Yes, dpg, now you’ve set the fire burning: it is the knowledge of imminent death that forces them to reflect. And the Samuel Johnson quote is the big fat juicy steak. And yes, there are goals and plot points but they are incidental to a sweeping panoramic narrative that is held together by the suspenseful build-up to the executions, hence the flashback structure.

Coming back to SJ: knowledge of the end concentrates the mind on meaning, theme or the relevance of ones life. This is their goal. The theme or relevance of a narrative is only revealed at the end. Isn’t this why endings of screenplays are of paramount importance?

“In their final moments before facing the firing squad, members of a notorious armed robbery gang look back and tell of life under poverty and oppression and the charismatic woman who led them to a life of cheap thrills, murder and easy money.”

Thanks very much, RichieV. You’ve definitely helped in a major way.

Yes. The priest’s goal is to save her soul. She hates him because of how he treated her when they were kids. So he needs her to forgive him first.

With this in mind:

“A notorious armed robbery gang is about to be executed by firing squad. When the devout priest offering last rites and confession discovers that the gang?s charismatic leader is his former high school sweetheart he fights to save her soul even though she hates him.”

My problem is: this logline makes the screenplay seem like a melodrama with attitude.

In truth, this logline only reflects a small section of the screenplay which is an epic crime drama – kind of in the style of an old European novel with multiple protagonists – that’s structured around the rituals/protocols of a military firing squad. That’s not to say it doesn’t have plot points but it’s a really simple story – a slice of life narrative that’s rich in character and incident and so a logline that’s truer to the screenplay would go something like this:

“Members of a notorious armed robbery gang about to face the firing squad look back and tell of their lives struggling with poverty and oppression and the charismatic woman who led them into a thug life of cheap thrills and easy money and how each of them copes with the knowledge that death is imminent.”

Now, I’ve heard a lot of stuff from Hollywood writers on this site about plot is king and goal-driven protagonists, etc. and I’m not interested in any of that. If I wanted to write that stuff then I would. I mean, how many writers in Hollywood have an individual voice, anyway? Most of Hollywood’s great writers are also directors. So I don’t need a logline to ‘pitch producers or executives’ I need it to simply and truthfully describe the project in a few short crisp sentences.