When his liquor licence is stripped due to unpaid bills, a neurotic publican must win the local fishing competition’s cash prize, but when he realises he is competing against his abusive father, he must control his manic behaviour to out-fish him and save the pub he calls home.

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4 reviews

Strengths Well-defined POV Clear, difficult goal Active protagonist Filmable incident Specificity Action, not decision No hedging

Needs work Stakes and urgency Causality and coherence Concision

The logline depicts a small English town vibe dotted with eccentric characters, the likes of which one would expect in The Full Monty. So, it's definitely achieving its objective on the tone front. On the plot side, the logline describes a main story to save the pub and a subplot about a father/son reconciliation. Either could be interesting, but a logline works best when describing one plot/subplot, preferably the more compelling one. Beyond that, the cause and effect connecting the events isn't clear. Losing a liquor licence doesn't directly connect with having to win a fishing competition. Sure, he needs money, but there are many other ways, likely easier ones, to get money, and it doesn't solve his long-term income problem, making this a financial band-aid at best IF he wins. And, competing against his abusive father doesn't immediately necessitate him having to control his behaviour to fish better. It seems as though these are story elements in the current draft of the narrative that are being forced to work together as opposed to being natural products of the dramatic premise. So either the story needs a fundamental overhaul or the logline needs more clarity to help us see the natural cause-and-effect relationship connecting all its components.

Not sure what a "publican" is and likely too obscure a term for a logline. A fishing contest always seemed absurd to me, but I have concerns (knowing how dull fishing is) about what we would be watching. But I like these types of comedies and would watch. Condense it a bit more. Very close.

The logline has cohesiveness .You should outline it.

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