawer because he thinks it's a winner, so he has me converting it to a Kindle book. H'Wood seems to prefer popular books over spec scripts these days. I also think I can be making some money on Amazon with it, while I find a producer.

Mac- "Does anyone have any theories why there is such a glut of bizarre advice?"

I don't think that POV is qualified as "advice" (I certainly don't think so) and I have no idea who actually said it, but it seems to be more one person's skewed viewpoint on a subject they evidentally know very little about.

Yet, unfortunately, this thought process is pretty common among newer screenwriters, as it is promulgated through repetition until believed to be true; thus, following the old adage "The blind leading the blind". I am preparing an article this week in my continued series of "Debunking Screenwriting Myths" and I list a number of such misleading or oft-repeated distortions.

It kind of reminds me of the now-famous utterance "We need to pass it to know what's in it."

Mac, you are right (as usually).

"Hollywood" has no time to read your script. That's why you are a winner if you manage to convince in 25 words (or thereabouts) that there is a COMPLETE story with a clear character and a sound structure.

"DO NOT let on what your story is about in the loglne. H?wood only asks to read a script if they are curious as to what it is about because the logline makes it a total mystery. " What the heck !?

That runs counter to the advice given by people who sell spec scripts and the advice given by those who buy spec scripts. And, on the face of it, the advice is simply bizarre. To quote someone who sells spec screenplays regularly "I think people screw themselves by being so secretive - you want to excite as many people as possible about your script"

Does anyone have any theories why there is such a glut of bizarre advice?

Thanks. My point is, if the plot is not something someone is interested in, it's good to know up front so making the logline as intriguing but mysterious as possible is not a good way to go in my opinion. They either want a contemporary Western with 2 female mirror/mentor protagonists or they do not. So to try to hide that fact to get them to start reading the script is counterproductive in my opinion. Winning against all odds is the key, and The Blindside had that in spades in my opinion. The only thing was the young man was already really good at football but the film made it seem like he had to learn to play, so the arc was a lot steeper.

GXavier- I searched for that logline, and couldn't find it anywhere. The one I wrote was actually taken from IMdb. Whether or not it is the original or official logline, I cannot say, but whatever it was, it managed to get the film read and made. It may have also been adapted from a book; I don't know. I'm confused about the "she fought the town and she won" line, because that was not in the movie I saw.

I not going to try and convince someone the importance of a logline- it is a fact of the business, and if one chooses to ignore it, then it's up to them. I feel I have a solid understanding of the importance of them, and how to right a good one, and this took trial and error over time. I offer logline assistance, and am proud to say that three clients of mine recently won a logline contest, largely based on that assistance.

If your original logline, or any variation, gets your script read, sold/optioned and produced, it is a great logline no matter what anybody says.

Okay, thanks, SharkEatingMan. Actually the logline I posted was from IMDB. The one you offered here tells the story well, but would it get the script read? Only if a producer were interested in a football movie which it was. I still think the fact that she is a well-to-do white lady in the South and he's huge and black and poor is integral to the GREAT STORY. She fought the town and she won. Then a Christian marketing group picked it up and marketed it from the pulpits across the country (this fact is from a panel at last year's Inktip Pitchfest).

So which one would get the most reads, the IMDB version or this one you put forth about football? Maybe we need different loglines to send out to different people. Or maybe even more mysterious? Not in my opinion. No one likes to be tricked and no one wants their time wasted.

So I'm of the opinion that to write an obsfucated logline just to get someone to read a script with a plot that is of no interest to them, makes no logical sense to me. Why waste people's time? It's like me -- soon as I see werewolf, zombie or vampire, I'm "Next!"

I have to assume that the logline should match the story to prevent people from tossing the script across the room on page twenty when they realize what it's REALLY about, and they've wasted time they could have been reading a script closer to a story subject they're looking for.

I don't believe that's the actual logline for "The Blind Side". That is the TV GUIDE's one-liner.

"The story of a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family."

The Blindside: A homeless, oversized and under-educated African-American teenager is taken in by a well-to-do white family.?

Notice how absolutely nothing about 'football' (a huge draw for that film) is mentioned. I recently read a script consultant's web site that said whatever you do, DO NOT let on what your story is about in the loglne. H'wood only asks to read a script if they are curious as to what it is about because the logline makes it a total mystery. Then read the next script consultant's web page and he/she says be sure to include the crux of the story and/or at least the hook and protagonist's quest.

I know one thing. If you pick one of the choices above, someone will come along and tell you to rewrite it to the other way. Yup, that's H'wood.

According to "The Chicago Manual of Style", this is the proper sentence:

"Taking on warring Texas drug cartels, two cowgirls (an African-American Iraq war vet and an ex-NYC fashion model) have 72 hours to save a son from kidnappers."

There is no full stop (a period) without a verb, "Taking on warring drug cartels" is not a sentence, it is an introductory participial phrase. This is very common, proper English grammar. Color is correctly spelled, not 'colour'. I originally wrote 'African-American', but my script consultant suggested "of color" was better. So everybody's an expert...

The Blindside: "A homeless, oversized and under-educated African-American teenager is taken in by a well-to-do white family."