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When a streamer and his group of friends bully a stranger off a multiplayer game, they are targeted by him in real life with his own game, the streamer is left two steps behind and is in a race to stop the killings over the next 48 hours. Working Title: Stream (c)
I agree that the premise for this is great. There's a few issues with the logline and one (in my opinion) with the story. The story problem is that your protagonist is a bully. All his friends are bullies. Personally, I want this stranger to get his own back. I actually want this entire concept fromRead more
I agree that the premise for this is great. There’s a few issues with the logline and one (in my opinion) with the story. The story problem is that your protagonist is a bully. All his friends are bullies. Personally, I want this stranger to get his own back. I actually want this entire concept from the perspective of the victim – “When he’s bullied off an online multiplayer game by a minor celebrity and his friends, a shy teenager devises his own game to publicly humiliate them all”. It’s not perfect and it loses the “killing element” so I’m not saying go with this at all if it’s not the story you want to tell but I sympathise with this character a lot more. I think you could still tell the story of “the game” from the perspective of the streamer and his friends but we’re actually rooting for this teenager.
Logline wise:
Inciting incident – There’s quite a lot of information that needs to come across in this inciting incident. We need to understand that the group of friends first did something that led to something else. The actual inciting incident is the moment the first friend is targeted/killed but we kinda need to understand why this stranger is targeting them and how. I think we also need to understand the “game” connection. He was bullied off an online (online is important too) game so the victim starts his own game – to me it’s important to keep that link. Tricky one to get right.
Protagonist – As mentioned previously, I struggle to want these guys to survive. They’re bullies so they get what they deserve. But if you do stick with this then give him a characteristic that not only suggests his arc but redeems him slightly (if possible)
Goal – Stop the killings… great. I would remove “the streamer is left two steps behind and is in a race to…” ?It’s a given that, in this scenario, they will be two steps behind – most protagonists are to be honest (but still come out on top). To me it’s unnecessary. I would potentially consider rewording it so it’s something game related – “Survive until it’s game over” or something. “Game Over” would be a good title actually.
Ticking clock – this feels very tacked on. There is no reason why it’s 48 hours and whilst it’s good to have a deadline for tension there must be a reason for it – “hide all evidence of the giant house party before your parents get home” “kill the shark before it kills another tourist” “stop the asteroid before it wipes out civilisation”.
48 words is way too long so spend some time considering what is essential for the reader to understand the story and what is just adding colour.
Hope this helps. Looking forward to seeing where this one goes.
See lessA curious detective becomes obsessed with figuring out the truth after finding her parents murder case, forcing her to go against her oath as an investigator to solve the mystery.
I'm a little confused to be honest. What oath? I'm assuming that her parent's case is unsolved? If it's unsolved, why is it a problem for her to be the one to solve it? Is it because it's personal? Loglines should never leave the reader asking more questions than they're getting answers. Inciting inRead more
I’m a little confused to be honest. What oath? I’m assuming that her parent’s case is unsolved? If it’s unsolved, why is it a problem for her to be the one to solve it? Is it because it’s personal?
Loglines should never leave the reader asking more questions than they’re getting answers.
Inciting incident – “finding her parent’s murder case” – ok… but why is that interesting? What about this sparks her curiosity? What about that is any different to any other day for a detective. This incident should flip the protagonist’s world upside down. As a detective, and knowing her parents were murdered, surely this was available to her all the time? What is special about this time?
Protagonist – Detectives are curious. It’s a given. Maybe consider another characteristic that gives us a clue to her inner journey (arc). What are her flaws? What does she discover about herself?
Goal – “Solve the mystery” – Great! I don’t think we need any more info really but to make this hit home, the inciting incident needs to be more than just “She opens a drawer and inside is a folder. She flips it open and realises it’s her parent’s murder case”. ?There’s gotta be something that only she can figure?out (assuming it’s unsolved – that’s not specified).
Stakes – If the I.I. is stronger, I’m not sure you need to put stakes in. It’s personal – that’s relatable. She wants closure.
Antagonist – What’s standing in her way? Her oath as an investigator? Unwrap this because the reader needs to understand why this is a problem. Although, once she makes the decision to investigate, that oath is out the window so what else is standing in her way?
You’ve put this as an action film but currently I’m seeing it as a thriller. I think with genres such as Action, Comedy, and Horror, the reader needs to immediately see where the action/humour/horror is coming from. Action films usually have big plots – aliens invading earth, superheroes, etc etc. There are car chases, gun fights, epic battles and the stakes are big – death, destruction, etc, etc (although this is not always the case). I feel like your story is a very personal story – it’s small in scale (this isn’t a criticism) so I’m struggling to see where the action is. It might well be an action story BUT that needs to be evident in the logline. If you’re not sure – stick it in thriller (or crime or drama). A lot of thrillers have action scenes too.
The only other thing is what’s the hook? What makes this different to every other detective takes on a personal case story? Why should an audience watch this one? I feel like you’re holding this information back. Don’t! That’s what will make you stand apart from the others.
Hope this helps.
See lessA emotionally volatile tachycardic finds a way to calm his nerves, giving him unusual abilities, only to find the greedy dangers of a rich influential man prepared to anything to get those abilities to enhance himself for city domination.
Agree with Richiev. This is incredibly vague and longwinded. We need more specifics to understand the story. Is the method of calming his nerves a pill? A drink? A state of mind? A breathing technique? With any superhero story, the inciting incident is (in my opinion) the appearance of the super vilRead more
Agree with Richiev. This is incredibly vague and longwinded. We need more specifics to understand the story. Is the method of calming his nerves a pill? A drink? A state of mind? A breathing technique?
With any superhero story, the inciting incident is (in my opinion) the appearance of the super villain. Since most superhero stories?are all about stopping the bad guy it makes sense for the inciting incident to be closely connected to this. Whilst getting the powers is an important part, it’s how they end up using them that keeps the audience entertained and is actually where the story is.
Why does the rich influential man want city domination? A good way of making sure your antagonists are as 3 dimensional as your protagonist is to write a logline from their perspective too. They must have a rational motive that an audience, whilst they might not agree with, can at least understand. Like Thanos in Infinity War!
Hope this helps.
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