by Michael Oliver · Logliner · 120 pts
2,865 views
Already a member?
Great article, Tor -- Haven't laughed that much at post in a very long time... ..."I did more rewrites on that f*#$ing e-mail than I did on my last three studio projects...." -- simply awesome. All good truths.
BTW: I make an extra effort to find long loglines, lest my own preference for short loglines skews the data. So I think my sample is representative.
BTW: I make an extra effort to find long loglines, lest my own preference for short loglines skews the data. So I think my sample is representative.
Nice Data wonking dpg!
The hyperlink Tor Dollhouse posted to the Village Voice article is the god's-honest-bitter truth about the biz.
>> but putting it into rigid rules, especially something only a few lines long is kind of weird.
I'm not a slave to the one sentence rule as inviolable as long as the sentences are logically/dramatically linked. Nor a believer that there is one standard formulation for a logline )"When W happens, Y must X [before or else] Z").
But a 51 word logline for "Temporal Insanity" is the kiss of death in terms of getting Hollyweird suits to read the logline, let alone the script. Being a data wonk, I have been compiling and studying a list of loglines for movies that actually got produced. Of the 412 loglines collected so far, the average word length is 23 words. 67.1% of the 412 loglines are 25 words or less. The longest logline is 39 words.
The hyperlink Tor Dollhouse posted to the Village Voice article is the god's-honest-bitter truth about the biz.
>> but putting it into rigid rules, especially something only a few lines long is kind of weird.
I'm not a slave to the one sentence rule as inviolable as long as the sentences are logically/dramatically linked. Nor a believer that there is one standard formulation for a logline )"When W happens, Y must X [before or else] Z").
But a 51 word logline for "Temporal Insanity" is the kiss of death in terms of getting Hollyweird suits to read the logline, let alone the script. Being a data wonk, I have been compiling and studying a list of loglines for movies that actually got produced. Of the 412 loglines collected so far, the average word length is 23 words. 67.1% of the 412 loglines are 25 words or less. The longest logline is 39 words.
Not quite what is actually happening, but I like it.
Firstly, I didn't say they were the protagonist, their actions make your protagonist act passively. Secondly, You may think it clever but your questions are irrelevant, both at the start and end.
Thirdly, what else would we be assuming? It's a story!
You claim to have done your job with "wondering about it" but the truth is personally I could care less. I highly recommend you read this http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2009/09/i_will_not_read.php
Head over to the "How to" section: https://loglines.org/howto/
It will answer your questions about what is a logline.
"... pitch an idea to someone interested..." YOU ANSWER YOUR OWN QUESTION "... interest me to know more..."
Firstly, I didn't say they were the protagonist, their actions make your protagonist act passively. Secondly, You may think it clever but your questions are irrelevant, both at the start and end.
Thirdly, what else would we be assuming? It's a story!
You claim to have done your job with "wondering about it" but the truth is personally I could care less. I highly recommend you read this http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2009/09/i_will_not_read.php
Head over to the "How to" section: https://loglineit.com/howto/
It will answer your questions about what is a logline.
"... pitch an idea to someone interested..." YOU ANSWER YOUR OWN QUESTION "... interest me to know more..."
