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When Mike Hunt, a troubled, hard-boiled investigative journalist, is approached by the daughter of Australia?s richest mining magnate to investigate the mysterious death of her husband, he is catapulted into the Australian outback where he must overcome his own demons and unravel a string of greed, corruption and betrayal in order to stop a genetically modified biological weapon that threatens the lives of millions of innocent people.
What is the hook?? What is the feature that?distinguishes this story, grabs attention? That it's about a hard-boiled journalist?? Who?is?fighting [unspecified} demons?? And a?conspiracy of greed, corruption, and betrayal? Well, for me the hook is "genetically modified biological weapon".?? That seemRead more
What is the hook?? What is the feature that?distinguishes this story, grabs attention?
That it’s about a hard-boiled journalist?? Who?is?fighting [unspecified} demons?? And a?conspiracy of greed, corruption, and betrayal?
Well, for me the hook is “genetically modified biological weapon”.?? That seems to be ?the?dramatic problem that drives the plot.??Alas, I have to slog through 54 words before finding it.
If I am correct in assuming that “genetically modified biological weapon” is the hook, is the dramatic problem driving the plot, then?central dramatic problem needs to be established asap — in far, far fewer than 54 words, ideally within 25 words.
Certain word baggage can be excised?summarily — there’s no need for it in a logline.? Like the name of the main character.? And “approached?by the daughter of Australia?s richest mining magnate to investigate the mysterious death of her husband” can be (greatly) boiled down, if not eliminated.? For the purposes of a logline, where less is more, all a reader needs to know is that “while investigating a mysterious murder, an investigative journalist discovers…”
And the main character’s “personal demons” (aka: character flaw) is too vague.? What is the exact nature of the “demons”.? Is he an alcoholic?? Bi-polar?? Suicidal? Be specific.? Whatever it is, ideally the character flaw should directly relate to the dramatic problem because that’s the function of the dramatic problem, to attack the main character at his weakest point, force him to confront and overcome it if he’s going to prevail.
See lessA young couple become intruders in their own home after they discover it’s being shared by a couple who look exactly like them.
Oh, it's a short. Taking?the logline at face value, I conclude that the?dramatic question the rest of story will eventually answer is:??"Will the young couple lose their minds?"? Is that the?dramatic question you intend to explore in this short?? Or is the dramatic question to be explored?somethingRead more
Oh, it’s a short.
Taking?the logline at face value, I conclude that the?dramatic question the rest of story will eventually answer is:??”Will the young couple lose their minds?”? Is that the?dramatic question you intend to explore in this short?? Or is the dramatic question to be explored?something else?
See lessWhen a world famous actor moves in next door, a small town girl tries to teach him how to have a normal life
So who is the protagonist, the actor or the girl?? Either way, just the fact that the actor moves in next door is a weak inciting incident for what follows. If the girl is the protagonist, WHY does she think she must take it upon herself to show the actor how to live a 'normal life'? And if the actoRead more
So who is the protagonist, the actor or the girl?? Either way, just the fact that the actor moves in next door is a weak inciting incident for what follows.
If the girl is the protagonist, WHY does she think she must take it upon herself to show the actor how to live a ‘normal life’?
And if the actor is the protagonist, WHY does he think he needs to let the girl show him how to live a normal life?? Why would he want to live a ‘normal life’?? (And why would people want to go to a movie about living ?a normal life?? Don’t we go to movies to watch people learning how to live non-normal, extraordinary lives?)
Finally, a?logline should identify a specific?objective goal.?Unfortunately, ?’living a normal life’ is vague, non-specific, a weak candidate for an objective goal.
By objective goal,? I mean one with?that??establishes a?visual criterion for?the audience to know ?when? the character has achieved that goal. ?For example, if the story is about a runner with an?objective goal to win the marathon at the Olympics, it establishes an unambiguous, visual?criterion for the audience to know whether he succeeds?:? he crosses the finish line first, breaks the tape.? And in addition there is also the visual of the?runner?getting? the gold medal hung around his neck.
What’s the visual look like?for a ‘normal life’?
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