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After his father gives him a job at their small-town newspaper, a conceited journalist buried in debt investigates a sports drug scandal that implicates his athlete brother.
Clarification: Conceit is a good enough to kick start the story. But... Will the audience be satisfied with mere conceit as the reason he doggedly pursues the story? What happens to his conceit after he finds out his brother is implicated?
Clarification:
Conceit is a good enough to kick start the story. But…
Will the audience be satisfied with mere conceit as the reason he doggedly pursues the story?
What happens to his conceit after he finds out his brother is implicated?
See lessAfter his father gives him a job at their small-town newspaper, a conceited journalist buried in debt investigates a sports drug scandal that implicates his athlete brother.
>>That?s enough as motivation for me. But is it enough for the audience?
>>That?s enough as motivation for me.
But is it enough for the audience?
See lessA dynamic young woman (witness and rescuer) and a reporter of the National Geographic (safe passenger) meet on the scene of a train crash. Over the course of seven days, while the disaster consequences fade and despite the increasing hostility of her father, they grow closer up to a bond; then a lasting union while her father will be won over under pressure from her maid and confidante.
Jean-Marie, I appreciate your struggle as I am also wrestling to compose pithy loglines for 2 scripts under construction. What follows may only confuse matters. Anyway, here is my take: A logline is supposed to answer 4 questions: 1] Who is the main character? (The Protagonist) 2] What does she wantRead more
Jean-Marie,
I appreciate your struggle as I am also wrestling to compose pithy loglines for 2 scripts under construction.
What follows may only confuse matters. Anyway, here is my take:
A logline is supposed to answer 4 questions:
1] Who is the main character? (The Protagonist)
2] What does she want? (The Objective Goal)
3] Who stands in the way? (The Antagonist)
4] What does she stand to lose if she fails to get what she wants? (The Stakes)
Question 1]: Reading your logline, I am not sure what the answer is to the first question. I’m guessing the main character is the woman, but I’m not sure.
So, who is your main character? The woman or the man? Or both?
(Yes, in romances you can have 2 main characters. The title of the greatest love story by the greatest dramatist in the English language, Shakespeare, is: “Romeo AND Juliet”.)
Question 2]: Assuming it is the woman, what does she want? Well, she wants love, a loving relationship with the man. Fine, that is a worthy goal, of course. But the problem with that is that is a subjective goal — not an objective goal. And in a logline the goal at issue is the objective goal.
This gets into a complicated area of character motivations and dramatic devices. What distinguishes a subjective goal from an objective goal and why does the distinction matter? Can’t they be the same?
Let me leave the question dangling for a moment.
Question 3]: Your logline identifies her father as the the one who stands in the way of her goal. Good.
Question 4]: But what’s at stake? What is she fighting for and WHY? What does she stand to lose if she fails? Your logline doesn’t say.
Well, the obvious answer is: what’s at stake is love.
Now back to Question 2] What is her objective goal?
Which is to say in the romantic genre, HOW is she fighting for love?
Consider the wonderful French movie “Amour”. After Anne suffers a stroke, George’s OBJECTIVE GOAL is to nurse his wife Anne himself to keep her out of institutional care. The STAKES are her life, of course. But there is more at stake (since we all die eventually).
What is ultimately at stake is George’s SUBJECTIVE GOAL, his enduring love for his wife. So the OBJECTIVE GOAL– nursing her himself — is “HOW” he struggles for his SUBJECTIVE GOAL — love.
And that OBJECTIVE GOAL/ SUBJECTIVE GOAL — GOAL/STAKES relationship is what I am looking for in your logline.
One man’s very confusing opinion. But there it is.
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